ATF SNAPSHOT 2004

BUREAU OF ALCOHOL, TOBACCO, FIREARMS AND 

EXPLOSIVES (ATF)

UPDATED APRIL 30, 2004

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is a preeminent Federal 

law enforcement agency fighting violent crime in America. ATF’s enforcement 

activities support the Department of Justice’s strategic goal: to “enforce Federal laws and 

represent the rights and interests of the American people.” Through enforcement of 

Federal firearms laws, investigation of arsons and explosives incidents and thefts, and 

efforts to combat alcohol and tobacco diversion, ATF special agents, inspectors and 

support personnel safeguard the American public from violent crime. For the past eight 

years ATF has been awarded the highest rating possible for a strong financial internal 

control structure and a solid record of complying with laws and regulations.

VIOLENT CRIME REDUCTION

Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN), announced by President Bush and Attorney General 

Ashcroft in 2001, is an initiative that brings to bear the combined resources of Federal, 

State and local agencies to reduce violent crime. The ATF Integrated Violence Reduction 

Strategy (IVRS) works in partnership with other law enforcement entities to focus on 

successfully removing armed career criminals, armed criminal organizations, armed drug 

traffickers, and illegal firearms traffickers from our nation's streets. An integral 

component of IVRS and PSN is ATF's Youth Crime Gun Interdiction Initiative (YCGII). 

It provides ATF special agents, inspectors and support personnel, as well as equipment 

and training to follow leads generated through comprehensive crime gun tracing. ATF's 

goal is to interdict the flow of illegal firearms to youths and juveniles through 

partnerships with participating police departments in selected cities. Since its inception 

and through fiscal year 2003, YCGII has been established in 60 cities.

ATF initiated nearly 30,000 firearms investigations in fiscal year 2003, resulting in more 

than 6,000 defendants being convicted of firearms related offenses, and more than 900 

ATF defendants being sentenced in firearms trafficking investigations. As the lead 

Federal agency in investigating outlaw motorcycle organizations (OMO), in July 2003 

four ATF-lead investigations spanning nine states culminated in nine arrests, 118 search 

warrants and the seizure of 1001 firearms, $90,000 in currency, as well as narcotics and 

explosives.
In FY 2003, ATF investigated nearly 400 bombings, more than 750 incidents involving 

recovered explosives or explosive devices, and more than 60 thefts of explosives. The 

effort resulted in 708 of these cases being forwarded for prosecution. ATF’s three 

laboratories worked on 630 bomb-related cases in FY 2003, an increase of 28 percent 

over the previous year.

ATF also enforces Federal criminal statutes that address the diversion of taxes, including 

the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act. In FY 2003, ATF recommended for 

prosecution by the U.S. Attorney 13 alcohol and tobacco cases and 51 defendants. 

Nationally, ATF initiated 165 investigations of the diversion of taxes relating to alcohol 

and tobacco. ATF sustained 84 seizures of tobacco and other properties totaling $4.7 

million.

PROTECT THE PUBLIC

At the end of FY 2003, there were 104,366 Federal firearms licensees in the United 

States authorized to conduct commerce in firearms. ATF performed a total of 14,900 

firearms-related inspections in FY 2003; 3,900 of them were licensee inspections, and 

another 7,800 were application inspections.

Also in FY 2003, ATF inspectors, in helping to ensure the lawful storage of explosives 

materials, completed 2,721 explosives compliance and 5,162 explosives application 

inspections and detected 1,165 explosives industry public safety violations that were 

corrected. 

OTHER RESOURCES

NIBIN - ATF provides investigative support to our State and local partners through a 

leadership role in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). NIBIN 

provides for the nationwide installation and networking of automated ballistic imaging 

equipment in partnership with State and local law enforcement agencies. Currently, 228 

law enforcement locations are making use of this valuable technology. In FY 2003, 

NIBIN equipment assisted law enforcement agencies in finding more than 2,500 links, or 

"hits." In each of these instances, evidence from two or more crime scenes was identified 

as being potentially linked.

COMPREHENSIVE CRIME GUN TRACING - The Comprehensive Crime Gun Tracing 

Initiative that began in FY 2001 continues to provide nationwide firearms tracing 

capability. ATF's National Tracing Center has processed more than 280,000 trace 

requests of crime guns in 2003.

BOMB AND ARSON TRACKING SYSTEM (BATS) - Allows state, local and other 

federal law enforcement agencies to share information about bomb and arson cases and 

incidents. Participants receive a user ID and password from ATF and then they can 

capture, store and exchange information such as the type of incident, target, date and 

location.
GANG RESISTANCE EDUCATION AND TRAINING (GREAT) – Congress moved 

GREAT to the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs in FY 2004.

NATIONAL RESPONSE TEAMS (NRTs) - ATF maintains four National Response 

Teams (NRT) that are comprised of highly trained and well-equipped special agents, 

forensic chemists and professional support staff that can be deployed within 24 hours to 

major explosion and fire scenes anywhere in the United States. The NRT was activated 

27 times in FY 2003 to investigate major fire and explosives incidents. In its 25-year 

history, the team has responded to conduct crime scene analysis and cause and origin 

investigations of 569 fires and explosives incidents.

INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE TEAM (IRT) - The ATF International Response Team 

participates with the Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State to 

provide technical and investigative assistance at international explosives and fire 

incidents. There have been 24 IRT activations since 1991, including responses to Peru, 

Macedonia, Argentina, El Salvador, Ecuador, Pakistan, and Korea.

EXPLOSIVES DETECTION CANINES - There are 32 ATF trained explosives detection 

canine teams with ATF special agent handlers. Also, there are currently 56 ATF-trained 

explosives detection canine teams deployed with State, local, or other Federal agencies.

NATIONAL LABORATORY SERVICES - ATF maintains three national laboratory 

facilities, in Maryland, Georgia and California. The ATF Forensic Science Laboratories 

were the first Federal laboratories to be accredited by the American Society of 

Laboratory Directors. 

Snapshot 4/29/04