Sunday, April 10, 2011

Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

Chris ex Machina comments:

Oh, and why is there a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms anyway? That makes as much sense as having a Bureau of Coal, Petroleum and Citrus Fruit.
Well, it has to do with the potential to bring in money, mostly. I probably shouldn't mention this, but they could probably bring in more money with a Bureau of Sex, Drugs, and Rock-N-Roll. The administration of these items is currently diffused between HHS, FDA, FBI, and the Trial Lawyers Assn.

H/T to Law Dog for the pointer.

3 comments:

Brad K. said...

Billll,

There is a fairly lucid description of the orgins of today's BATFE, even though the organization no longer collects alcohol or tobacco taxes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bureau_of_Alcohol,_Tobacco,_Firearms_and_Explosives

Personally, I think a very good first step in unwinding the ATF would be to dissolve the Dept of Homeland Security.

Billll said...

Yes, it started out as a tax collection agency in charge of collecting taxes on things that didn't need to be taxed explicitly. I mean that once you've paid the sales tax, the government should have no further interest.
The nice thing about "sin taxes" is that it's difficult to get the sinners to stand up and argue against them. Alcohol, for example.
Same thing with "nuisance" laws. Declare something a nuisance because it doesn't fit the model of a nice quiet neighborhood, and it becomes difficult to find defenders, even among people who enjoy noisy hot rods or having a nearby shooting range.
And yes, if we were to break down Jamie Gorlich's wall of separation between the FBI and the CIA, at least to the point of letting them share information, we wouldn't need the DHS at all.

Brad K. said...

Billll,

Actually, I do understand why the FBI and CIA have different missions - the FBI should be focused on laws and events in the US, amongst citizens or between citizens and visitors.

The CIA should be focused on strategic and tactical information between nations.

But I don't understand the mind set that permits gun-toters to raid the budget of unaffiliated responsibilities - like disaster planning.

Perhaps we need a three-step process; 1) Fold the ATF and IRS enforcement into Homeland Security; 2) Break out FEMA to stand on its own; and 3) shut Homeland Security down.

I cannot wait for President Obama to claim, "We cannot afford to cut back on government employment with unemployment so high."