The Founding Fathers, who never envisioned an armed national police force, would surely give overwhelming support to U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter's call to disband the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.
For decades, the ATF has been a lightning rod for citizen resentment of government arrogance and abuse. And for good reason.The ATF thrives on a free-wheeling, door-busting cowboy culture that has outraged citizens from petty lawbreakers to presidents. The ATF's duties should be parceled out to other agencies that have earned more public respect.
Before Feb. 28, 1993, when nearly 80 ninja-clad ATF agents launched a fatal military-style assault on David Koresh's Mount Carmel compound east of Waco, I never gave this branch of federal police a second thought. But it didn't take long to learn that ATF officials were quite willing to publicly mislead, lie and cover up. They responded to legitimate criticism with ridicule and sarcasm.
A subsequent investigation found that ATF officials had indeed lied and covered up. Congressional hearings revealed the same, and more. Two ATF operation officials were fired. But they were quickly reinstated with full back pay and benefits by the new ATF director who was supposed to spiff up the agency's out-of-control public image.
ATF actions at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, initiated the deadly siege there. That was a year before ATF actions initiated the deadly siege here. Jurors in the Ruby Ridge trial felt ATF agents had entrapped white separatist Randy Weaver, who was acquitted of all charges except failure to appear for a court hearing. The government later awarded a $3.1 million settlement to Weaver and his children.
So when Specter, who held congressional hearings into the botched siege at Ruby Ridge, says that the ATF "has outlived its usefulness," he's right. "They went overboard. They went to extremes," he said.
The ATF and its predecessors have long been condemned for going overboard. ATF roots can be traced to the violent Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 and later to Prohibition. ATF forerunner Eliot Ness used tax laws to bust Al Capone. But the public was not so supportive of the agents' use of doorbusting tactics against minor Prohibition lawbreakers.
ATF forerunners were the revenuers whose high-speed chases and guerrilla warfare tactics against moonshiners in the rural South became legendary. These Treasury agents were picked to enforce the first explosive and gun-control laws in the 1930s. They also acted as bill collectors for the IRS.
Former Treasury Secretary John Connally ordered an investigation into the ATF after public criticism of a 1971 raid on a Maryland man's home based on bad information from a burglary informant. The homeowner, who had no illegal weapons, was shot and paralyzed. Former President Ronald Reagan attempted to disband the ATF.
The ATF also is under siege from within. It faces serious race and sex discrimination charges from its own agents.
In more recent years, the ATF has become the favorite whipping boy of Second Amendment gun zealots and the nation's growing militia movement. The demonization of the ATF by extremists is unfortunate because it detracts from legitimate criticism made by reasonable citizens who believe the ATF is the poster child for government run amok.
The ATF has been assigned important duties. But it would be better to assign those duties to agencies not in the thrall of their own cowboy culture.