U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
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Annual budget:	$1.5 billion (2022)
Total employed:	5,099 (2022)
Year created:	1972
Official website:	Office website

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is a United States agency formed in 1972 in the U.S. Department of Justice that "protects our communities from violent criminals, criminal organizations, the illegal use and trafficking of firearms, the illegal use and storage of explosives, acts of arson and bombings, acts of terrorism, and the illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products."^[1]

History[edit]

Administrative State
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The passage of the 21st Amendment created the need to ensure taxes were collected on illegal stores of alcohol made during Prohibition. The agency charged with fighting organized crime during Prohibition, the Bureau of Prohibition, was transformed into the Alcohol Tax Unit (ATU) to be a part of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in order to break up illegal distilleries and organized liquor rackets. In 1941, the ATU was charged with enforcing the National Firearms Act and the Federal Firearms Act, which regulated firearms, placed regulations on firearm markets and sellers, required licensing for merchants and producers and created records of firearms.^[2]

The Gun Control Act of 1968 created stronger regulations on firearms in the wake of the assassinations of President John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The ATU was reorganized into the Alcohol Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD) and charged with enforcing the Gun Control Act, which banned felons from owning firearms as well as providing the first federal regulations over "destructive devices," such as bombs and explosives. The ATF became an independent agency in 1972 under Treasury Department Order 221. The ATF and Federal Bureau of Investigation were given joint responsibility to enforce the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act, which required criminal background checks prior to receiving a firearm license in 1993. The Homeland Security Act of 2002, which formed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, reorganized the ATF under the U.S. Department of Justice in 2003.^[2]

Investigations[edit]

• The ATF investigated the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 and arrested five people behind the bombing that left six dead and more than one thousand injured.^[2]

• In 1993, the ATF issued warrants on firearms believed to be at a religious compound in Waco, Texas. On February 28, the ATF raided the compound inhabited by the Branch Davidians, which resulted in the deaths of five Davidians and four ATF agents before the FBI took over for a 51 day standoff. On April 19, after tear gas was shot into the building, the compound burned down with the Branch Davidians inside. It was unclear whether the Davidians started the fire or if it resulted from the tear gas.^[3]

• ATF agents were present in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that was bombed on April 19, 1995. The ATF assisted in the investigation of the bombing.^[2]

• ATF agents contributed to investigations in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C. and New York City after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.^[2]

Structure[edit]

Mission[edit]

The official ATF mission statement is as follows:

Analysis[edit]

Budget[edit]

Biden administration[edit]

Trump administration[edit]

Obama administration[edit]

Recent news[edit]

This section links to a Google news search for the term Bureau + Alcohol + Tobacco + Firearms + Explosives

See also[edit]

• U.S. Department of Justice
• Steven Dettelbach
• Thomas Brandon
• B. Todd Jones

External links[edit]

• Official ATF website
• ATF Twitter feed
• ATF Youtube channel

Footnotes[edit]

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United States Terms Adjudication (administrative state) • Administrative judge • Administrative law • Administrative law judge • Administrative state • Arbitrary-or-capricious test • Auer deference • Barrier to entry • Bootleggers and Baptists • Chevron deference (doctrine) • Civil servant • Civil service • Code of Federal Regulations • Codify (administrative state) • Comment period • Compliance costs • Congressional Record • Coordination (administrative state) • Deference (administrative state) • Direct and indirect costs (administrative state) • Enabling statute • Ex parte communication (administrative state) • Executive agency • Federal law • Federal Register • Federalism • Final rule • Formal rulemaking • Formalism (law) • Functionalism (law) • Guidance (administrative state) • Hybrid rulemaking • Incorporation by reference • Independent federal agency • Informal rulemaking • Joint resolution of disapproval (administrative state) • Major rule • Negotiated rulemaking • Nondelegation doctrine • OIRA prompt letter • Organic statute • Pragmatism (law) • Precautionary principle • Promulgate • Proposed rule • Publication rulemaking • Regulatory budget • Regulatory capture • Regulatory dark matter • Regulatory impact analysis • Regulatory policy officer • Regulatory reform officer • Regulatory review • Rent seeking • Retrospective regulatory review • Risk assessment (administrative state) • Rulemaking • Separation of powers • Significant regulatory action • Skidmore deference • Statutory authority • Substantive law and procedural law • Sue and settle • Sunset provision • Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions • United States Code • United States Statutes at Large Bibliography "Administrative Law - The 20th Century Bequeaths an 'Illegitimate Exotic' in Full and Terrifying Flower" by Stephen P. Dresch (2000) "Confronting the Administrative Threat" by Philip Hamburger and Tony Mills (2017) "Constitutionalism after the New Deal" by Cass R. Sunstein (1987) Federalist No. 23 by Alexander Hamilton (1787) "From Administrative State to Constitutional Government" by Joseph Postell (2012) "Interring the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Eric A. Posner and Adrian Vermeule (2002) "Rulemaking as Legislating" by Kathryn Watts (2015) "The Checks & Balances of the Regulatory State" by Paul R. Verkuil (2016) "The Myth of the Nondelegation Doctrine" by Keith E. Whittington and Jason Iuliano (2017) "The Progressive Origins of the Administrative State: Wilson, Goodnow, and Landis" by Ronald J. Pestritto (2007) "The Rise and Rise of the Administrative State" by Gary Lawson (1994) "The Study of Administration" by Woodrow Wilson (1887) "The Threat to Liberty" by Steven F. Hayward (2017) "Why the Modern Administrative State Is Inconsistent with the Rule of Law" by Richard A. Epstein (2008) Agencies Administrative Conference of the United States • United States Civil Service Commission • U.S. Government Accountability Office • U.S. Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs • U.S. Office of Management and Budget