Darkman,

Hear, hear!! Anyone who trusts ANY part of our ‘benevolent’ government is either an idiot, or a beneficiary of said government. The old justification for the federal bureaucracy was that “only the government is big enough to oppose Big Business”. After it became obvious that Big Business had totally captured and controlled their so-called regulators, now the apparent ‘justification’ is that “they’re protecting US, they are doing what’s best for us” (which is nonsense on the face of it). NOBODY in government gives a wet fart about me or my interests – fortunately, I learned that many years ago. I’ve NEVER expected ‘the government’ to do anything but screw me over (and on that, it has been very consistent). But the ATF is a particularly vile and useless example.

Yes sir. I wish we could get Milei to take a chainsaw to it. We could probably ditch 80% of the non-military/non-VA employees, and most people wouldn’t notice. Instead of something like the Dept of Ed, just have something like a small advisory council. The administrative bloat is completely unnecessary, legitimately harmful, and a waste of money.

In my defense, I did literally say that they can’t be trusted, and that they’re immoral. My point was that even assuming a moral government, there’s no point in having the ATF. As bad as they are, I’m sure there are a few explosives, etc. specialists there that could be absorbed into the FBI.

Dude,

You trust the FBI???? Have you been paying attention???? The entire DoJ is a complete sh*tshow of partisan, politic discriminatory enforcement and prosecution, and it certainly is NOT just related to guns. Frankly, the whole concept of a Federal “police force” REALLY needs to be rethought. Please list me the crimes delegated by the Constitution to be enforced by the Federal government. Now reread the 10th Amendment, again, and ‘splain to me where this Federal police authority comes from, ’cause I sure as hell can’t find it.

They regarded ATF agents as the dregs: people who couldn’t get hired by FBI, DEA, IRS-CID, or any of the other “real” federal law enforcement agencies, or elite state law enforcement (e.g., Texas Rangers).

Bear in mind this was a generation ago, *before* the ATF got seriously politicized. Point is that since Prohibition ended, ATF agents have been regarded as a bad joke in law enforcement circles, and it only seems to be getting worse.

I guess ATF agents never have to chase after people like beat cops. Those jeans look a bit restrictive.

And yes, there’s no reason for the ATF to exist. Disband them completely, and the FBI can absorb their specialists. Yes, I know. The FBI can’t be trusted either. This is a morality problem.