Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is a United States federal agency; more specifically a specialized law enforcement and regulatory organization within the United States Department of Justice. Its official abbreviation is "ATF", [1] however it is frequently also referred to as "BATF" or "BATFE". Its responsibilities include the investigation and prevention of federal offenses involving the unlawful use, manufacture, and possession of firearms and explosives, acts of arson and bombings, and illegal trafficking of alcohol and tobacco products. The ATF also regulates via licensing, the sales, possession, and transportation of firearms, ammunition, and explosives in interstate commerce. Many of ATF's activities are carried out in conjuction with task forces made up of state and local law enforcement officers, such as Project Safe Neighborhoods. ATF operates a one-of-a-kind fire research laboratory in Ammendale, Maryland, where full-scale mock-ups of criminal arsons can be reconstructed.
Organizational history
The ATF was formerly part of the United States Department of the Treasury, having been formed in 1886 as the "Revenue Laboratory" within the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue. The history of ATF can be subsequently traced to the time of the "revenoors" [2] and the Bureau of Prohibition, which was formed as a unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1920, was made an independent agency within the Treasury Department in 1927, was transferred to the Justice Department in 1928, and became, briefly, a subordinate division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 1933.
When the Volstead Act was repealed in December 1933, the Unit was transferred from the Department of Justice back to the Department of the Treasury where it became the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Special Agent Eliot Ness and several members of "Untouchables", who had worked for the Prohibition Bureau while the Volstead Act was still in force, were transferred to the ATU. In 1942, responsibility for enforcing federal firearms laws was given to the ATU.
In the early 1950s, the name of the Bureau of Internal Revenue was changed to "Internal Revenue Service" (IRS). As early as the year 1929, however, the Bureau of Internal Revenue had begun using the name "Internal Revenue Service" on at least one tax form. The ATU was given the additional responsibility of enforcing federal tobacco tax laws. At this time, the name of the ATU was changed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD).
In 1968, with the passage of the Gun Control Act, the agency changed its name again -- this time to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division, still a part of the IRS, and first began to be referred to by the initials "ATF". In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed an Executive Order creating a separate Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms within the Treasury Department.
In the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In addition to creating of the Department of Homeland Security, the law shifted ATF (and its investigative and regulatory inspection functions) from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department. The agency's name was changed to the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives" in recognition of the agency's role in explosives regulation and enforcement; the Bureau retained, however, the use of its original acronym, "ATF", for all purposes. Additionally, task of collection of federal tax revenue derived from the production of tobacco and liquor products originally handled by ATF was transferred to the newly established Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which remained within the Treasury Department. The Ballistics department assumed the job of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). These changes took effect January 24, 2003.
