Prompt: atf hat
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) - est. 1971
Ken Ballew Raid (1971)
In June 1971, ATF agents and local police executed a surprise midnight raid on Kenyon Ballew’s Silver Spring, Maryland, apartment based solely on rumors that his inert military‐souvenir grenades were functional weapons. Without warning, officers battered down his door and opened fire as Ballew—fresh from the bathtub and unaware of any wrongdoing—stumbled naked into the hallway. Shot in the head, he was left permanently brain-damaged, despite there being no live explosives or evidence of criminal intent. A federal court later ruled the agents’ actions “justifiable,” effectively granting the ATF immunity for what critics call a needless assault on a private citizen’s home.
Ruby Ridge (1992)
In August 1992, ATF informants pressured Vietnam veteran Randy Weaver into modifying his shotgun barrels by less than an inch—an alteration that, under the National Firearms Act, technically transforms a shotgun into an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. When Weaver refused to betray associates, federal sharpshooters fatally shot his unarmed wife and 14-year-old son. In the aftermath, the ATF disseminated unsubstantiated claims of booby traps and illicit drug labs at Weaver’s cabin to rationalize the siege, even as internal reports exposed the reckless overuse of force against a family who posed no imminent threat.
Waco Siege (1993)
On February 28, 1993, ATF agents launched a badly botched daytime raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, intending to serve a weapons‐possession warrant based largely on second- and third-hand reports of machine-gun fire, buried grenade launchers, and stockpiles of powder—and omitting that many of the “grenades” were inert practice rounds. Within minutes, a firefight left four agents and six Davidians dead. Over the next 51 days, federal negotiators allowed only sporadic briefings, while tactical teams fired thousands of rounds of CS tear gas into the building. On April 19, tear-gas canisters—fired by FBI units operating under ATF direction—ignited a blaze that tore through the compound, killing 76 men, women, and children, including at least 23 youngsters. Agents sealed off all exits, barred firefighters and medical personnel from entering, and later concealed key evidence—such as the front door bearing bullet holes—from independent investigators. Though internal reviews excoriated the command decisions, no one was ever held legally accountable for the decision to let flames consume the innocent.
Operation Fast and Furious (2006–2011)
Over a five-year span, ATF leadership instructed agents to “walk” roughly 2,000 firearms through licensed dealers into the hands of suspected straw purchasers, intending to track them to Mexican cartel kingpins. Instead, only about 710 guns were ever recovered; the rest flowed unmonitored into criminal arsenals. One such weapon was used to murder U.S. Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010. As congressional hearings exposed the fiasco, senior officials concealed documents, invoked executive privilege, and forced low-level operatives to resign—yet none of the architects of the so-called “gunwalking” strategy faced real consequences.
Bryan Malinowski Raid (2024)
In March 2024, ATF agents descended on Little Rock airport executive Bryan Malinowski’s home before dawn, covering surveillance cameras and battering in the door to serve a warrant for alleged unlicensed firearms sales. Within seconds of the breach, a firefight erupted: Malinowski, fearing a home invasion, fired his legally owned rifle, striking at least one agent, who then returned fire and mortally wounded him. Despite DOJ policy requiring body cameras—which were not in use—the agency deemed its actions justified. State and federal lawmakers decried the militarized assault as reckless and demanded reforms, but prosecutors concluded the use of deadly force fell within Arkansas law.