BATFE, Firearm Importation & Federal Firearm Law Reform
Among its duties, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) monitors firearm manufacturers, importers and dealers for compliance with record-keeping requirements; conducts traces on the commercial paths of individual firearms at the request of law enforcement agencies; interprets firearm importation law; and administers transfers of firearms regulated by the National Firearm Act of 1934.
The BATFE was used by the Clinton administration to reduce the number of firearm dealers, and by the administrations of presidents G. H. W. Bush and Clinton to restrict “assault weapons” by misinterpreting firearm importation law. The agency’s tracing data, sometimes useful in identifying persons involved in illegally trafficking firearms, have been mischaracterized by gun control supporters in the context of their campaigns against “Saturday Night Specials” and “assault weapons,” and in favor of making state gun laws more restrictive.
BATFE has been widely criticized for its role in the “Ruby Ridge” and “Waco” tragedies, and Operation Fast and Furious, in which the agency knowingly allowed firearms to be bought by straw purchasers and other traffickers, and thereafter smuggled from the United States to Mexico, where they made their way to violent drug cartels.
Monday, June 2, 2025
We have been reporting on recent reforms by ATF to make its operations more transparent, professional, and public safety focused and ...
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Among all the infringements of the Second Amendment perpetrated by the Biden-Harris regime, one of the most punitive ...
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
A headline on the website of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives appeared late in the ...
Monday, May 19, 2025
On Friday, May 16, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the settlement of several lawsuits arising from the Biden-Harris ...
Monday, April 21, 2025
Last February, NRA-ILA’s reporting exposed the case of Taylor Taranto, a pardoned January 6 protestor separately arrested on firearm charges ...
Monday, March 31, 2025
On March 26, in a 7-2 decision (with Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissenting), the United States ...
Monday, February 10, 2025
Documents filed in an ongoing prosecution for illegal possession of a short-barreled rifle are raising new concerns about ...
Monday, January 27, 2025
Last week, the end of a lawsuit over ATF’s infamous “zero tolerance” policy revealed that the agency had ...
Tuesday, January 21, 2025
Last week, we reported that an unnamed ATF official, speaking for the agency’s Firearms Industry Programs Branch (FIPB), ...
Monday, January 13, 2025
On Friday, Gun Owners of America published an email reportedly received by one of its members in response ...
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