History tends to repeat itself, so it is said. The question is, do we ever learn from it?
There has been much recent talk about abolishing the ATF. Given the agency’s dramatic increase in activity against the firearms industry and individual gun owners, this discussion is not surprising. What is also less than surprising is that this is not new territory being explored by Congressmen, firearms organizations or the gun owning public. Some are too young to remember, some older who have forgotten. I guess that leaves some of us in the middle.
Early in Ronald Reagan’s first term, he issued a call to fold the ATF and its responsibilities into other federal agencies. The Secret Service was the prime candidate, though I recall the FBI having their hat tossed into the ring as well. In the end, the conclusion was that it would serve no purpose to merely shift the same potential for regulatory abuse to another building with a different acronym embossed upon it.
In 2015, a liberal think tank suggested that the enforcement abuses… er… activities of the ATF could be better imposed upon the industry and public by the FBI. Again, a merger of agencies was the goal desired. A common complaint from the progressive, gun control side is that ATF lacks sufficient funding, staffing and leadership. Conversely, the FBI leadership has, from Hoover to Freeh, to Comey and Wray, proven itself so virtuous. Right.
Now it is Republicans again, in the form of H.R. 374 from Matt Gaetz (R-FL). I appreciate Rep. Gaetz’ sense of humor- the bill text is simply “A Bill to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.” It offers no mergers or acquisitions within the alphabet institutions. That said, the real problem remains unaddressed. Until the statutes and regulations that empower the ATF are reevaluated, reworked and maybe outright repealed, nothing much really changes.
If you are an FFL dealer who is being forcibly shuttered because you missed the fact that the Form 4473 field that asks for the buyer’s County is marked “USA,” it doesn’t really make you feel better if it is the Secret Service, FBI or IRS that is destroying your means of making a living. If you are an inventor who made the honest effort to gain, and then received, the ATF’s blessing to market the Accelerator, the bump stock or the pistol brace, only to have your business crushed by a politically motivated about-face ten years later, the federal acronym is not your first concern. The list of such incidents is both growing and appalling.
In the old days, we just had to worry about ATF literally locking down a whole gun show to harass vendors. It progressed to shooting dogs and even citizens who were not the actual target of enforcement action. Raiding the wrong address was a perennial favorite, one still too common among law enforcement agencies today. Need I mention Ruby Ridge and Waco? Okay, I will. Or how about Fast and Furious, with two federal agents and several hundred Mexican citizens murdered with firearms happily supplied by our favorite agency? So yes, we have a problem here. Politics and budget envy are ever present dynamics, with no end of creative activities pursued to harm people in the name of getting the desired attention from the House and its purse strings.
It all begins with the National Firearms Act of 1934. No different than today, the media of that time sensationalized a seemingly rare crime dynamic, making it appear far worse than it really was. Then, it revolved in great measure about the unfortunate Prohibition Amendment, banning alcohol in America. (Best trick ever to create a violent and remunerative black market.) Add a few bank robberies spurred by the hard economic times of the Depression and the press is having a field day. America was told that machine guns and the next Al Capone were coming to every neighborhood soon. Congressional testimony reveals that the goal of banning as many firearm types as possible was tempered only by the admission that this pesky 2nd Amendment inconvenience robbed Congress of that option. The devious alternative? Impose a tax on certain firearms that was so punitive that virtually no one could afford the purchase. Even handguns were intended to be included with those evil machine guns, short-barreled rifles and shotguns and “silencers.” SBRs were only there in conjunction with the handgun element, to stave off a perceived loophole. Detachable shoulder stocks were a thing then, such as on Luger and Mauser pistols. Though meaningless once handguns were deleted from the bill, SBR tax and registration inadvertently remained. It was oversight as much as malice.
Fast forward to 1968, and FFL dealers are the new pariah, with burdensome regulations to encumber their businesses. Then came the Firearms Owners Protection Act which, in 1986, freed the FFL from some unnecessary burdens and restricted ATF’s industry operations. It did much for the average gun owner as well. But that was not all. A Poison Pill was deceptively imposed on the FOPA. Proposed by New Jersey Congressman William J. Hughes, the Amendment bears his name to this day. It ended new manufacture of machine guns for civilians, despite not a single crime being recorded by a civilian using an NFA-registered example, nor any modern St. Valentines Day massacres. It was assumed this would kill FOPA, or at least steal a major victory in exchange for weakening ATF’s iron grip in FFL regulation.
Shortly before the Amendment was to be up for attachment, Hughes requested additional time to spew more propaganda. A voice vote was ruled by Chairman Charles Rangel (D-NY) in favor of the Yeas, with Republicans successfully demanding a recorded vote to make sure. An embarrassed Rangel saw his ruling soundly overturned when Members had to actually count their votes. Then, with a disgraceful abuse of his position as Chair, Congressman Rangel declared the Hughes Amendment was passed by the following voice vote, one that can still be seen and heard on YouTube today. The Nays are heard to be noticeably stronger than the Yeas. Despite demands from a Republican member to require another recorded vote, the Chairman Rangel smiled and refused, moving quickly forward with the next business and avoiding a likely defeat for Hughes by the honest, recorded vote.
And who else supported the Hughes-infested Firearms Owners Protection Act? Well, none other than the Chief Lobbyist for the NRA. What was that guy’s name again (thinking as I type here…) Oh, yeah. Wayne LaPierre.
The argument from LaPierre and the NRA was that, despite the Hughes Poison Pill, ATF Director Stephen Higgins’ position that registered NFA items were a non-factor in criminal misuse of firearms and resistance from some Republicans, FOPA was too important to let a little gun ban get in the way. Besides, without enhancing the boogeyman for which ATF served to NRA lobbying, Wayne might run out of things to do. LaPierre urged the Senate to pass the legislation and President Reagan to sign it, with the promise that the NRA would immediately begin the fight to repeal the Hughes Amendment. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss anything. Thirty-seven years later, Wayne is still right on top of that.
And so, many an American citizen has spent years in federal prison and untold sums in legal fees for intentionally or otherwise possessing something that had been legal (from Hiram Maxim’s and John Browning’s day) until Hughes, Rangel, LaPierre and the rest agreed that we shouldn’t. Yes, Reagan too, sadly. Today, with bump stocks, forced reset triggers, auto-key cards and other creative inventions all being made controversial, due only to unwarranted statutory and regulatory authority, the desire to abolish the ATF remains an empty talking point. Instead, let’s start with reviewing, reworking and repealing legislation like the Hughes Amendment, maybe- dare I suggest it- the 1934 NFA itself. We may get there through the courts in time but, either way, the red-headed stepchild of the firearms world that is the NFA community deserves to be free of abuse. And it’s not just “them,” it’s the home builder and the braced pistol community that wants reform in the law, by means of proper legislative change. Take the power from the Alphabet Agencies that way, and who cares if the ATF is abolished or not
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We have more government than we can afford, and it’s well past time to repeal, remove, and deregulate until we have achieved the original state of federal oversight specifically granted by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
I have one reservation about abolishing F Troop: If we do, the responsibilities have to go somewhere. Do you really trust the F-B-Einsatzgruppe in these maters?
Name the responsibility that is so important as to keep the ATF intact.
An agency that has been weaponized to cause harm to the citizen, which has been undoubtedly exposed in the last few years through too many abuses of re-defining law, has no legitimate place in or anywhere near government. The only solution is to abolish the agency, unless you would just want to keep them around to complain about them. That just gives me stress whenever I think, much less shoot, any of my firearms.
“Bureau of”- Bureau, my ass. Just a bunch of thugs with badges. And a moron political appointee who doesn’t know what the bureau is supposed to do. I wonder if anyone does? I sure don’t know, or care. They think their role is to harass and jail otherwise lawful American citizens.
“Alcohol” – What do they have to do with alcohol? Nothing significant.
“Tobacco” – That should be a function of the Department of Agriculture, whatever function they might serve. Probably none.
“Firearms” All their role, concerning firearms, is to have and control a registry to create felons because of a law passed in 1934. Which should have never been passed.
“Explosives” Their expertise is of no significance concerning explosives. The FBI or the US Marshal’s Service could be explosive’s new home, whatever the heck they could do with it.
Firearm’s Technology Branch of the ATF is a joke when compared to the FBI’s lab.
Matt Gaetz sent the best kind of bill to the Speaker’s Desk.
Except that he left out the repealing of the laws that created the mess.