Posted on 01/13/2017 11:50:26 AM PST by PROCON
A bill has been proposed in U.S. House of Representatives that would eliminate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The ATF Elimination Act, which was reintroduced by Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner on Thursday, calls for an ATF hiring freeze and would transfer the ATF’s current responsibilities to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
According to the bill, the FBI and DEA would need to submit a plan for scaling down ATF affairs within 180 days of the bill’s enactment into law. Within one year, the FBI would have to issue a report to the General Services Administration regarding ATF property that will either need to be transferred or excessed.
In a press release Thursday, Rep. Sensenbrenner issued the following statement regarding the proposal:
Despite our country being trillions of dollars in debt, government spending continues to rise. Common sense budgeting solutions are necessary, and the ATF Elimination Act is one measure we can take to reduce spending, redundancy, and practice responsible governance. The ATF is a scandal-ridden, largely duplicative agency that has been branded by failure and lacks a clear mission. It is plagued by backlogs, funding gaps, hiring challenges, and a lack of leadership. These facts make it a logical place to begin draining the swamp and acting in the best interest of the American taxpayer.
The ATF drew heat in 2011 after the so-called Fast and Furious operation, in which the ATF willingly let Mexican drug cartels buy illegal firearms in order to track the guns and then arrest the criminals carrying them.
The operation went drastically wrong as agents lost track of the guns. Instead of leading to arrests of high-ranking cartel members, the firearms were reportedly used in numerous murders in Mexico.
But not Obama or Holder who gave the orders to ATF.
What was their biggest reason for killing all of those innocent poor Brown Mexican people..?
Yes sounds like a plan!!!!
I want to see several dozen of them jailed for F&F .... and then go after the militarization of money... forcing banks to restrict lawful businesses access to banking because they’re in the gun business.
Come on man, put all those ATF folks out of a job?
Most couldn’t work the fry line at mickey D’s.
What they gonna do without gub mint dole?
Yes! And do the same to DHS... which is another redundant federal money-sucking federal department. Fire them all and give the FBI something to do.
Totally
I of course would argue that Fast and Furious worked exactly as designed - to have legal semi-auto modern sporting rifles turn up at drug related crime scenes, giving the Obama Administration “evidence” that a new “assault weapon” ban needed to be enacted.
This used to be the case in Missourri. Not even that long ago. Maybe 30 years ago you could buy fireworks, ammo, guns, and booze at one counter. Frickin’ awesome.
Just sayin'..
The FBI that let the Boston bombers kill? The Islamist airport gunman? Who thinks its hacking to release the emails of the dnc? Of course I doubt the atf is any better. The IRS is much better at perusing what they perceive to be criminal activity. Ok, maybe they are ignoring the govt and businesses skip paying employer taxes be hiring non-citizens.
“Some college kid walked by the restaurant on his way to a costume party, wearing a ninja outfit. The agents ran out of the restaurant, weapons drawn, and tackled the kid. I never followed up on the story, but I hope there was a successful lawsuit.”
That is ridiculous! Ninja’s don’t use Alcohol, Tabaco, or firearms. Maybe they thought he had smoke bombs.
They created the ATF in 1972. At the time I thought it was a stupid idea whose only purpose was to grow the government.
Maybe when they’re finished killing off the ATF they go after the EPA (created in 1970).
We never needed either of these agencies before and we don’t need them now.
Good riddance to government waste.
If it were up to me, the only department / agency that should exist is the Department of War and Justice.
I remember reading in my NRA magazines in the late 80’s that the ATF would issue notices (scams) that some semi-auto firearms could have the potential to fire more than 1 one round per trigger pull, particularly Browning shotguns. They asked that if you had one to take it to them and they would test it for you. They trapped a couple of folks with this scam and charged them with illegal possession of an automatic weapon. They would load them up with rounds with special primers that would guarantee a double shot.
I had a Baretta A606 semi that would on occasion shoot a double but I kept that to my self.
Pointless in the form presented. The problem isn’t the ATF per se, but what the ATF does. If their “responsibilities” are simply given to another agency, what’s the point?
“and would transfer the ATF’s current responsibilities to the [FBI]”
Weren’t the ATF’s responsibilities part of the treasury department before 1972?
HOOORAY....
One down, 378 redundunt alphabet agencies to go.
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