Posted on 02/23/2025 6:35:17 AM PST by RandFan
President Donald Trump's newly-confirmed FBI director, Kash Patel, is expected to take on another top law enforcement role in the administration as head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, according to a White House official and two other sources familiar with the plan.
Patel's appointment could be made official as soon as next week with a swearing-in ceremony, the sources said.
The ATF, a law enforcement agency housed in the Department of Justice, is responsible for enforcing federal laws regarding the illegal use, sale and trafficking of firearms and explosives, as well as the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products.
It has been a frequent target of Republican lawmakers who perceive the agency as infringing on the Second Amendment, particularly as former President Joe Biden empowered it to regulate the sale of "ghost guns" and close a loophole that eased the process of buying a firearm.
(Excerpt) Read more at nbcnews.com ...
Over-under
Make the libs heads explode, give him CIA, NSC, Secret Service and all the others.
Make Kash Director Of Alphabet Soup . . .
Get rid of the ATF.
Because Trump is going to abolish the ATF. Might as well have Kash oversee ATF while it is being dismantled. There is no reason for the alcohol and tobacco part. The firearms (yes, 2A) and explosives could be melded into the FBI.
Kash is just a holding marker until the ATF is shuttered.
Alright, that sounds reasonable. Thanks :)
Does this mean that we’ll be able to purchase silencers without spending a small fortune?
“Or repurpose it as a convenience store.”
Excellent idea!
Whatever guns cops confiscate from criminals could be sold to the public at the ATF-C stores. The same with booze and cigarettes.
"Probably the most unconstitutional and pointless agency in existence and that is saying something..."
ATF is an excellent example (imo) of the unconstitutional consequences of the federal government approach to administrative "improvement" by giving new, but questionably constitutional responsibilities to an existing department.
Note that St. George Tucker, a respected constitutional law expert in the time of the American Revolution, had lamented that the feds inappropriately applied common law in the name of administrative improvement, effectively unconstitutionally expanding the fed's constitutionally limited powers with a domino effect by doing so (my words).
"If it were, in fact, an unconstitutional exercise of power in congress to pass a law establishing the bank, nothing can manifest the impropriety of over-stepping the limits of the constitution, more than the act which we have just noticed. It shows that the most unauthorised acts of government may be drawn into precedents to justify other unwarrantable usurpations [emphasis added]." —Article 1, Section 8, Clause 6, St. George Tucker, Blackstone's Commentaries 1:App. 262--64, 1803.
Consider, for example, that the alcohol part of ATF should have disappeared when the 21st Amendment, which repealed the 18th Amendment (Prohibition), was ratified imo.
Regarding the "TF" of ATF, there has never been express constitutional power to regulate either tobacco (agriculture) or peacetime firearms. In fact, the Constitution expressly authorizes feds only to arm a particular group of people.
"Article I, Section 8, Clause 16: To provide for organizing, arming [emphasis added], and disciplining, the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;"
From the accepted doctrine that the United States is a government of delegated powers, it follows that those not expressly granted, or reasonably to be implied from such as are conferred, are reserved to the states, or to the people. To forestall any suggestion to the contrary, the Tenth Amendment was adopted. The same proposition, otherwise stated, is that powers not granted are prohibited [emphasis added]." —United States v. Butler, 1936.
And you can be disarmed if you break a reasonably constitutionally based federal law.
ALL 3 items are legal-—IT IS USELESS.
More that the Dept of Education?
Yeah, that’s bad.
I wondered the same thing?
Isn’t one major position enough?
Unless the goal is to consolidate them and eliminate the ATF.
Suppressor Fun Days Ahead!
That may be what they are intending by by putting Kash in ATF and FBI.
yep. three things the founders wanted to be free. alcohol tobacco and firearms. some of those guys were actually distilling their own liquor. Some of it on a commercial basis.
Hopefully because they plan on slashing a bunch of jobs and focusing on laws that should be enforced.
Turn the ATF into a one-stop 7-11 shop with no permits required.
Maybe the nonsense with SBRs and suppressors will finally be resolved.
good idea!
#MAGA
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.