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.
It’s about time..
Based on personal experience dealing with DEA cowboys and incompetent ATF agents - both ATF and DEA need to be eliminated.
The Secret Service should also turn over all non protective detail functions to the FBI.
It’s just more efficient to let one organization handle national policing. And the FBI (at least until recently) is more professional that ATF and DEA.
Having a power split between the U.S. Marshalls and the FBI is probably good enough. Or perhaps the IG for the FBI needs to be a completely separate organization.
Valid observations, and doubly so if you look at some of Sensenbrenner's more statist moments.
Mr. niteowl77
Why not kill off the DEA at the same time? The DEA was created in 1973. The FBI handled that stuff before then.
1970=EPA, 1972=ATF, 1973=DEA: Why were so many unneeded agencies created in such a short period of time? While they’re at it the Education department was created in 1979 and a more useless organization has never existed. Kill it too.
Golden Retrievers everywhere breath a sigh of relief!
That should be the name on the bill when Trump signs it:)
Affimative
Exactly...Rearranging the deck chairs saves nothing, and the abuses of our 2nd A rights persist, by another alphabet agency...
Clear the deck...
But not Obama or Holder who gave the orders to ATF. <<
Not Yet!...Depends on plea bargains of the underlings that
acted on those orders....
I’m coining 2 new words for that though.... “Bama-cide” and “Holder-cide”....Between the 2 there may not be many left at ATF to abolish...
Trouble is no other agency wants FTroops people they are so bad.
I second...
...by now it’s probably more like 27,538,429th...
The ATF was born out of prohibition. The revenues had to do something after it was eliminated.
There’s always a need for burger flippers and “fries with that?” question askers.
It also goes along with the "Hearing Protection Act". In fact, it would go along well with the really proper course of action:
1) Repeal the Gun Control Act.
2) Repeal the National Firearms Act.
3) Repeal the Hughes Amendment.
Then let the IRS collect excise taxes on booze and butts.
“Who would the FBI have to set up as patsies?”
I scanned that too fast and read it as something about the FBI and pasties...”
J. Edgar Hoover, please pick up the pink courtesy phone...
A good start but I would have started with the EPA and Department of Education!!!
I thinking back into the 50s/60s here in PA, and I can’t remember any. Probably were, but I just can’t recollect them.
> The ATF was born out of prohibition.
No it wasn’t. Nixon created the ATF in 1972.
The treasury department handled that stuff before then.
the bigger issue isn’t what agency does what, we need Congress to ABOLISH the entire idea of the federal government restricting alcohol (aside from history, the fed govt has NO business regulating this), tobacco (why is the fed govt involved in this to begin with? its simply silly), and firearms (OUR CONSTITUTIONALLY PROTECTED RIGHT! which SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED, dammmmnit!).
end the programs! don’t just Tranfer them to other bureaucraps to carry out. END the worthless or unconstitutional programs! THAT is Draining the Swamp....
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