The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives

On April 16, 2007, a 23-year-old student from Virginia Tech shot and killed 32 fellow students and teachers on a rampage that made U.S. history. The weapons of his choice were a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol and a Walther P22 semi-automatic pistol that he purchased legally from gun dealers. He then later purchased 10-round magazines from gun accessory dealers on eBay. This may not seem important but, the shooter was diagnosed as mentally ill and he still was approved to purchase guns. This incident is an issue because this shows that any other person that has mental issues will be allowed to purchase firearms and if they have mental issues to begin with they are capable of anything. The bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) specializes in regulating issues like the Virginia Tech shooting and the Columbine shooting. The ATF is a government agency that deals with the taxation of firearms and alcohol and the illegal usage of firearms and explosives. The ATF has been around since 1886 but they were known as The Revenue Laboratory and they mainly focused on taxation of alcohol and tobacco. With time and new issues arising the ATF adapted and eventually became the bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that we know now. The role that the ATF plays has also changed since it was first created. Instead of dealing with the illegal selling and distribution of alcohol and tobacco they now deal with terrorism also. Without the ATF there would not be any rules or regulations regarding the use of alcohol, tobacco, and firearms. They also have programs that try to reduce gun violence in communities. The ATF investigates previous issues that involve gun violence and from there they analyze what regulation or rule can be created to prevent the same issue from occurring. As time goes on and new incidents occur that is when the ATF comes in and figures out a way to prevent the same incident from occurring again. The Virginia Tech massacre is going to bring another reason why the ATF needs to regulate.

Since guns were invented there have always been gun violence. There are many examples that show gun violence since the early days. Two men angry at each other will resolve to the easy method of solving a problem and that is to shoot them. Society has a big effect in how people in the U.S. resort to shooting. All the wars promote gun violence and the government in certain ways makes shooting the American thing to do. This is why the ATF was created, so people will not get trigger-happy. The ATF tries to prevent gun violence by setting regulations on owning a gun and regulations on when using the gun. The agency created regulations like not allowing criminals to own guns legally or ex-offenders and not being allowed to carry a firearm with the person at all times, unless allowed by the government (Moore 93). Due to people dying from the illegal usage of firearms the ATF was created and given the authority to set rules and regulations to prevent illegal issues from happening.

Congress could not let their country kill themselves with illegal use of firearms so this is the reason they decided to create rules and regulations for the use of firearms. The economy would not function if citizens could legally walk around with firearms. If there were to be a confrontation the end result will be someone getting shot. Then society will be in fear and then chaos will happen. In a recent movie, The Lord of War, there are some examples of how some countries live in complete chaos due too everyone carrying around guns and having no regulations on firearms. Regulating the ownership and usage of firearms allows for a strong economy and safer streets.

The ATF reduces gun violence by investigating illegal gun activity and by doing that they are trying to keep illegal firearms out of the hands of people that are capable of killing innocent people. This is where the social part of regulation comes along. People would live in fear if everyone carried around a gun with them. When people get that kind of power, some tend to abuse that power. In this world people tend to believe that some things can be considered right and some of these actions are in reality unethical. An example of this is the Oklahoma bombing. The bomber thought what he was doing was right and he needed to do what he did. The ATF tries to reduce incidents like this that involve arson or explosives. The ATF does not only deal with firearms and explosives though. The ATF is also responsible in making sure alcohol and cigarette companies stay on the level. In 1999 the ATF made an argument to try and prevent wine companies from putting health claims on their labels without knowing detailed facts about the health claims (Skrzycki 128-131).

The mission statement of the ATF states, “dedicated to preventing terrorism, reducing violent crime and protecting out nation”, and this is the main problem that the ATF is trying