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Ashcroft's Control of ATF Concerns Both Sides of Gun Debate
By Michael L. Betsch
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 04, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - Alternately criticized and praised for being an ally of gun owners, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft now has authority over the firearms issues previously managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. (The agency was renamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Jan. 24, 2003.)
Anti-gun activists fear Ashcroft, in his added role, will be a weak enforcer of firearms laws while some libertarians worry that the attorney general will have too much power and might abuse it.
Since its inception over 200 years ago, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been responsible for regulating and collecting revenue for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. But September 11, 2001, marked a turning point in the federal agency's mission.
When President Bush signed the Homeland Security Bill last November, creating a new government agency to combat terrorism, it stipulated that the ATF would be split into two separate entities in 2003.
Last week, all ATF issues pertaining to firearms were assigned to the Department of Justice (DOJ) while those concerning alcohol and tobacco tax and trade remained under the auspices of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (ATTTB) within the Treasury Department.
The ATTTB will continue to operate within Treasury in nearly the same revenue enforcement role it has maintained since it collected the first excise tax on distilled spirits in 1791.
ATF officials recently assured the agency's 4,700 special agents, inspectors, regulatory specialists, forensic auditors and laboratory technicians that their day-to-day activities will remain unchanged under the DOJ. The most prominent change is the presence of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at the helm of the agency that has operated within the Treasury Department since 1972.
Gun control advocates fear that placing Ashcroft in charge of ATF will be detrimental to their efforts. Leah Barrett, executive director of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, accused Ashcroft of being "unabashedly the NRA's (National Rifle Association) poster boy."
Desmond Riley, a spokesman for The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) said his organization is concerned that Ashcroft's relationship with the NRA may compromise the ATF's ability to effectively enforce firearms laws.
"It's no secret he's a friend of the NRA," Riley said. "He received hundreds of thousands of dollars from NRA when he was running for Senate in Missouri."
Riley also complained about Ashcroft's interpretation of the Second Amendment.
"He doesn't agree with our view on gun control laws," Riley said. "He has his 'individual rights' interpretation of the Second Amendment."
Riley was referring to the May 17, 2001 letter from Ashcroft to NRA Executive Director James Jay Baker that defined Ashcroft's views on the Second Amendment.
Ashcroft wrote, "[L]et me state unequivocally...the Second Amendment clearly protect(s) the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms."
"I think it's a weird position for him to be in where he says there's an individual right, yet he's also going to have to defend existing gun control laws, including bans on handguns," Riley said. "We wonder how vigorously he will enforce them ... I know he said he would during his confirmation hearings, but we'll see what happens."
Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, dismissed the concerns of "gun controllers" such as Riley and the CSGV.
"The tone seemed to be that they were concerned with the regulatory functions," Waldron said. "Well, the regulatory functions are still alive and well within Treasury within the new Alcohol and Tobacco Tax [Trade Bureau]."
Waldron said the recent consolidation of the ATF under the DOJ appeared to make sense on paper, but cautioned "every American who believes in our constitutional form of government" to keep a close eye on the evolving agency.
"From a practical standpoint, I can understand the consolidation of criminal enforcement functions within the Justice Department," Waldron said. "On the other hand, by creating this super law enforcement function -- this consolidated function -- you're opening the door to the potential for abuse."
Waldron said Americans should remain watchful of Ashcroft in his oversight of the reorganized ATF to ensure that the power that citizens have entrusted to their elected and appointed officials is not abused.
"In the past, we Americans have prided ourselves in something that has made us different from the Europeans, among others, is we have no such thing as a national police force," Waldron said. "With the advent of the Department of Homeland Security and with the proposed expansion of government power to both detain people and to conduct searches that passed in the USA Patriot Act a year ago...the civil libertarian in me has concerns."
Ashcroft's Control of ATF Concerns Both Sides of Gun Debate
By Michael L. Betsch
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
February 04, 2003
(CNSNews.com) - Alternately criticized and praised for being an ally of gun owners, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft now has authority over the firearms issues previously managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. (The agency was renamed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives on Jan. 24, 2003.)
Anti-gun activists fear Ashcroft, in his added role, will be a weak enforcer of firearms laws while some libertarians worry that the attorney general will have too much power and might abuse it.
Since its inception over 200 years ago, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been responsible for regulating and collecting revenue for the U.S. Department of the Treasury. But September 11, 2001, marked a turning point in the federal agency's mission.
When President Bush signed the Homeland Security Bill last November, creating a new government agency to combat terrorism, it stipulated that the ATF would be split into two separate entities in 2003.
Last week, all ATF issues pertaining to firearms were assigned to the Department of Justice (DOJ) while those concerning alcohol and tobacco tax and trade remained under the auspices of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (ATTTB) within the Treasury Department.
The ATTTB will continue to operate within Treasury in nearly the same revenue enforcement role it has maintained since it collected the first excise tax on distilled spirits in 1791.
ATF officials recently assured the agency's 4,700 special agents, inspectors, regulatory specialists, forensic auditors and laboratory technicians that their day-to-day activities will remain unchanged under the DOJ. The most prominent change is the presence of U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft at the helm of the agency that has operated within the Treasury Department since 1972.
Gun control advocates fear that placing Ashcroft in charge of ATF will be detrimental to their efforts. Leah Barrett, executive director of Marylanders Against Handgun Abuse, accused Ashcroft of being "unabashedly the NRA's (National Rifle Association) poster boy."
Desmond Riley, a spokesman for The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence (CSGV) said his organization is concerned that Ashcroft's relationship with the NRA may compromise the ATF's ability to effectively enforce firearms laws.
"It's no secret he's a friend of the NRA," Riley said. "He received hundreds of thousands of dollars from NRA when he was running for Senate in Missouri."
Riley also complained about Ashcroft's interpretation of the Second Amendment.
"He doesn't agree with our view on gun control laws," Riley said. "He has his 'individual rights' interpretation of the Second Amendment."
Riley was referring to the May 17, 2001 letter from Ashcroft to NRA Executive Director James Jay Baker that defined Ashcroft's views on the Second Amendment.
Ashcroft wrote, "[L]et me state unequivocally...the Second Amendment clearly protect(s) the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms."
"I think it's a weird position for him to be in where he says there's an individual right, yet he's also going to have to defend existing gun control laws, including bans on handguns," Riley said. "We wonder how vigorously he will enforce them ... I know he said he would during his confirmation hearings, but we'll see what happens."
Joe Waldron, executive director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, dismissed the concerns of "gun controllers" such as Riley and the CSGV.
"The tone seemed to be that they were concerned with the regulatory functions," Waldron said. "Well, the regulatory functions are still alive and well within Treasury within the new Alcohol and Tobacco Tax [Trade Bureau]."
Waldron said the recent consolidation of the ATF under the DOJ appeared to make sense on paper, but cautioned "every American who believes in our constitutional form of government" to keep a close eye on the evolving agency.
"From a practical standpoint, I can understand the consolidation of criminal enforcement functions within the Justice Department," Waldron said. "On the other hand, by creating this super law enforcement function -- this consolidated function -- you're opening the door to the potential for abuse."
Waldron said Americans should remain watchful of Ashcroft in his oversight of the reorganized ATF to ensure that the power that citizens have entrusted to their elected and appointed officials is not abused.
"In the past, we Americans have prided ourselves in something that has made us different from the Europeans, among others, is we have no such thing as a national police force," Waldron said. "With the advent of the Department of Homeland Security and with the proposed expansion of government power to both detain people and to conduct searches that passed in the USA Patriot Act a year ago...the civil libertarian in me has concerns."
