So, think we will ever get rid of the 1968 GCA?

I don't see how its possible to rid ourselves of the GCA or the ATF ... but then again I would have bet more than I could afford to lose that the AWB would have been renewed and I would have made the same bet that Kansas (the state of my birth) would NEVER go "Shall Issue CCW".

The only chance that would happen is if we could get someone in office who actually cared about gun rights and had guns. The only politicians I can think of that would be willing to take on that issue while meeting the afore mention qualifications would be Rand or Ron Paul. Possibly Sarah Palin, but she has this Bush-esque quality about her, that makes me think that she would maintain the status-quo levels of gun control.:banghead:

Always worth a try. Keep fighting the good fight.

Life sure is funny and you just never know.

Ever since the Berlin Wall was torn down by folks with sledge hammers I'm a lot slower to say what's impossible.

I asked Ron Paul several years ago if there was a chance of getting rid of the ATF. His reply was that we probably would never rid ourselves of the pesky govt. bureaurocracy, BUT Congress could stop funding for it. That would be his approach. Stop paying the bills and it will go away.

I would say that the best way to defeat it would be massive non compliance.

But then you run the risk of your home being burned to the ground with men women and children inside, or you and your family being shot by government snipers.

Elect me president, we'll find out...

. . . could a president severely limit the ATF's power?

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I think you need to study up on how our system of government works as set up by the Constitution. Congress makes the laws, including those that create various government agencies such as ATF, and the annual budgets for the government including the operation of the ATF. The president is very limited in what he can do to contradict the will of legislature.

Congress holds the purse strings, but defunding ATF won't get rid of the actual law on the books.

Regarding the OP, no, not without something huge going down, like civil war.
Virtually every federal gun control measure, everyone of them, is a direct violation of the 2nd amendment, whats more, they know it!

A large percentage of the membership of this forum is opposed to the true intent of the US constitution, in most instances, they don't even know that they are....

I was under the impression that the ATF was an organization under the control of the POTUS, guess I was wrong.

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ATF is an agency in the executive branch, but it was created by Congress and is given a budget by Congress. The President can't refuse to spend the money which Congress has appropriated for the mission of an agency which Congress created.

It could be gotten ride of after some time. LOTS of time. We are in the very early stages of developing 2nd Amendment jurisprudence. We just don't know how far the Supreme Court will extend the right. It has only been a couple of years since we even affirmatively established an individual right. This type of thing happens very slowly. Maybe in 30 years from now, maybe longer, if the Court keeps extending 2nd Amendment protections, it will strike down the law.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is its own worst enemy. Its agents are not well regarded as a general rule by other agencies to include the FBI. Racism is endemic in the organization (just research the "Good Ole Boy Roundup") as well. The BATFE will eventually be eliminated once another Waco or Ruby Ridge type incident occurs. Between the internet and the level of frustration that has built up in this country any repeat of those two incidents would likely result in the complete legislative destruction of the agency. One way or another BATFE will implode; its agents and leadership simply cannot help themselves. BATFE has no legitimate Constitutional purpose and its leadership knows this. Can you imagine a Bureau of Speech, Assembly and Religion? Government works for the People and not the other way around; sometimes this is forgotten but eventually the wheel comes full circle.

As for the Gun Control Act of 1968, the Courts will never demolish it because they don't have the moral courage. I'm sorry to say it but life tenure for Justices has failed. The purpose behind it was to place Judges in a virtually unassailable position so they could make the correct legal decision without fear of arbitrary or capricious removal. The practical consequence has been to make federal courts and the Supreme Court in particular a law unto themselves. If GCA '68 is ever removed it will be as a consequence of legislative repeal, widespread nullification or as the consequence of a civil war in this country sparked by other events.

ATF is an agency in the executive branch, but it was created by Congress and is given a budget by Congress. The President can't refuse to spend the money which Congress has appropriated for the mission of an agency which Congress created.

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I thought I remembered a Supreme Court case that held that Congress could pass a law and fund implementation but could not compel the President to act on it. Jackson's refusal to relocate the Cherokee iirc. Could be wrong and can't look it up at the moment.

So, think we will ever get rid of the 1968 GCA?

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No, I do not. An entire generation has been raised now under the notion that 'reasonable gun laws' are OK, and the SCOTUS has now said as much in Heller. I cannot see how the basic framework of the GCA '68 would ever be construed as 'unreasonable', even when the DoJ's crime statistics would appear to show that it's had zero useful effect. Couple that with subsequent laws that build upon its framework (e.g. 'the Brady background check' building upon the GCA's notion of prohibited persons) and the reality seems to be that it's far too entrenched to go away in its entirety.

I think it will prove quite hard enough to keep the anti-RKBA folk from building upon it further (forcing all gun sales to go through FFLs, expanding the defintion of a prohibited person, and so forth).

Nope. Too many gun owners cherish the GCA and the ATF.

Glum

1968 Gun Control Act took guns and ammo out of Sears, JC Penney and Montgomery Ward stores, out of mainstream life, and into the dedicated gun shops, isolating the general public and the sports shooters.

When I was 13 to 16, kids took guns hunting and target practicing without cries of alarm; even in NYC students took rifles to shooting matches held by schools. Now you mention schoolkid and gun, people scream Columbine and zero tolerance.

The 1968 Gun Control Act changed America's relationship with guns, strangling the mainstream gun culture without affecting the gangster gun culture, doing to guns in 1968 what failed with alcohol in 1919 and marijuana in 1937. Repealing it will not undo the damage it has done.

Maybe is just a cold dreary morning, but I am glum about repeal of GCA healing what it has destroyed.

What Carl N. Brown said.

obama is going to do it in his second term

Hope springs eternal.....

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is its own worst enemy. Its agents are not well regarded as a general rule by other agencies to include the FBI.

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Shows how ignorant you are about fed LEOs. A few years ago the president of the Federal Law Enforcement Officer's Assocation (FLEOA) was a 29 year veteran of ATF, but is now retired and working in the private sector. That position is elected by the members. BTW, FLEOA is an organization started by FBI, USCS, IRS-CI, and INS agents, and a large percentage of it's membership is FBI agents.

The premise of the underlying authority for the '68 GCA is vulnerable. The premise for the underlying authority of the '34 NFA is even *more* vulnerable.

It'll take 20 years of legwork, and a successor to Alan Gura, but it can be done.

The fact that NFA is enforced is ridiculous. If you read the text, it only applies to items listed that will or have crossed state lines that are subject to tax (for interstate commerce)