19 January 2023

Swing And A Miss

Representative Gaetz has introduced HR-374 to abolish the BATFE.

Here's the entire text from his office's website:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE

This Act may be cited as the "Abolish the ATF Act". 

SEC. 2. ABOLISHMENT OF THE BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS, AND EXPLOSIVES.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives is hereby abolished.

Matt, that ain't gonna fix a goddamn thing!

Who takes over for them?

The FBI?  IRS?  Coast Guard?

The problem isn't the agency, though they do suck, it's the laws they're empowered to enforce.

Eliminate the gun laws they're being abusive about, and the problem solves itself.

I hate to admit it, but nuking the entire BATFE is throwing the baby out with the bath water.

The E part of it is valuable.

8 comments:

  1. "The E part of it is valuable."

    I hate to disagree Angus, but no. I would love to be able to pickup a case of dynamite, blasting caps, and a detonator at the local hardware or farm supply store. Stumps, rocks, ledge, and tyrants could all be taken care of equally.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's the forensics lab of the E part of BATFE that I'm talking about. And the reasons it was peeled off the FBI and never returned are still valid.

      I don't want the FBI or IRS to assume any of the duties of ATF. As bad as they are, the potential replacements are far worse.

      Delete
    2. Also, the purchases you're talking about are more about the LAW, like I said, than the agency administering and regulating them.

      Delete
  2. I'm sort of the opinion that a lot of the federal agencies need to be reined in and/or removed altogether, and my experiences dealing with the ATF were neutral at best... But that was LONG ago and just a C&R license... Seeing the whole "create what are effectively laws by fiat/interpretation" is what bothers me about this one. Frankly I do not understand the "short barreled rifle" restriction to begin with, but I'm just an engineer/IT guy... Really like my old IBM carbine, but...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If you ban pistols the restrictions on the length of shotguns, rifles and others make more sense.

      The ban on pistols didn't pass, but the rest did.

      The situation we find ourselves in was ATF repealing the law for some kinds of SBR and the anti-gun forces noticed and had them change it back. I noticed that lots of pro-gun people didn't complain about it either. Especially when they OK'd using those braces from the shoulder.

      People cheered!

      Now they're going, "oh shit."

      Delete
  3. You have correctly identified part of the problem. Roll the "E" into the US Marshalls, or the NRC.
    Getting rid of BATFE alone isn't a perfect solution.
    And whatever's left afterwards should also have all LEO powers revoked, and be transmorgrified into clerical functions without any enforcement power.

    Then repeal the NFA, GCA, etc. etc.

    But it's going nowhere, so this is really just arguing about angels dancing on the head of a pin anyways. D.C> hasn't folded anything since the end of WWII, IIRC.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, it's the normal Republican pattern of submitting bills that won't go anywhere because they don't have a majority and / or the White House.

      Talk big when it won't change anything, capitulate to the other side when they have power.

      Delete
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    ReplyDelete

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