Sunday, November 28, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Obama Picks Chicago Anti-Gun Guy to Head ATF
Obama Picks Chicago Anti-Gun Guy to Head ATF
President Obama has announced his pick to head the long-headless Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (and Really Big Fires): Andrew Traver. What took the President so long? Taver was tipped for the post back in August. At the time, TTAG exposed Traver’s anti-gun credentials, which include an avowed aversion to assault rifles and membership in the anti-gun rights group known as the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP). Why Obama would pick Traver now, with an ascendent pro-gun Tea Party spoiling for a fight, is anybody’s guess. But a fight he’ll have, as the ATF’s jefeposition requires Senate confirmation. The appointment is also a gift for the NRA, GOA and other gun rights groups; they haven’t had a proper gun-grabbing adversary since that anti-assault weapons guy Clinton. Look for commentator jadegold’s “gunloons” to sound the alarm in three, two, one . . . Meanwhile, another smoking gun . . .
Traver’s work with the IACP included signing off on a report prepared by the pro-gun control group The Joyce Foundation: Taking a Stand: Reducing Gun Violence in Our Communities. Click here for the press release. Traver’s name is in the sidebar on the right, as one of the members of the “advisory group.” The most blatantly anti-gun bullet points:
11. State and local governments should regulate and/or limit the sale of multiple handguns as a measure to reduce gun trafficking.
16. Federal, state, local, and tribal governments should enact laws prohibiting persons with misdemeanor convictions involving violence, qualifying mental health adjudications and commitments, or a history of domestic violence and/or drug abuse from purchasing, possessing, and transporting any guns or ammunition. These laws should be consistently and vigorously enforced.
And just in case Traver wants to walk away from the study one, I wonder what this is doing in there . . .
22. The federal government should increase funding to ATF for personnel and technical assistance to combat gun violence.
Oh, and I almost forgot these recommendations
Reduce the lethality of firearms as well as their availability to criminals:
32. Congress should enact legislation to allow federal health and safety oversight of the firearms industry.
33. Congress should enact an effective ban on military-style assault weapons.
34. Congress should enact an effective ban on .50-caliber sniper rifles.
35. Congress should enact an effective ban on armor-piercing handgun ammunition.
http://thetruthaboutguns.com/2010/11/robert-farago/obama-picks-chicago-anti-gun-guy-to-head-atf/
Obama Picks a Director For the A.T.F.
NATIONAL BRIEFING | WASHINGTON
Obama Picks a Director For the A.T.F.
By CHARLIE SAVAGE
Published: November 15, 2010
Nearly two years into his term, President Obama on Monday finally chose a director for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Mr. Obama will submit the name of Andrew Taver, the special agent in charge of the bureau’s Chicago field division, to the Senate for consideration, the White House said. He may face a confirmation fight; after Congress changed the position to make it one requiring Senate confirmation, President George W. Bush’s nominee was blocked by senators who used it to criticize the enforcement of gun laws against firearms dealers.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/16/us/16brfs-OBAMAPICKSAD_BRF.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=atf&st=cse
Monday, November 1, 2010
Inspections of Firearms Dealers by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
http://www.justice.gov/oig/reports/ATF/e0405/background.htm
Inspections of Firearms Dealers by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Report Number I-2004-005
July 2004
BACKGROUND
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) enforces federal firearms laws and regulations, including issuing licenses and overseeing Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and most explosives licensees and permittees. The ATF enforces federal firearms laws, in part, by conducting regulatory inspections of FFLs. These inspections examine whether FFLs are keeping proper records and are taking proper steps to avoid selling firearms to prohibited persons (see inset).
Individuals Prohibited From Purchasing Firearms Individuals prohibited by federal law from possessing a firearm include anyone who:
Individuals under indictment for a crime punishable by more than one year of prison are prohibited from receiving a firearm, but may lawfully possess a firearm they obtained before being indicted. Source: Title 18 U.S.C. Chapter 44 |
FFL Licensing and Operational Requirements
To obtain a license for making or selling firearms, applicants must be at least 21 years old and not prohibited from possessing firearms. Applicants are required to notify the chief officer of their local law enforcement agency (LEA) that they intend to apply for a license, and must submit a photograph and a full set of fingerprints with their applications, as well as a statement certifying that their business is in compliance with all state and local laws (including zoning laws). Application examiners at the ATF National Licensing Center (NLC) in Atlanta, Georgia, determine the eligibility of applicants for Federal Firearms Licenses.13 Fees for federal firearms dealer licenses are $200 for the first three years and $90 for each three-year renewal period. As of December 2003, there were approximately 104,300 FFLs in the United States, including approximately 65,700 retailers.14
Each year, FFLs conduct more than 8.5 million firearms sales.15 To reduce the availability of firearms to criminals, FFLs are required to verify that potential customers are not prohibited from possessing a firearm and to verify that customers are residents of the state in which the FFL is located. FFLs must verify the identity of potential customers by examining a government-issued identification document, such as a driver's license, and have the customer complete a Form 4473, Firearms Transaction Record, which captures data related to the purchaser and firearm(s) purchased (see Appendix I). The FFLs also contact the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or a statewide LEA to request that the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) be queried to confirm that the potential customers are not prohibited from purchasing firearms.16 Most NICS queries result in an immediate response to the FFL regarding purchaser eligibility. In cases where an immediate response is not given, FFLs are allowed to complete the transaction after three business days if NICS is unable to complete the check within that time. If the purchaser is later determined to be prohibited from possessing a gun, the ATF seeks to remove the gun from the purchaser's possession.17
Federal law requires that FFLs maintain completed Forms 4473, as well as a log of all firearms that they have acquired and sold, known as an Acquisition and Disposition Book (A&D Book). The A&D Book must contain information including a description of the firearm, the name and address of the person from whom the firearm was acquired and, once sold, the name and address of the purchaser and the date the gun was sold. 18 FFLs also are required to report sales of multiple handguns to the same purchaser.19Combined, these record-keeping requirements are intended to deter the illegal transfer of firearms to prohibited persons.
The records kept by FFLs also enable the ATF to trace firearms recovered by LEAs to learn when those firearms were purchased and by whom. According to the ATF, less than 5 percent of firearms are used in violent crimes by the person who originally purchased the gun from an FFL. Guns used in violent crime are generally acquired through a secondary market of traffickers and "straw purchasers" (individuals that buy firearms for prohibited individuals).20 Nonetheless, tracing is a significant investigative tool because it can provide investigators leads to the subsequent purchaser(s) of the firearm.
The ATF's FFL Inspection Program
The ATF's FFL inspection program uses a cadre of Inspectors to verify that FFLs are complying with federal firearms laws and that tracing data provided by FFLs are accurate and timely. The Inspectors do not have the authority to arrest individuals, do not carry firearms, and do not conduct criminal or undercover investigations. Before the enactment of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, the ATF had 567 Inspectors.21 As directed by the Homeland Security Act, in February 2003 the tax and regulatory responsibilities of the ATF were split, and most regulatory functions were transferred from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice.22 The new title of the agency within the Department of Justice became the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. As of August 2003, the ATF had 498 Inspectors. Of the 498 Inspectors, approximately 420 were assigned to Industry Operations groups located throughout the ATF's 23 Field Divisions. The remaining Inspectors were assigned to the ATF Headquarters and various management positions.
A typical ATF Field Division structure included a Special Agent In Charge to oversee the operations of the office, a Director of Industry Operations (DIO), and two or three Area Offices, which were managed by an Area Supervisor. Most Field Divisions also had at least one Senior Operations Inspector to assist with large-scale FFL inspections (Figure 1).
Figure 1: Field Division Organization Chart
|
To implement the FFL inspection program, ATF Inspectors conduct four different types of inspections:
- Application inspections verify that an applicant for a federal firearms license is eligible for a license and agrees to follow federal laws related to buying and selling firearms. These inspections may be conducted either over the telephone or in-person. The Inspectors interview the individual applying for the license and, during in-person inspections, also interview store employees. According to ATF Headquarters officials, the ATF focuses on conducting application inspections on new businesses and generally does not inspect new collectors.23
- Compliance inspections examine whether an FFL is complying with federal firearms laws, including ensuring that Forms 4473 (Firearms Transaction Record) and A&D Books are maintained accurately. Except in very limited circumstances, the ATF is prohibited by law from inspecting an FFL more than once a year.24
- Renewal inspections verify the accuracy of renewal application information and determine if an FFL's license should be renewed. The ATF categorizes all renewal inspections as compliance inspections for performance measurement purposes, although they are generally less rigorous than other compliance inspections.
- Limited purpose inspections are narrowly scoped inspections conducted for a specific purpose. For example, an Inspector may visit a store to review and approve an FFL's new inventory software or to examine Forms 4473 for a particular firearm used in a crime. The ATF categorizes all limited purpose inspections as compliance inspections for performance measurement purposes.
According to the ATF's published reports and draft reports provided to the OIG, Inspectors conducted 5,497 application inspections during fiscal year FY 2001, 7,229 application inspections in FY 2002, and 8,422 application inspections in FY 2003. The ATF has also reported that Inspectors conducted 5,016 compliance inspections in FY 2001, 5,802 compliance inspections in FY 2002, and 6,481 compliance inspections in FY 2003 (Figure 2).25
| Source: Firearms in Commerce in the United States 2001/2002, ATF 2003 Performance and Accountability Report, ATF Firearms Programs Division. |
The ATF's Regulatory Enforcement Actions
When the ATF finds that an FFL has violated the Gun Control Act or its implementing regulations, it may take one of several actions.26 For minor infractions (e.g., missing ZIP code on a Form 4473), the FFL may be given a Report of Violations, which notifies the FFL of violations that should be corrected. For more serious infractions, the FFL may be sent a warning letter, or it may be directed to attend a warning conference. At a warning conference, an FFL is notified that it must correct its practices or lose its license. For severe or repeat violations deemed willful, the ATF may revoke or deny renewal of the FFL's license.
FFL Education Efforts In addition to regulatory enforcement, the ATF educates FFLs and others on federal firearms laws through seminars and programs. In FY 2002, the ATF conducted 183 "commodity seminars" for FFLs, LEAs, and the public. At many of these seminars, the ATF supplied FFLs with the "Don't Lie For the Other Guy" packet prepared by the National Shooting Sports Foundation. The packet includes a poster, pamphlet, and a videotape to help FFLs identify firearms traffickers. As of October 2003, approximately 23,000 FFLs had received the packet. |
The revocation process begins when an ATF Inspector recommends revocation because of severe or repeated violations. If the Area Supervisor approves the Inspector's recommendation, the inspection report and supporting documentation are submitted to the DIO. After consulting with the Division Counsel, the DIO can issue an Initial Notice of Revocation. If an Initial Notice of Revocation is issued, the FFL has 15 days to appeal the proposed revocation and request a hearing. Revocation hearings are conducted in the field by ATF Inspectors who are specially trained to act as Hearing Officers. As of September 1, 2003, 23 Inspectors served as Hearing Officers as a collateral duty to their regular tasks and 11 additional Inspectors had completed training to become Hearing Officers. Hearing Officers are assigned from Field Divisions other than the Divisions proposing the revocation. At the hearing, the Hearing Officer examines the facts and hears testimony from the ATF and the FFL. After the hearing, the Hearing Officer prepares a report of findings and recommendations for the DIO.
After receiving the Hearing Officer's report, the DIO can allow the FFL to retain his license, or issue a Final Notice of Revocation. If a Final Notice of Revocation is issued, the FFL has 60 days to appeal the revocation to U.S. District Court. If the FFL appeals, the ATF routinely submits a Motion for Summary Judgment asking the Court to uphold the agency's determination.
In FY 2002, Inspectors conducted 25 revocation hearings. Of those, 22 resulted in the revocation of the FFL's license. The number of revocation hearings increased to 87 during FY 2003.27
Other than issuing warning letters, holding warning conferences, and revoking licenses, the ATF has few enforcement options. As of March 2004, the ATF had very limited authority to impose fines and suspend an FFL's license.28 This limited authority can occur only under a specific circumstance where an FFL failed to conduct a NICS check and, had the check been conducted, it would have discovered that the customer was a prohibited person. As an alternative to revoking licenses, as of March 2004 the ATF's General Counsel was seeking, through the Department of Justice Office of Legislative Affairs, the authority to suspend or fine FFLs who violate firearms laws.
The ATF Firearms Tracing Program
In 1994, the ATF consolidated its tracing activities at the National Tracing Center (NTC) in Falling Waters, West Virginia. The NTC traces the purchase histories of "crime guns" recovered by federal, state, local, and international LEAs.29 The ATF defines a "crime gun" as any firearm that is "illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected by law enforcement officials" of having been used during the commission of a crime. Crime gun tracing data can identify potential firearms trafficking and unlawful business practices by FFLs. The ATF has the following tracing-based indicators of firearms trafficking:
- Short Time-to-Crime. The recovery of a crime gun within 2 to 3 years after its initial purchase is considered a short time-to-crime and a significant trafficking indicator. According to the ATF, about one-third of crime guns were recovered within 3 years of their first retail purchase. The short time from retail sale to use in a crime "suggests illegal diversion or criminal intent associated with the retail purchase from the FFL." 30
- Multiple Sales of Handguns. According to the ATF, 20 percent of all handguns traced in 2000 had been originally purchased as part of a multiple handgun sale. FFLs are required to report multiple handgun sales to the NTC.
In requesting a trace of a crime gun, an LEA supplies the ATF with information including the make, model, serial number, and other identifying characteristics of the gun and the circumstances of its recovery.31 Using that information, an ATF analyst contacts the manufacturer of the firearm to determine which FFL purchased the gun. The analyst then contacts the FFL identified by the manufacturer to obtain information on the retail purchaser from the appropriate Form 4473 and A&D Book entry. FFLs are required by law to respond to firearms trace requests from the ATF within 24 hours.32 According to the NTC Director, the NTC performed 232,272 firearms traces in FY 2001, 240,651 firearms traces in FY 2002, and 280,947 firearms traces in FY 2003.33 The NTC defines a successful trace as one in which the initial retail purchaser of the crime gun is identified. According to the NTC Director, 50 to 60 percent of traces requested in FY 2003 succeeded.
Trace data can be categorized to identify those guns that are most often used in crime. For example, in 2000 the Smith & Wesson .38 caliber revolver was the most frequently traced firearm recovered by LEAs.34 Using trace information, the NTC offers several analytical products to LEAs, such as:
- statistical analyses to identify indicators of firearms trafficking;
- data on potential violations of regulations, such as unreported multiple sales of handguns, stolen firearms, and firearms with obliterated serial numbers; and
- data on firearms transaction records received from FFLs that have ceased business operations.35
Demand Letter Programs. Because some FFLs either ignored trace data requests or were unable to provide NTC analysts with purchaser information from Forms 4473 and their A&D Books, the ATF initiated the Demand Letter I Program in February 2000. The Demand Letter I Program covers FFLs deemed "Uncooperative" by NTC officials because they failed to provide the ATF with purchaser information. FFLs deemed "Uncooperative" are required to submit all Forms 4473 for the previous three years and to continue to submit these Forms on a monthly basis until the ATF determines that they are cooperating. Forty-one FFLs were originally placed in this category. As of April 2004, no FFLs were designated as uncooperative.
Also in February 2000, the ATF initiated the Demand Letter II Program to address FFLs with frequent short time-to-crime traces. The Demand Letter II Program requires FFLs with 15 or more traces of guns within 3 years of initial purchase to submit information quarterly on previously owned firearms acquired from non-FFLs. Originally, 430 FFLs were placed in this category.36 As of April 2004, 271 FFLs were in this category. The actual "Demand Letter" sent to FFLs states that if the FFLs do not respond to the NTC's requests for firearms tracing information, the FFLs' licenses could be revoked. The NTC forwards lists of FFLs subjected to either Demand Letter program to ATF Field Divisions on an annual basis.
Firearms Trafficking Analysis. The ATF's Crime Gun Analysis Branch (CGAB), co-located with the NTC in West Virginia, analyzes data from crime gun traces, multiple sales, and firearms thefts, and provides firearms trafficking analysis to Inspectors, Special Agents, and LEAs. The CGAB uses crime gun data maintained by the NTC to focus on specific U.S. geographic areas in which firearms trace patterns indicate firearms trafficking.37 For example, CGAB analyzes tracing data to determine the geographic areas where crime guns were recovered, a process known as geo-mapping. This information is shared with LEAs, to enable them to better focus their law enforcement activities.
The CGAB also develops numerous statistical and informational products. For example, "master queries" of all crime guns traced nationwide (grouped by county) can be used to identify FFLs that should be inspected. The "NTC Weekly Queries of FTS Data," disseminated to all users of the CGAB's electronic database, shows "firearms trafficking indicators," such as firearms purchased as part of a multiple sale. The CGAB also develops investigative leads that are researched and forwarded to the appropriate ATF Field Division, and it provides information and support to promote the tracing of all recovered crime guns by LEAs across the United States. Finally, the CGAB monitors and forwards to ATF agents information on theft reports, firearms traces, and multiple sale transactions from FFLs that are under investigation.
In FY 2002, CGAB provided firearms tracing data for 1,639 FFLs and completed 46 geo-mapping projects for ATF Field Divisions (see Figure 3 on page 13). The CGAB also researched and forwarded 138 referrals to ATF Field Divisions for potential investigations based on accumulated firearms tracing data, and was given authority over ATF's program to "raise" obliterated serial numbers on recovered firearms.38
Regional Crime Gun Centers. In 1996, the ATF began to establish Regional Crime Gun Centers (RCGC) in cities in which gun violence presented a significant public risk and high amounts of crime guns were recovered. Before the establishment of the RCGCs, the NTC's ability to provide crime gun analysis for these areas and the rest of the country was, according to the NTC Director, "limited" compared to the micro-analysis conducted at RCGCs. The NTC now oversees RCGCs in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, D.C.39 The RCGCs are organizationally part of the local ATF Field Division and serve as a liaison and local analysis unit for crime gun tracing for local LEAs.
Disclaimer on the use of firearms tracing data: Section 630 of the Fiscal Year 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act mandates that the ATF and all federal government agencies which use trace data in a report clearly state the shortcomings of trace data, as follows:
Firearm traces are designed to assist law enforcement authorities in conducting investigations by tracking the sale and possession of specific firearms. Law enforcement agencies may request firearms traces for any reason, and those reasons are not necessarily reported to the federal government. Not all firearms used in crime are traced and not all firearms traced are used in crime. Firearms selected for tracing are not chosen for purposes of determining which types, makes or models of firearms are used for illicit purposes. The firearms selected do not constitute a random sample and should not be considered representative of the larger universe of all firearms used by criminals, or any subset of that universe. Firearms are normally traced to the first retail seller, and sources reported for firearms traced do not necessarily represent the sources or methods by which firearms in general are acquired for use in crime.
History of ATF from Oxford University Press, Inc. — 1789–1998 U.S.
History of ATF from Oxford University Press, Inc. — 1789–1998U.S.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is a tax-collecting, enforcement and regulatory arm of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. In common with all other members of the executive branch, ATF’s responsibility is established by congressional action. ATF cannot enact a law, nor can it amend the law. Charged as it is with fiscal oversight of some of the most controversial topics in Western civilization, ATF strives to maintain professional neutrality while giving a 35-to-1 return on every dollar it spends. ATF has the best cost-to-collection ratio in the federal family.
ATF is the youngest tax-collecting Treasury agency, separated from the Internal Revenue Service by Treasury Department Order No. 120-1 (former No. 221), effective 1 July 1972. Notwithstanding, ATFtraces its roots across two hundred years of American history.
In 1789 under the new Constitution, the first Congress imposed a tax on imported spirits to offset a portion of the Revolutionary War debt assumed from the states. Administration of duties fell to theDepartment of the Treasury, whose Secretary, Alexander Hamilton, had suggested them. Congressional lawmakers were favorably impressed by the results. The imports tax was augmented by one on domestic production in 1791. Taxpayers had grumbled over import duties. Some of them greeted the domestic levy — as they do today — with political resistance, escalating in that early case to the short-lived Whisky Rebellion of 1794. Both revenue sources survived rebellion — as they do today. Although these particular taxes were eventually abolished, similar devices for revenue came and went as needed until 1862. By Act of 1 July 1862, Congress created an Office of Internal Revenue within the Treasury Department, charging the commissioner with collection, among others, of taxes on distilled spirits and tobacco products that continue, with amendments, today. Because taxation so often does evoke resistance, including criminal evasion, during 1863 Congress authorized the hiring by Internal Revenue of "three detectives to aid in the prevention, detection and punishment of tax evaders." Tax collecting and enforcement were now under one roof. Before decade’s end, the Office of Internal Revenue had its own counsel, another component descending in unbroken line to ATF today.
In 1875 federal investigators broke up the “Whisky Ring,” an association of grain dealers, politicians and revenue agents that had defrauded the government of millions of dollars in distilled spirits taxes. Responding to the scandal, Congress undertook the first Civil Service reform acts, acknowledging formally that effectiveness of law depends on the quality of its administrators.
The commissioner’s annual report for 1877 refers to his office as the Bureau of Internal Revenue, a title that it retained for the next seventy-five years. In 1886, a single employee from the Department of Agriculture came to the Bureau of Internal Revenue under authority of the Oleomargarine Act to establish a Revenue Laboratory. The first samples received in the laboratory that 29 December were of butter suspected of adulteration with oleomargarine. In its second century, ATF’s laboratory staff includes — but is not limited to — chemists, document analysts, latent print specialists, and firearms and toolmark examiners, supported by its own highly sophisticated facilities at Rockville, Maryland, Atlanta, Georgia, and Walnut Creek, California. That first chemist would recognize some aspects of laboratory service today (analysis of alcohol and tobacco products, for instance) although tools such as chromatography and electrophoresis might seem magic. There was nothing in 1886 to foreshadow the Laboratory’s sought-after forensic skills in arson, explosives, and criminal-evidence examination, a resource now available to law enforcement personnel worldwide.
Ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 1919, in combination with the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Act of that year, brought to prominence those officers — ‘revenoors’ — charged with investigating criminal violations of the Internal Revenue law, including illicit manufacture of liquors, who coalesced by 1920 into the Prohibition Unit. Evolution of this unit reflects the difficulty of enforcing a nation-wide ban on “manufacture, sale or transportation of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes.” Internal Revenue’s orientation has been toward collection throughout its history. Enforcement efforts, albeit necessary, never came easily. On April Fool’s Day, 1927, Treasury elevated the Prohibition Unit to bureau status within the department. Congress was impatient with the results. On 1 July 1930 Congress created certain confusion for later historians by transferring “the penal provisions of the national prohibition act” from Treasury’s Bureau of Prohibition (which then ceased to exist) to the Department of Justice’s new Bureau of Prohibition — with an important exception: tax-related and regulatory activities, “the permissive provisions,” remained at Treasury, under a new Bureau of Industrial Alcohol. The most illustrious enforcer during that tumultuous era was Eliot Ness, the “T-man” who toppled Chicago’s organized-crime king Al Capone on tax-evasion charges.
The Twenty-first Amendment to the Constitution, repealing Prohibition, achieved ratification with unanticipated speed by 5 December 1933, catching Congress in recess. As an interim measure to manage a burgeoning legitimate alcohol industry, by executive order under the National Industrial Recovery Act, President Franklin Roosevelt established the Federal Alcohol Control Administration (FACA). The FACA, in cooperation with the Departments of Agriculture and Treasury, endeavored to guide wineries and distilleries under a system based on brewers’ voluntary codes of fair competition. The FACA was relieved of its burden — and effectively vanished from history — after just twenty months, when President Roosevelt in August 1935 signed the Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act. The new FAA received a firm departmental assignment: Treasury once more found itself regulating the alcohol industry.
Although Prohibition was officially over, the era’s side effects continued for decades to mold the shape of ATF. On 10 March 1934 Justice’s Prohibition enforcement duties folded into the infant Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU), Bureau of Internal Revenue, Department of the Treasury. At the same time, the FAA, functioning independently within Treasury, was carrying forward its mandate to collect data, to establish license and permit requirements, and define the regulations that ensure an open, fair marketplace for the alcohol industry and the consumer. In 1940 the FAA as an Administration merged with the ATU. The FAA Act continues today as one foundation of ATF’s enabling legislation.
National dismay over the weaponry wielded so conspicuously by organized crime during Prohibition led to passage in 1934 of the National Firearms Act, followed in four years by the Federal Firearms Act. The newly regulated articles might be firearms, but taxes were involved as ever. The Miscellaneous Tax Unit, Bureau of Internal Revenue, collected the fees. In 1942 enforcement duties for the “Firearms Program” fell to the ATU, which was accustomed to managing controversial industries. In a major Internal Revenue reorganization of 1952, the nearly-century-old Miscellaneous Tax Unit was dismantled. Its firearms and tobacco tax responsibilities went to theATU. The Bureau of Internal Revenue became the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) we know today. Acknowledging a portion of ATU’s new burden, IRS renamed it the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division. This incarnation lasted until 1968 passage of the Gun Control Act, which gave to the laboratory, among other things, responsibility for explosives. The division title shifted to Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) Division. Title XI of the Organized Crime Control Act in 1970 (Title XI) formalized ATF Division explosives expertise. In the same year, moved by a growing perception that the IRS’s revenue-collecting bias did not reflect ATF Division’s enforcement skills, overtures began toward ATF independence.
Treasury Department Order No. 120-1 (originally No. 221), effective 1 July 1972, transferred to ATFfrom IRS those functions, powers and duties related to alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and explosives. (During the mid-1970s at Treasury’s direction ATF briefly assumed responsibility for wagering laws; that task returned to the IRS in less than 3 years.) Throughout the 1970s, based on determination that accelerants used in arson, when explosions might occur, meet Title XI’s definition of explosives, ATF began demonstrating in court its ability to prove arson. In the Anti-Arson Act of 1982, Congress amended Title XI to make it clear that arson is a federal crime, givingATF responsibility for investigating commercial arson nationwide.
ATF continues a mutually beneficial interface with its legitimate industries, while refining unique enforcement skills. With developments such as the state-of-the-art Integrated Ballistic Identification System (a computerized matching program for weapons and the ammunition fired from them), accelerant- and explosives/weapons-detection canines, and the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) program (which gives children the tools to resist membership in violent gangs),ATF leads and supports law enforcement internationally.
In its first quarter-century ATF has had only 4 Directors: Rex Davis, G.R. Dickerson, Stephen Higgins, and John Magaw. The director is appointed by the secretary of the Treasury, and reports to the under secretary (enforcement). ATF headquarters are in Washington, D.C., although most personnel and many ATF operations are decentralized throughout the country, with a few stations overseas. ATF agents, inspectors, and support staff are involved in investigating some of the most violent crimes in society, in regulating some of the most important and sensitive industries in America, and in collecting over $13 billion in annual revenue. ATF is a young federal agency, yet it is heir to the whole experience and proud tradition of “these United States.”
http://www.atf.gov/about/history/atf-from-1789-1998.html
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