Posts Tagged bureaucracy

ATF Elimination Act Introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner

From Rep. Sensenbrenner:

Today, Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner reintroduced the ATF Elimination Act, legislation that would dissolve the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and merge its exclusive duties into existing federal agencies.

Additionally, the Act calls for an immediate hiring freeze at the agency and requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to eliminate and reduce duplicative functions and waste, as well as report to Congress with a detailed plan on how the transition will take place. Further, it would transfer enforcement of firearms, explosives and arson laws to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and illegal diversion of alcohol and tobacco products would be transferred to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA).

Under this bill, the DEA and FBI would be required to submit to Congress a plan for winding down the affairs of the ATF after no more than 180 days, and field offices, along with other buildings and assets of the ATF, would be transferred to the FBI. It would have one year to report excess property to the General Services Administration (GSA).

Congressman Sensenbrenner: “Despite our country being trillions of dollars in debt, government spending continues to rise. Common sense budgeting solutions are necessary, and the ATF Elimination Act is one measure we can take to reduce spending, redundancy, and practice responsible governance. The ATF is a scandal-ridden, largely duplicative agency that has been branded by failure and lacks a clear mission. It is plagued by backlogs, funding gaps, hiring challenges, and a lack of leadership. These facts make it a logical place to begin draining the swamp and acting in the best interest of the American taxpayer.”

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ATF Reclassifies Key Ammo Component Without Warning

UPDATE 9/1/2016:

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has walked back an announcement it now viewed wetted nitrocellulose as a high explosive and will work with the firearms industry on clarification.

From Ammoland:

ATF’s sudden and unexpected change in policy on wetted nitrocellulose will likely have a significant impact on industry’s ability to deliver products to the military and commercial markets. Industry members have relied on the exemption for wetted nitrocellulose for many years and are aware of no accidental detonations or diversion of this product into illicit channels. Consequently, it is unclear why ATF believed it necessary to change its policy and, more importantly, why ATF announced the change in a newsletter article with no advance notice to industry.

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Armed Bureaucrats Now Outnumber U.S. Marines

From The Washington Free Beacon:

The “Militarization of America” report found civilian agencies spent $1.48 billion on guns, ammunition, and military-style equipment between 2006 and 2014. Examples include IRS agents with AR-15s, and EPA bureaucrats wearing camouflage.

“Regulatory enforcement within administrative agencies now carries the might of military-style equipment and weapons,” Open the Books said. “For example, the Food and Drug Administration includes 183 armed ‘special agents,’ a 50 percent increase over the ten years from 1998-2008. At Health and Human Services (HHS), ‘Special Office of Inspector General Agents’ are now trained with sophisticated weaponry by the same contractors who train our military special forces troops.”

Open the Books found there are now over 200,000 non-military federal officers with arrest and firearm authority, surpassing the 182,100 personnel who are actively serving in the U.S. Marines Corps.

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Veterans Choice Bill

From MilitaryTimes.com:

Under the bill, any veteran who uses VA health services would be able to use Veterans Choice, a program introduced last year that allows veterans to seek treatment at private health facilities if they live more than 40 miles from a VA facility or have to wait more than a month for an appointment.

That doesn’t go far enough. No veteran should be required to use the VA if they don’t want to. They should be given the money for their healthcare directly or via vouchers and they should be able to decide for themselves where they get their care.

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Military Ordered To Make “Climate Change” A Priority

From The Washington Times:

The Pentagon is ordering the top brass to incorporate climate change into virtually everything they do, from testing weapons to training troops to war planning to joint exercises with allies.

It says the military will not be able to maintain effectiveness unless the directive is followed. It orders the establishment of a new layer of bureaucracy — a wide array of “climate change boards, councils and working groups” to infuse climate change into “programs, plans and policies.”

 

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Nearly a Quarter of a Million Veterans Died Waiting For Care From VA

From RT:

A leaked document shows nearly one-third of the 847,000 veterans in the Department of Veteran Affairs’ backlog died while waiting for treatment, amounting to more than 238,000 patients, according to documents obtained by the Huffington Post.

 

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Interview With Edward Snowden

Interview from Harvard University:

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MN Democrat Proposes Eliminating ATF

From The Gun Mag:

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel first reported the congressman’s proposal which came months after that newspaper did a scathing expose of an ATF storefront sting operation in three states, including Wisconsin that used at least one developmentally disabled person.

Sensenbrenner’s office said the bill is still being crafted. He also suggested that ATF functions could be absorbed by other agencies such as the FBI and US Marshals or DEA.

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“The F-35 Is A Turkey” Says Designer Of The F-15

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Local News Report On Bundy Ranch Aftermath

8 News NOW

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ATF Arbitrarily Going After Legal Gun Parts

From World Net Daily:

…I cringe every time I hear someone who supposedly supports gun rights – from politicians to the head of the NRA – calling for the feds to “enforce the laws already on the books.” The fact is, the gun laws that are already on the books are a labyrinth of confusion and booby-traps full of open-ended mandates, ambiguous definitions and unbridled bureaucratic discretion.

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ATF Seeking Comments on Revising Form 5320.1 (SBR/SBS)

The ATF is trying to make the process easier for applicants and the ATF itself. From Guns.com:

What are the proposed changes?  They’re simple, really.  They want to accept electronic payments to pay the transfer tax by credit or debit card.  They also want to reduce redundancy by combing information currently captured on another form.  And they want to change the size of the form itself to 8.5 x 14.

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