[Blue Jays]

I swear the sole reason BATF / BATFE (whatevah) exists is to hassle and otherwise make life difficult for gunowners.
What do they do, exactly, that helps the lives of everyday people? Does anyone ever say, "Whew, good thing the BATF was around!"

[thorvaldr]

“What do they do, exactly, that helps the lives of everyday people?”
How can you say the BATFE doesn’t help people?
Mexican drug lords are people. The BATFE helped them get a lot of rifles, grenades and heavy machine guns.
Lawyers are people. They make lots of money defending honest people against the BATFE’s unjust prosecutions.

[Former Proud Canadian]

Sole reason? Not really.

Don't they also exist to immolate "right wing fanatical Christians" and their children? Remember Waco? That was originally a BATF raid. The local sheriff, who had good relations with David Koresh, suggested they meet with Koresh in the sheriff's office. Nope, they wanted to stage a high profile raid. They ended up killing a lot of innocent men, women, and children.

They were also the catalyst that set the Ruby Ridge fiasco in motion.

"...make(ing) life difficult for gun owners." is a side line for these guys.