Let's Get Rid of the ATF

Backfire | Watchdog Update - Bill eliminating ATF introduced in wake of botched operations:
(September 17, 2014)

ATF!  Whoo-ah!  What is it good for? Absolutely NOTHING!

 A bill that would eliminate the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and fold its duties into the FBI and other agencies was introduced Wednesday in Congress. The bill, by U.S. Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), would impose an immediate hiring freeze at the ATF and require that a plan be submitted within six months on how to move its activities to other agencies. The bill calls for eliminating the agency a year after the bill's final passage, moving its functions into the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Treasury Department.

Recap?  Fast and furious.  Bogus 'scam gun stores' to no discernible purpose. (Both programs got ripped off, putting more full-auto weapons in circulation than they might have prevented.)

It's time to put this ineffective dinosaur to bed.  Or better, in the grave.

What are they good for?



The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Alcohol ... how many stills are left in the backwoods of America?

Taxes ... an excuse for stifling American enterprise by imposing increasingly egregious taxes on the American public.

Firearms ... obviously, they don't know WTF they are doing, why they are doing it, or who they are doing it to.  And they don't care; the agents are working for the man, and a paycheck.  If we retire them all on full salary, America would be a better place.   And much of their purpose seems to make criminals out of honest Americans.

Explosives ... they couldn't stop the Boston Marathon Bombers.

What do they cost?

ATF is a unique law enforcement agency in the U.S. Department of Justice that protects our communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products. The men and women of ATF perform the dual responsibilities of enforcing federal criminal laws and regulating the firearms and explosives industries.
In 1973, ATF had 3,829 employees, including 1,622 special agents and 826 industry operations investigators. The agency’s budget was less than $74 million.
Today ATF has 4,719 employees, including 2,402 special agents and 791 industry operations investigators. The agency’s budget is about $1.07 billion.

So we're spending over one BILLION dollars a year just to keep some bunch of bow-tied incompetents on the payroll?  If we got rid of them, we'd be that much ahead ... not to mention that they would no longer be stumbling over our toes every time we choose to exercise our Constitutinal rights to keep and bear firearms.

Think nobody is paying attention?

Do the research:

Unintended Consequences: John Ross, 1996 - 2009

Essential Liberty: Rob Olive, 2012
(See also here)

What have we got to lose?