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, December 13, 2011
Arizona Republican Rep. Paul Gosar has filed a resolution in the House of Representatives pushing for vote of ...
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Three members of the Louisiana congressional delegation are furious with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, calling for his ...
Monday, December 12, 2011
A largely overlooked exchange from Thursday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing includes what appears to be an admission from ...
Monday, December 12, 2011
A person who actually uses marijuana—medicinally or otherwise—is an "unlawful user of ... [a] controlled substance," because marijuana is ...
Friday, December 9, 2011
Georgia Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson accused the tea party movement and the National Rifle Association of creating an ...
Friday, December 9, 2011
Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., during a rancorous House committee hearing Thursday, dismissed Republican calls to fire ...
Friday, December 9, 2011
Republican lawmakers told Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday to fire some Justice Department subordinates over the flawed ...
Friday, December 9, 2011
The botched gun tracking operation Fast and Furious was a plot hatched by the Obama administration to impose ...
Friday, December 9, 2011
Operation Fast and Furious -- the Arizona based federal gun tracking program that led to the death of ...
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Illinois Democratic Rep. Luis Gutierrez told The Daily Caller on Tuesday that he thinks "it's much too early" ...