10 things the ATF
doesn't want you to know

By Lee Williams. Mar 30, 2023

The Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms recently called on Congress to block funding for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives until “Democrats and federal bureaucrats publicly recognize Second Amendment rights of law-abiding citizens, and stop their attacks on legal gun ownership.”

If they lose all or part of the $1.9 billion Joe Biden wants to give them in his FY2024 budget proposal, the ATF only has itself to blame. The agency writes its own laws and then overzealously enforces them – a fact that has finally caught the attention of a few courts. The ATF is out of control and seemingly immune from the normal checks and balances other federal law enforcement agencies face.

While many of its foibles are well known, especially those that resulted in the deaths of innocent Americans, here are a few blunders and little-known facts the ATF would prefer you keep quiet.

Non-serialized firearms

The ATF does not distinguish between homemade firearms, which do not legally require a serial number, and factory-made firearms that have had their serial numbers illegally altered, defaced or removed by criminals. The ATF considers all firearms without a legible serial number to be “ghost guns.” The ATF has been manipulating the statistics on “ghost guns” since the term was invented. It should be noted that building homemade firearms is perfectly legal in most free states.

Administrative charges

The majority of ATF’s criminal charges are filed administratively after another law enforcement agency has made an arrest. When police arrest an armed criminal with a previous felony conviction – a prohibited person – they may ask ATF to pursue federal charges, which usually carry a stiffer penalty than state charges. .....