B. Todd Jones was confirmed as director of the ATF last year, after the agency went for seven years without a permanent director. Credit: Associated Press

SHARE Backfire

A Journal Sentinel investigation uncovered mistakes and failures in an undercover sting in Milwaukee's Riverwest neighborhood by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives – stolen guns, sensitive documents lost, wrong people charged and a burglary of the sting storefront. Go to section.

By of the

A proposal to eliminate the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is drawing opposition from groups that typically sit on opposite sides of the gun debate.

The idea, advanced last week by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and a left-leaning think tank, also is drawing support from powerful Republicans, and some Democrats are indicating a willingness to at least discuss the idea.

A longtime former top ATF supervisor said his former employer is hobbled by a lack of supervision and leadership and folding it into the FBI and other agencies has merit.

"I am not surprised by the proposed bill because of the leadership failures, especially in the past few years," said James Zammillo, who retired as deputy assistant director of field operations for industry operations at the ATF. "How long do you allow it go on until you have to take this route? I don't know what the other options are."

B. Todd Jones was confirmed as director of the ATF last year, after the agency went for seven years without a permanent director. A spokeswoman for the ATF said last week the agency would not comment on Sensenbrenner's proposal without seeing a bill's language. A bill has not been drafted. She did not return calls for comment.

Sensenbrenner's proposal accomplished the rare feat of uniting gun control and gun rights groups.

The National Shooting Sports Foundation, Everytown for Gun Safety and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence all came out against dissolving the ATF.

"While we agree that ATF has had a number of high-profile missteps, we do not believe these shortcomings rise to the level of warranting disbanding the ATF," said Larry Keane, vice president and general counsel for the National Shooting Sports Foundation.

"We do believe that ATF is in need of stronger leadership and that is why NSSF supported the nomination of B. Todd Jones in hopes that he could provide that leadership, just as we supported the nomination of Michael Sullivan who was nominated by President Bush but not confirmed."

The Brady Campaign and Everytown also called for giving Jones more time. Brian Malte, senior national policy director for the Brady Campaign, said the agency has been hobbled by the lack of a director for nearly seven years. He said rather than cutting the agency, Congress should provide it more funds.

"We are very confident Todd Jones can do the job. But he needs the time and resources," Malte said.

The National Rifle Association, a heavyweight on Capitol Hill, has yet to weigh in on Sensenbrenner's proposal. A spokesman did not return phone calls for comment.

Sensenbrenner has had the support of the NRA in the past. It's unclear if that will continue on this proposal. Gun rights groups opposed dissolving the ATF in the 1980s because of concern over how another agency would handle gun regulation.

In an interview Friday, Sensenbrenner said his legislation will not change gun laws, rather who is enforcing them.

"The way the legislation can be put together would prevent whatever agency that is supposed to track violations from infringing on Second Amendment rights," he said on the Jay Weber Show on WISN-AM (1130) radio.

Sensenbrenner also said he is hearing from Democrats and Republicans interested in the legislation.

History of incidents

The idea of eliminating the agency is not new. It was proposed in 1993 by Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) after the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, where four agents and 82 members of the sect died.

A year earlier the agency, along with the FBI and marshals, was involved with the deadly standoff at Ruby Ridge.

The ATF has had operational problems in recent years, including "Operation Fast and Furious," in which agents in Phoenix stood by as thousands of assault rifles passed into the hands of criminals and ended up at murder scenes, including one where a U.S. border guard was killed. Last year, a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel investigation uncovered a series of botched undercover storefront stings across the nation.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) said he supports Sensenbrenner's proposal. He said Jones has failed to hold people accountable in his short stint. For instance, Jones put senior ATF supervisor Bernard B.J. Zapor in charge of the Phoenix division after he oversaw the St. Paul division, which oversaw the botched Milwaukee sting, Chaffetz said.

"They have shown a series of bad management decisions and internal oversight is poor to none. We can't go through Fast and Furious and Operation Fearless and have another debacle like this," he said.

"It is fairly rare that the FBI embarrasses the nation, and ATF does this on a regular basis. I think they are good people doing a tough job but they need rock-solid training and policy, and I don't think they have that."

Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said he is concerned about the ATF's storefront operations in Milwaukee and elsewhere and wants to explore if there are ways to eliminate duplicative efforts by the ATF and other agencies.

"I look forward to reviewing the specifics of Congressman Sensenbrenner's proposal," Ryan said in a statement.

Over the years, several studies have been critical of the ATF's overlap with other law enforcement. At least two of those reports have called for the ATF to be dissolved and its responsibility folded into other federal agencies.

The left-leaning Center for American Progress, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank, joined that call after the Newtown school shootings, saying the ATF should be folded into the FBI.

The group said the mission of enforcing federal gun laws is too important to leave to a struggling agency like the ATF. And the center doesn't think the FBI would be as vulnerable to political influence as the ATF.

Group opposes proposal

The Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which represents federal law enforcement officers, including ATF employees, blasted Sensenbrenner's plan as a stunt that would make the public less safe and cost the government.

Folding ATF employees into another agency would require retraining and an extra, unnecessary layer of supervision, the group said. It also would raise a question of what to do with the ATF's new headquarters building in Washington.

"Any bill that calls for dismantling ATF would simultaneously dissolve a critical layer of enforcement and protection for the American public," the group's president, Jon Adler, said. "I respectfully ask that Congressman Sensenbrenner reconsider his proposal and the immediate dire consequences it would have on public safety."

Zammillo said dissolving the ATF will first require a careful review. There is overlap between ATF law enforcement operations and other agencies that would be eliminated, but there are other missions that are unique to the ATF that would need a new home, he said.

"All ATF operations would have to be studied to see where they best fit, but FBI could easily assume the responsibility for addressing criminal activity related to firearms and explosives," he said. "At this point, I do not see a down side."

Facebook fb.com/john.diedrich.79

Twitter twitter.com/john_diedrich