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Do we need the Bureau of Alcohol Tabaco and Firearms?

Green Hornet

Green Hornet

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Recently on a different thread a poster, claimed the ATF could be totally eliminated as an agency of the Federal government. Is that a possibility?
 
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Green Hornet said:
Recently on a different thread a poster, claimed the ATF could be totally eliminated as agency of the Federal government. Is that a possibility?
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Probably, but BATFE (formed in 1972) is such a tiny federal agency ($1.5 billion annually?) compared to the education (ED or DoED) department (formed in 1980) with a much larger budget ($73 billion anually?). We have no lack of federal law enforcement agencies that could pck up the slack if BATFE was eliminated (or was never formed) but education is not even a federal constitutional power.
 
ttwtt78640 said:
Probably, but BATFE (formed in 1972) is such a tiny federal agency ($1.5 billion annually?) compared to the education (ED or DoED) department (formed in 1980) with a much larger budget ($73 billion anually?). We have no lack of federal law enforcement agencies that could pck up the slack if BATFE was eliminated (or was never formed) but education is not even a federal constitutional power.
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The real old days it was called The Bureau of Prohibition (Elliot Ness the untouchables). Then became the Alcohol Tax Unit,after Prohibition was repealed, they operated Nationwide but concentrated in the South on Moonshiners who's liquor was not taxed. It is a niche agency but I believe they are still needed.
 
Green Hornet said:
The real old days it was called The Bureau of Prohibition (Elliot Ness the untouchables). Then became the Alcohol Tax Unit,after Prohibition was repealed, they operated Nationwide but concentrated in the South on Moonshiners who's liquor was not taxed. It is a niche agency but I believe they are still needed.
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Their function, federal law enforcement, is needed but does not require so much administrative overhead. Examples of such government administrative inefficiency abound - Houston, TX has a single school district while San Antonio, TX (with a lower population) has 13 school districts, each with loads of administrative overhead.
 
Jesse Booth said:
As previously noted, they would be very easy to replace.
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Yes but how, and with who? And would there be a cost savings by absorbing them in to a different agency? Would it be in the best interest of the public safety to do so?
 
Green Hornet said:
Yes but how, and with who? And would there be a cost savings by absorbing them in to a different agency? Would it be in the best interest of the public safety to do so?
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I assume it would be merged with the FBI - it seems like the obvious choice. Merging the two would (in theory) make the bureaucracy just a little bit more navigable (like throwing snowballs into Hell to try and cool it down, amirite?), and it would likely save some amount of money, if from nothing other than some jobs being merged.
 
Jesse Booth said:
I assume it would be merged with the FBI - it seems like the obvious choice. Merging the two would (in theory) make the bureaucracy just a little bit more navigable (like throwing snowballs into Hell to try and cool it down, amirite?), and it would likely save some amount of money, if from nothing other than some jobs being merged.
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I like to see their website a little bit more navigable.
 
Who is going to supply guns to the Mexican cartels if the ATF goes away?
 
Get rid of the ATF right along with the DEA.
 
Why would we need it? The first one deals with a vice and the second one deals with a constitutional right.
 
Velvet Elvis said:
Oh, there's profit alright. ...just not the monetary kind.
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That is not the point; contributions are voluntary, taxes are mandatory. You do not like any non profit, just do not send them money. Removing an entire tax funded law enforcement agency is a different matter.
 
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