Free Republic

Obama Administration Expands ATF’s Power to Seize Property As part of a one-year trial run, the Department of Justice has granted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives the power to “to seize and administratively forfeit property allegedly involved in controlled substance offenses,” which is almost tantamount to saying that on the mere suspicion that one is doing something illegal, the ATF can snatch one’s firearms and property. The Washington Times, among other publications, have explained the implications of this new DoJ decree: It’s a dangerous extension of the civil-forfeiture doctrine, a surreal legal fiction in which the seized...