You have had a Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco,and now have the 'Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives" in the U.S. What linked these subjects in the first place, so they were put under the one bureau ? Was it cause of death per thousand Americans, starting with the highest , in order of occurrence ?
As a matter of interest, would the first three be the first three on that reckoning? How do they rank? No doubt the Department of Transportation reports some high figures too.
N.B.That list is nothing Until c 1970 the three Divisions of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (" The High Court") were 1)Queen's Bench 2) Chancery and 3)Probate , Divorce and Admiralty. The last was still functioning when I started out (as was a delightfully named, if mysterious, official entitled "the Master in Lunacy" ). It was known in the trade as "Wills, Wives and Wrecks" but it was never obvious what the link between these three was (The boring reason was not, as we youngsters suspected, that these were left over after the other work was dished out in 1875, but that all three were originally based in ancient Roman and thence Ecclesiastical Law)
The ATF was formerly part of the United States Department of the Treasury, having been formed in 1886 as the "Revenue Laboratory" within the Treasury Department's Bureau of Internal Revenue. The history of ATF can be subsequently traced to the time of the revenuers or "revenoors"[5] and the Bureau of Prohibition, which was formed as a unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in 1920, was made an independent agency within the Treasury Department in 1927, was transferred to the Justice Department in 1930, and became, briefly, a subordinate division of the FBI in 1933.
When the Volstead Act was repealed in December 1933, the Unit was transferred from the Department of Justice back to the Department of the Treasury where it became the Alcohol Tax Unit of the Bureau of Internal Revenue. Special Agent Eliot Ness and several members of "Untouchables", who had worked for the Prohibition Bureau while the Volstead Act was still in force, were transferred to the ATU. In 1942, responsibility for enforcing federal firearms laws was given to the ATU.
In the early 1950s, the name of the Bureau of Internal Revenue was changed to "Internal Revenue Service" (IRS),[6] and the ATU was given the additional responsibility of enforcing federal tobacco tax laws. At this time, the name of the ATU was changed to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division (ATTD).
In 1968, with the passage of the Gun Control Act, the agency changed its name again, this time to the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division of the IRS and first began to be referred to by the initials "ATF." In 1972, President Richard Nixon signed an Executive Order creating a separate Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms within the Treasury Department. Rex D. Davis oversaw the transition, becoming the bureau's first director, having headed the division since 1970. During his tenure, Davis shepherded the organization into a premier agency targeting political terrorists and organized crime.[7]
In the wake of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the Homeland Security Act of 2002. In addition to creating of the Department of Homeland Security, the law shifted ATF (and its investigative and regulatory inspection functions) from the Treasury Department to the Justice Department. The agency's name was changed to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. However, the agency still was referred to as the "ATF" for all purposes. Additionally, the task of collection of federal tax revenue derived from the production of tobacco and liquor products originally handled by ATF was transferred to the newly established Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), which remained within the Treasury Department. These changes took effect January 24, 2003. - Wikipedia -------- Note that the organization's roots were in the tax area, and that the first two items covered were alcohol and tobacco. Both alcohol and tobacco are subject to federal tax, and both are, or were at one time, very profitable bootlegging enterprises. One thing that most Western governments have in common is that they do not want to be deprived of tax money, and will spend billions to see to it that they get it.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
Posts: 16164 | Location: Lincoln Place, Granite City, IL, USA | Registered: 06-03-02
The thinking was like ours. When Value Added Tax was introduced, we all thought that it would be enforced and collected by our Inland Revenue , just as income tax and the rest are. No such luck! The government handed it to Customs and Excise . Why? Because Customs and Excise have extraordinary powers of detention, search, seizure and more, all without warrant, all far beyond the powers of police or the Revenue And what's more, an aggrieved, innocent, person who falls foul of Customs and Excise finds that the courts, and the supporting statutes and the common law are all against him.'Tough' is hardly the word .
Until c 1970 the three Divisions of the Supreme Court of England and Wales (" The High Court") were 1)Queen's Bench 2) Chancery and 3)Probate , Divorce and Admiralty. The last was still functioning when I started out (as was a delightfully named, if mysterious, official entitled "the Master in Lunacy" ). It was known in the trade as "Wills, Wives and Wrecks" but it was never obvious what the link between these three was 
And what's more, an aggrieved, innocent, person who falls foul of Customs and Excise finds that the courts, and the supporting statutes and the common law are all against him.'Tough' is hardly the word . 
