ATF’s Investigative Focus on Armed Career Criminals

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Last Updated on: 20th September 2023, 11:35 pm

ATF’s Mission to Lock Up Armed Career Criminals

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – or ATF for short – plays a big role in fighting gun violence and enforcing federal gun laws. A major part of their job is going after what they call “armed career criminals.” These are repeat offenders who keep using guns to commit violent crimes over and over again.

The Most Dangerous Gun Offenders

ATF focuses on investigating the offenders who pose the biggest danger to public safety. These include:

• Armed violent felons with long rap sheets
• Drug traffickers and narco-terrorists
• Violent gang members
• People who illegally traffic guns domestically and internationally

By arresting the worst trigger-pullers who are terrorizing neighborhoods, ATF aims to significantly cut down on violent crime and make communities safer.

Targeting Repeat Gun Offenders

A top priority for ATF is prosecuting career criminals under federal laws that force very long mandatory minimum prison sentences for repeat gun offenders:

• 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) sets mandatory minimums for possessing, brandishing, or shooting a gun during a violent crime or drug trafficking crime. Harsher minimums apply for second, third, etc convictions – up to mandatory life in prison.
• 18 U.S.C. § 924(e), also known as the Armed Career Criminal Act (ACCA), imposes a 15 year mandatory minimum sentence if a felon is caught with a gun after 3 or more convictions for violent felonies or serious drug crimes.

By prosecuting repeat offenders under these laws, ATF aims to take the very worst of the worst off the streets for many years. These career criminals account for a hugely disproportionate amount of shootings and murders. One study found career criminals commit new crimes at nearly twice the rate of other federal offenders after release. So locking them up enhances public safety and reduces violence in neighborhoods plagued by gun crime.

Stopping the Flow of Illegal Guns

In addition to targeting individual career criminals, ATF agents work hard to disrupt gun trafficking – the illegal supplying of firearms to people who can’t legally have guns. Shutting down pipelines of illegal guns cuts off easy access for criminals and is an effective way to reduce violence.ATF uses many techniques to identify and dismantle trafficking networks:

• Firearm tracing – tracking a gun’s history from manufacture to sale to find out how it got into the wrong hands
• Undercover stings – posing as illegal buyers or sellers to infiltrate gun rings
• Surveillance – monitoring suspects to gather evidence of unlawful sales
• Informants – getting inside sources to provide tips on operations
• Data analysis – detecting patterns in trace data to identify sources of crime guns

These methods allow ATF to figure out how guns move from legal to illegal markets and identify traffickers breaking laws like:

• 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(1)(A) – Dealing guns without a license
• 18 U.S.C. § 922(a)(6) – Lying on firearm purchase forms
• 18 U.S.C. § 924(n) – Transporting guns across state lines to commit a crime

Partnering with Local Police

ATF collaborates extensively with local police departments to identify violent gun offenders and reduce shootings. Some key initiatives:

• Crime Gun Intelligence Centers – Fusion centers analyzing trace data to guide operations
• National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) – Database linking recovered bullets and casings to detect gun sharing between crimes
• ATF Task Forces – Multi-agency teams combining resources and expertise to take down traffickers and arrest dangerous criminals

Sharing information and capabilities helps identify offenders who can be charged federally.

Concerns About Fairness and Efficiency

While ATF’s focus on career criminals aims to reduce gun violence, some valid issues arise:

• Disparate impact – Mandatory minimums disproportionately affect minority offenders
• Net-widening – Low-level offenders get swept up instead of concentrating on the worst criminals
• Overburdened courts – Huge numbers of §924(c) and ACCA cases overload the system
• Diminishing returns – Long sentences provide limited added safety benefit versus moderate terms
• Legal issues – Vague definitions of qualifying prior offenses under ACCA

Critics argue ATF’s harsh sentencing approach unfairly and inefficiently imprisons too many people for excessive time. But keeping the most violent armed felons off the streets remains a high priority.

Moving Forward

ATF’s focus on career criminals and traffickers seems like a reasonable strategy to reduce gun violence. But some changes could improve effectiveness and fairness:

• Improving data to better target only the most violent repeat offenders
• Focusing federal charges on offenders with longer, more serious criminal histories
• Establishing diversion programs for low-level straw purchasers instead of prison
• Increasing funding for reentry programs to reduce recidivism
• Promoting collaboration between ATF and community anti-violence initiatives

With some adjustments, ATF’s robust enforcement paired with preventative community programs could significantly enhance public safety and justice.