The Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) is the
government agency charged with enforcing federal firearms laws. Unlike other
regulatory agencies, however, its powers are limited to licensing dealers,
manufacturers and importers and monitoring compliance with the few federal
controls that do exist.
Until recently, the ATF exhibited a distinct lack of regulatory zeal. Much of
this can be traced to its near dismantlement in the early 1980s, which was
exacerbated by 12 years of Republican administrations that--with their pro-gun
allies--viewed the agency as something of an embarrassment.
With the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980, the NRA launched an all-out
campaign to have the ATF abolished. The centerpiece of the effort was an NRA
film titled It Can't Happen Here, which painted a picture of the ATF as a gang of
jackboots. In the film, Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich., an NRA board member, charged
that "if I were to select a jackbooted group of fascists who are perhaps as large a
danger to American society as I could pick today, I would pick BATF. They are a
shame and a disgrace to our country."
In 1981, the Reagan administration announced that the ATF would be
disbanded, its firearms-enforcement activities curtailed and transferred to other
agencies. With no constituency among the public and virtually friendless on
Capitol Hill, the ATF appeared doomed. Bizarrely enough, it was rescued at the
11th hour by the NRA after the organization discovered that firearms enforcement
would be shifted to the Secret Service. Clearly, it was far better to have a cowed
ATF to kick around than to risk crossing swords with the well-respected lawmen
who protect the president.
The result of this was the development of a bureaucratic culture at the ATF
that strove to avoid controversy and that--when faced with enforcing
regulations--almost always took the most pro-industry interpretation possible.
Although the bureau was the focus of NRA and industry ire, few Americans knew
much about it until its failed raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco,
Texas, in February 1994. As a result of that incident, a clean sweep of the ATF's
Washington leadership, including Director Stephen Higgins, occurred.
With a new director and with support from the Clinton administration, the
ATF has begun to shake off the tarnish of Waco and emerge from its 12-year
regulatory coma. Despite it history, the ATF has the necessary expertise
and--with strong leadership and administration support--the will to effectively
regulate the firearms industry if granted appropriate powers.
Already the agency has begun to address problems that festered under prior
administrations. In August 1993, Clinton issued an executive order directing the
agency to be more aggressive in limiting Federal Firearms License to those
legitimately engaged in the business. Currently, the country has more gun dealers
than gas stations. This is the direct result of the license's historically low cost
($30 for three years) and easy availability (the ATF's background checks were once
so lax that the agency even issued licenses to dogs).
The ATF estimates that only 20 percent of the country's 245,000 gun
dealers actually operate businesses such as gun stores or sporting-goods outlets.
The remainder are "kitchen-table" dealers, operating out of their homes-often in
violation of local and state business, zoning and firearms laws. Of these nearly
200,000 dealers, an unknown number are involved in criminal gun trafficking. Four
months after the president's directive, the Federal Firearms License fee was raised
to $200 for three years in a last-minute addition to the Brady bill. And in January,
Treasury Secretary Lloyd Bentsen announced plans to push for reform of the ATF's
licensing procedures, including an increase in the annual licensing fee to $600.
