Even ATF employees fed up with corruption and incompetence

September 9, 8:02 AMGun Rights ExaminerDavid Codrea

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On Monday, we asked if the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives could be reformed, citing companion bills in the Senate and House backed by the National Rifle Association that promise to roll back certain restrictions and moderate penalties for minor violations.

Yesterday, we examined a campaign created by Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. Their bottom line: "Boot the BATFE."

No doubt many will consider this an unrealistic goal, and deem the likelihood of generating enough support to make it happen remote without revolutionary changes from the way government exerts control now. That doesn't mean it shouldn't be a goal. Besides, at this point, the NRA-backed bills have only attracted 174 cosponsors in the House and 12 in the Senate. Some might tell us passage of such legislation in this administration is also an impossible dream. And those efforts would still leave us under the thumb of an agency with a history of heavy-handed corruption and incompetence.

So what can we do--right now--that has a reasonable chance of making headway? Fortunately, there is something--and it comes from what many will consider two unlikely sources.

The first is CleanUpATF.org, a group of ATF employees who formed:

a non-profit organization dedicated to returning integrity, accountability and decency to the management of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE or "ATF").

Why?

In recent years, ATF management has become widely and officially known for corruption, self-service, and at times, overt incompetence...In the last two years alone, there have been nearly 400 employee complaints. In an organization with only about 5,000 employees...Recently publicized cases have involved malicious and carefully orchestrated management campaigns to smear, discredit, and professionally destroy agents who have repeatedly risked their lives for ATF and the public, solely in reprisal for the filing of legitimate complaints...The Bureau's leadership has also miserably failed or even deliberately refused to meet its responsibility to protect highly decorated undercover agents from documented threats...

Their conclusion?

All of these factors substantially degrade BATFE's ability to accomplish its authorized missions, and constitute an inexcusable misuse of taxpayer resources.

So what am I suggesting? Sympathy for government workers who complain that because of this, "they have little time to actually enforce the nation's firearms and other laws"?

Not at all. And while there is a suggestion to exploit this to our advantage, it's not mine. It's Mike Vanderboegh's.

I'll tell you about it tomorrow. 

Filed by David Codrea/Gun Rights Examiner: 09 September 2009