Cigarettes, Alcohol and Guns: A History of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is part of the US Department of Justice. A federal law enforcement agency, the Bureau, also abbreviated as ATF, has 5000 workers and a yearly budget that comes out to $1.12 billion. The ATF is headed by Kenneth E. Melson, who is the acting director. The ATF’s acting deputy director is a man by the name of William J. Hoover.

Mission of the Bureau

Some of these duties of the ATF are preventing and investigating the commission of offenses that have to do with unlawful use, possession and manufacture of explosives and firearms. The ATF also gets involved in acts of bombings and arson and the trafficking of tobacco and alcohol products. Regulation is yet another of the responsibilities of the agency. It is responsible for regulating by licensing the possession, sale and transportation of ammunition, firearms and also explosives in interstate commerce. A lot of the activities of the ATF are carried out in cooperation with task forces that consist of local and state law enforcement people.

History

The ATF began its life as part of the US Department of the Treasury, being known as the Revenue Laboratory as far back as 1886 when it was still part of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. The agency got its name in 1968 due to the passage of the Gun Control Act. Then, its name was changed to the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division of the Internal Revenue Service. After the 2001 terror attacks in New York, then-president George W. Bush created the Department of Homeland Security, which moved the ATF from the Department of the Treasury to the Department of Justice. At that time, the agency’s name was expanded to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, yet it is still regularly referred to by its traditional acronym of the ATF.

Key Figures

The key figures at the ATF primarily relate to the different people who have been the directors at the Bureau over the years. The current head is Kenneth E. Melson, but other past directors have had more prominent involvement. For instance, former director Michael J. Sullivan was known for prosecuting airport employees at Logan Airport in Boston. These workers had committed deception regarding their nationality on their job applications. Another former director named John W. Magaw was highly decorated during his time as ATF director from 1993 to 1999. He was the recipient of the Presidential Rank Meritorious Award and the Presidential Rank Distinguished Award.

Regulation of Tobacco

The way that the ATF regulates tobacco is by attempting to lessen the activity of contraband cigarette trafficking. It also strives to divest any terrorist and criminal organizations of any money garnered from this illegal activity. By striving to stop this illegal activity, the ATF wants to reduce the amount of money that the States are losing due to this illegal activity. Financial investigations are another part of tobacco regulation, especially financial investigations in conjunction with tobacco diversion investigations that seek to deny additional access to funds used by terrorist and criminal enterprises. Another way it regulates tobacco is by opposing the encroachment of criminal enterprises into the legitimate tobacco industry.

Regulation of Firearms

With regards to firearms, the duty of the ATF is the regulation of the commerce of firearms all across the US. The ATF achieves this by issuing Federal Firearms Licenses, or FLLs, to sellers of firearms, and the agency also performs licensee inspections of firearms. Reducing gun violence across the country is another target area of focus for the Bureau. It aims to help reduce gun violence by centering on and then arresting violent offenders who have lawlessly been in possession of any firearms. The agency has a program by the name of the National Integrated Ballistic Identification Network. This program regulates firearms by offering support and assistance to local and state investigators.

Regulation of Alcohol

The regulation of alcohol is pursued by the ATF through a disruption strategy. This strategy works by trying to eliminate terrorist and criminal enterprises that want to engage in the trafficking of contraband liquor. The ATF strives for this by investigating, identifying and arresting any offenders who are involved in trafficking contraband liquor. The help that the ATF provides to government agencies at both the state and the local level are another integral part of how the Bureau performs its regulation of alcohol. The help that it provides agencies at the local and state level involves investigations into the interstate trafficking of liquor that is illegal.

Other Areas Bureau is Moving In To

The Bureau was traditionally established only to tackle crimes that related to alcohol, tobacco and firearms, but since 9/11 and George W. Bush, the agency has been tasked with also looking out for crimes that involve explosives. For example, the unlawful storage of and use of explosives is one area that the ATF has moved into over the last nine years, since the 2002 signing of the Homeland Security Act. Any criminal acts that also involve any bombings or arson are another are that the ATF has been covering with more focus. The agency classifies bombs, explosives and even the act of arson as destructive devices. The ATF has many tools that aid it in its endeavor, everything from explosive canines that sniff out explosives and their explosive residue to special agents who are called certified explosive specialists, who dispose of materials that are explosive and are trained in conducting investigations of explosives. Other tools at the ATF’s disposal include certified fire investigators who determine the cause and origin of fires; criminal investigative analysis that centers on the work of criminal profilers who assess criminal behavior and help out law enforcement agencies across the planet; and explosive enforcement officers who are the primary resource of the agency when it comes to the details of the technical matters and support in the crucial field of explosive materials, which includes things like the disposal of bomb-making materials.

To learn more about the ATF, see these links.

? Website of the ATF

? Justice Department Website

? Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau Website

? FBI Website

? Department of Homeland Security Website

? US Customs and Border Protection Website

? Treasury Department Website

? Non-Partisan ATF Watchdog Website

? ATF Employer Networking

? ATF History

? ATF and Jonestown