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.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
On August 20, NRA filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court in a challenge to the ...
Friday, August 9, 2024
NRA-ILA secured a significant victory today, as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals enjoined enforcement of the ATF’s ...
Monday, July 22, 2024
The National Rifle Association of America (NRA) has filed a lawsuit challenging the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms ...
Saturday, June 29, 2024
On Friday, the Supreme Court issued its decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and overturned Chevron U. ...
Tuesday, May 28, 2024
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) suffered two bruising days on Capitol Hill last week ...
Thursday, May 2, 2024
Fairfax, Virginia – May 1, 2024…Today, a total of 26 States filed three separate lawsuits against the ATF’s ...
Monday, April 22, 2024
On Friday, ATF provided the unpleasant surprise of yet another rulemaking to implement the noxious Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).
Friday, April 12, 2024
We have long been warning of the rule the Biden ATF has been preparing to redefine who is considered a ...
Thursday, April 11, 2024
This latest Biden Administration attack on law-abiding gun owners is a blatant attempt to coerce Americans to forego ...
Monday, April 8, 2024
Some reckonings are a long time coming. The District of Columbia’s irrational hostility to all things gun-related and ...
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