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.
Tuesday, January 17, 2023
On Friday, January, 13, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) posted the “final” Factoring Criteria for Firearms ...
Monday, January 9, 2023
On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, sitting en banc, invalidated the ATF’s Rule classifying bump stocks ...
Wednesday, January 4, 2023
In a recent court filing, the Department of Justice claimed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and ...
Monday, December 12, 2022
It seems like we have been warning about the Biden Administration’s intent to reclassify handguns equipped with braces intended to help ...
Monday, October 24, 2022
There seems to be some controversy brewing near our border, but not the one you might be thinking ...
Monday, August 29, 2022
When we say “brace yourself,” we’re not kidding. The pistol brace rule is coming as well. But first, ...
Monday, August 8, 2022
While most of the attention from the end of the United States Supreme Court’s last term focused on ...
Monday, August 1, 2022
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives appears to understand that it has an image problem. According ...
Monday, May 23, 2022
On May 17, the Department of Justice announced the release of a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives publication ...
Monday, May 2, 2022
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