by Dave Workman | Senior Editor
For more than three decades, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has gotten a reputation as something of a cowboy operation or even a rogue agency over such incidents as Waco and Ruby Ridge, and operations Fast and Furious and “Fearless.” Now, veteran Wisconsin Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner is working on legislation that would dissolve the agency, merging its operations into other federal law enforcement entities, an aide confirmed in a telephone conversation with TGM.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel first reported the congressman’s proposal which came months after that newspaper did a scathing expose of an ATF storefront sting operation in three states, including Wisconsin that used at least one developmentally disabled person.
Sensenbrenner’s office said the bill is still being crafted. He also suggested that ATF functions could be absorbed by other agencies such as the FBI and US Marshals or DEA.
While the Waco blunder led to the loss of several lives, including many children at the Branch Davidian compound, Fast and Furious has become something of a debacle on a massive scale. Designed originally to trace gun trafficking, the operation flooded northern Mexico with guns purchased at various Arizona gun stores but “walked” across the border to drug cartels.
Some 2,000 guns were lost in the operation, and even today they continue to turn up at Mexican crime scenes. Some estimates have a body count in the hundreds in Mexico, but the highest-profile victim of guns linked to the operation was Border Patrol agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
It was that slaying that launched a probe by National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea and independent journalist/blogger Mike Vanderboegh. Former CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson and Fox News journalist William LaJeunesse also covered the scandal extensively, as did Gun Week, the predecessor of TGM.
Fast and Furious led to a series of Capitol Hill hearings before Congressman Darrell Issa’s House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. None of the key people involved ever lost their jobs, but some retired, including acting ATF Director Kenneth Melson. Subpoenaed documents relating to the scandal were given executive privilege by President Barack Obama, leading to considerable speculation that the White House was somehow involved in the operation to flood Mexico with American-source firearms, thus justifying further record-keeping requirements on long gun sales in four southwestern states, if not eventually nationwide.
In a statement to the Journal- Sentinel, Sensenbrenner noted, “By absorbing the ATF into existing law enforcement entities, we can preserve the areas where the ATF adds value for substantially less taxpayer money. While searching for its mission, the ATF has been plagued by decades of high-profile blunders…. We cannot afford to ignore clear changes that will greatly enhance the government’s efficiency.” However, Sensenbrenner’s is drawing opposition from groups that typically sit on opposite sides of the gun debate.
Sensenbrenner’s proposal accomplished the rare feat of uniting gun control and gun rights groups, said the Journal Sentinel. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence all came out against dissolving the ATF.
“While we agree that ATF has had a number of high-profile missteps, we do not believe these shortcomings rise to the level of warranting disbanding the ATF,” said Larry Keane, vice president and general counsel for NSSF. “We do believe that ATF is in need of stronger leadership and that is why NSSF supported the nomination of B. Todd Jones in hopes that he could provide that leadership, just as we supported the nomination of Michael Sullivan who was nominated by President Bush but not confirmed.” The Brady Campaign and Everytown also called for giving Jones more time. Brian Malte, senior national policy director for the Brady Campaign, said the agency has been hobbled by the lack of a director for nearly seven years. He said rather than cutting the agency, Congress should provide it more funds.
In a media interview, Sensenbrenner said his legislation will not change gun laws, rather who is enforcing them.
The idea of eliminating the agency is not new. It was proposed in 1993 by Rep. John Conyers (D- MI) after the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, TX, where four agents and 82 members of the sect died.
