The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is a federal law enforcement and regulatory agency with a substantial history in the federal government dating back to the tax-collecting bureaucracy of the 1800s.

The oldest tax-collecting Treasury agency, the ATF traces its roots back nearly 200 years, to when Congress imposed a tax on imported spirits to help pay the Revolutionary War debt in 1789. At that time, administration of duties was within the Treasury Department. In 1862, Congress created an Office of Internal Revenue, also within the Treasury Department. The new commissioner was charged with collection of taxes on alcohol and tobacco. In 1863, Congress authorized enforcement measures within the Office to aid in collecting and offsetting criminal evasion, and soon after added legal counsel for prosecution—both features that continue under today’s ATF.

 

In 1886, the Bureau of Internal Revenue began its Revenue Laboratory with a single employee from the Department of Agriculture.

 

In the era of Prohibition, criminal investigations of internal revenue laws became more prominent and were organized under the Prohibition Unit in 1920. As part of an effort to bolster enforcement efforts, the Treasury Department elevated the Unit to bureau status in 1927. In 1930 Congress transferred penal provisions of the prohibition act from the Treasury to a new Bureau of Prohibition in the Justice Department—with the exception of tax-related and regulatory activities.

 

In 1933, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA), which aimed to regulate the legitimate alcohol industry. In 1935, the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA, in the Treasury) replaced FACA as regulator of the alcohol industry.

 

After prohibition ended, its policies continued to shape the ATF. In 1934, the Department of Justice’s Prohibition enforcement duties were subsumed into the Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU) within the Bureau of Internal Revenue, in the Treasury. Meanwhile, FAA, also within the Treasury, oversaw regulation of the alcohol industry. The FAA was merged with the ATU in 1940.

 

In 1934 Congress passed the National Firearms Act and, four years later, the Federal Firearms Act, for which the Miscellaneous Tax Unit, Bureau of Internal Revenue, collected fees. In 1942 enforcement duties were delegated to ATU. In 1952, the Miscellaneous Tax Unit was dismantled, and its firearms and tobacco tax responsibilities were transferred to ATU. The Bureau of Internal Revenue became the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the IRS renamed the ATU the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division.

 

In 1968, the Gun Control Act gave the ATU’s laboratory responsibility for explosives, and the division title became Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF). Around 1970, overtures began toward AFT independence. In 1972, a Treasury Department Order transferred IRS power, functions and duties related to tobacco, firearms and explosives to ATF. In the 1970s, ATF demonstrated an ability to prove arson, and in 1982, Congress made clear that arson is a federal crime, and gave ATF responsibility for investigating commercial arson nationwide.

 

In 2003, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and its law enforcement functions were transferred under the Homeland Security bill to the Department of Justice. The tax and trade functions of ATF remain in the Treasury Department with the new Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. The agency's name was changed to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

 

ATF History
Heraldry of ATF Seal

The ATF regulates the tobacco, alcohol, firearms and explosives industries by enforcing federal laws relating to these areas. Specifically, it conducts investigations into criminal activities—including the illegal manufacture, sale and transfer of these items. It operates with the aid of specialized task forces and forensic laboratories.

Added to the Bureau in 1886, ATF Laboratories now employ a hundred professionals in four labs, in three cities. A new, $135-million National Laboratory Center in Maryland was established in 2003.

 

As the entity responsible for regulating firearm commerce, the ATF attempts to curb illegal use and sale of firearms by issuing licenses and conducting firearms licensee qualification and compliance inspections. ATF administers the Gun Control Act (GCA), mandates federal licensing standards for firearms manufacturers, importers and dealers.

 

Under authority of sections 924(c) and (e) of Title 18 of the United States Code, ATF targets, investigates and recommends prosecution of “armed career criminals,” “narcotics traffickers,” and “other dangerous armed criminals.” The agency also “strives to increase state and local awareness of available federal prosecution under these statutes,” and issues firearms licenses and conducts firearms licensee qualification and compliance inspections.

 

 

More firearms links:

Federal Firearms Licensee Newsletter 

 

The agency uses combined resources to investigate explosives incidents and arsons, including national and international response teams and arson task forces-- consisting of ATF special agents, auditors, technicians, laboratory personnel, and dogs. ATF also provides expertise internationally in post-blast examination and cause/origin determination, and plays a “lead role” in investigations of arson and bombing incidents directed at abortion clinics. The Bureau’s Explosives Program maintains a computerized repository for historical and technical data on national explosives called the Explosives System.

 

ATF regulation of the alcohol and tobacco industries includes quality control and consumer safety, taxation, criminal investigation and law enforcement, etc.

 

Gang Activity Case Examples (PDF)

Top 10 ATF Contractors:

In a July 2008 Portfolio article exposing how U.S. guns are arming the current violent drug wars in Mexico, reporter James Verini draws attention to how the A.T.F. has been rendered increasingly ineffective in stopping the illicit flow of arms:

 

The A.T.F. is uniquely hamstrung among federal law-enforcement agencies in terms of the information it is permitted to gather and share. Stipulations reiterated in congressional appropriations bills every year forbid the A.T.F. to create a national database of guns or gun owners. The agency can’t monitor guns that manufacturers and importers sell to wholesalers and dealers.

Gun buyers are required to fill out A.T.F. sales forms, but the agency doesn’t collect them; dealers are required to keep the forms. They are also expected to send the A.T.F. multiple-purchase notices for handguns, but given the volume of sales, compliance is all but voluntary, and the rule, amazingly, does not apply to rifles. The National Tracing Center houses 440 million documents, but federal law forbids them from being indexed so they can be searched by name. Most of these records are still on microfiche. The result is not surprising: Nearly half of all traces are inconclusive.

At the same time, becoming a licensed gun dealer in the U.S. is very simple. All that’s required is a completed application, a photograph, and a set of fingerprints for a background investigation. A license entitles anyone to buy guns straight from manufacturers and send them between states or abroad. There are roughly 110,000 licensed gun dealers in the U.S. In Texas and Arizona, as in much of the nation, about half of them don’t have stores; these so-called kitchen-table dealers instead buy and sell guns through the mail or out of their homes or cars. Further, an A.T.F. report found that three-quarters of dealers who sell from commercial premises do so from “businesses such as funeral homes and auto-parts stores.”

 

See also: Mexican cartels look north for arms (Marketplace, American Public Media, June 26, 2008)

And the agency’s press releases/fact sheets on the subject: ATF Expands Efforts to Combat Illegal Flow of Firearms Into Mexico ; Fact Sheet: Project Gunrunner

 

Edgar A. Domenech, a 23-year veteran of the A.T.F., filed a complaint with the Office of Special Counsel in March 2008 alleging that the Justice Department had punished him for questioning the performance of former ATF director Carl J. Truscott. Domenech alleged that his complaints about Truscott, beginning in 2005, were ignored by officials because of Truscott’s ties to the White House (He was the former head of President Bush’s Secret Service Detail before taking over ATF). Truscott resigned in 2006 while under investigation for alleged financial mismanagement.

 

ATF Whistle-Blower Alleges Backlash (by Dan Eggen, Washington Post)

 

The 1993 “Waco Massacre” occurred when the ATF attempted to execute a search warrant on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. Local authorities had advised the ATF of large weapon stocks on the compound, which housed members of a religious cult. After four ATF officers and six Branch Davidians were killed in the initial stand-off, a 51-day siege ensued, ending in a fire and the deaths of 76 people. The AFT and federal government have been widely criticized for their handling of the situation.

Waco: The Inside Story: FAQs (PBS-Frontline)

Waco: The Inside Story: Viewer Reactions (PBS-Frontline)

Report to the Deputy Attorney General on the Events at Waco, Texas  (DOJ Report)

Who tipped off the media about the Waco raid? (by Robert Bryce, Jim Moore, and Joe Ellis, Salon News)

With Waco Report Due in 3 Days, Firearms Chief Says He Is Quitting  (by Stephen Labaton, New York Times)

ATF agent commits suicide; despair over Waco blame cited (by James L. Pate, Washington Times)

In 1992, ATF agents attempting to apprehend Randy Weaver, a man who failed to appear in court after being charged with selling illegally shortened shotguns to ATF agents, prepared for a tactical assault on the Weaver residence in Northern Idaho. In what came to be known as the Ruby Ridge incident, a confrontation between U.S. Marshals, FBI snipers and the Weavers ended with the deaths of Randy Weaver’s wife and son. Ruby Ridge was an escalation in an era of heightened tensions between the federal government and separatist groups—in this case, specifically white supremacists or sympathizers in the Northwestern U.S.—that also included the Waco incident and the Oklahoma City bombing.

New charges filed in Ruby Ridge shootout (CNN/Associated Press)

Ruby Ridge Lawyer Offers Help in Montana (by Dirk Johnson, New York Times)

The F.B.I. and Ruby Ridge (editorial, New York Times)

Separatist Family Given $3.1 million from Government (by Stephen Labaton, New York Times)

A Rare Visit with the Rebel of Ruby Ridge (by Edward Barnes, Time)

A new Ruby Ridge documentary (by Virginia Heffernan, Slate)

The battle over gun control is one of the defining debates in U.S. history. At the most basic level, the conflict is between the Second-Amendment right to own a gun and the government’s responsibility to regulate guns and maintain safety and order.

 

The issue tends to be partisan, with Republicans supporting strong Second-Amendment rights, and Democrats pushing for increased gun control to curb violent crime. However, the debate is also divided along regional/state lines.

 

The gun lobby in the U.S. is massive, with the National Rifle Association (NRA) spending an estimated $40 million during the 2008 election campaign alone. The NRA—labeled the “natural enemy” of the ATF by Gerry Spence, the attorney who defended Randy Weaver after the federal siege at Ruby Ridge, Idaho—is among the largest and most powerful gun-rights groups in the country, and can exert considerable influence in U.S. politics. The Gun Control Act of 1968 radicalized politics and the NRA, which shifted from a more benevolent emphasis on sportsmanship to a dogged commitment to deregulate and impede NTA enforcement.

 

 

 

In a landmark decision, the Supreme Court upheld the right to keep guns at home for self-defense. It overturned a 32-year ban in the District of Columbia, allowing states to set rules for gun ownership but striking down prohibitions.

New England gun makers hail Supreme Court ruling (by Stephen Reitz, Associated Press)

Council Considering Gun Law Changes (by Nikita Stewart, Washington Post)

Gun ruling won't change much, ATF chief says (by Dane Schiller and Allan Turner, Houston Chronicle)

Supreme Court gun ruling could backfire (by Mike Madden, Salon)

Obama supports supreme court reversal of gun ban (by Suzanne Goldenberg and Elena Schor, The Guardian)

Report Criticizes Ex-ATF Chief (by Dan Eggen, Washington Post)