Michael Wragg Self Jr.
Criminal Justice 101
University of South Carolina: Sumter
Abstract
This simple research paper will briefly explain the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives (ATF). The reader will learn about the history of the ATF and how it has expanded into the Bureau it is today. The ATF also has many career opportunities beginning with internships all the way to an ATF special agent. The reader will better understand regulations regarding ammunition for all firearms and explosives. It is important for all citizens to know the laws of the state they reside in if he/she plans to use/own a firearm. Sports enthusiasts and citizens with firearm training …show more content…
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, & Explosives is referred to as the ATF. The ATF is covered under the Department of the Treasury and is “the oldest tax-collecting Treasury agency when Congress imposed a tax on imported spirits to help pay the Revolutionary War debt in 1789 (allgov).” Citizens to this day do not like being taxed but due to the war debt “the unpopular tax imposed on distilled spirits led to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 (Britannica).” At that time, administration of duties was within the Treasury Department and Congress created an Office of Internal Revenue and in “1863 authorized enforcement measures within the Office to aid in collecting and offsetting criminal evasion, and soon after added legal counsel for prosecution-both features that continue under today’s ATF (allgov).” The ATF really began to take shape during the era of Prohibition. “Criminal investigations of internal revenue laws became more prominent and were organized under the Prohibition Unit in 1920 and the Treasury Department elevated the Unit to bureau status in 1927 (allgov).” Ten years later “Congress transferred penal provisions of the prohibition act from …show more content…
Imagine how fast the corruption of illegal firearm/ammunition smuggling and unregulated tobacco and alcohol would prevail if the United States and its Congress had not enacted the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and