In the Cross Fire: A Political History of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (U.S. Public Policy Series) - Hardcover
Book by Vizzard, William J.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly:
Vizzard worked for 27 years in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), both as agent and as supervisor, leaving in 1994, a year after the notorious raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. He presents a blistering critique of the embattled agency, tracing its origins to the 1919 creation of a Prohibition unit by the then Bureau of Internal Revenue. The author charges that ATF, in its longstanding struggle against moonshiners, has a history of accommodating the liquor industry, and this set a pattern of conflict avoidance or appeasement with other interest groups, such as the gun lobby. Underpinning his account with academic theories of bureaucratic behavior, he pinpoints ATF's historic weaknesses: fragmented jurisdiction, lack of a well-defined mission or policy, erratic implementation of the law, a tendency to let its priorities be shaped by the prevailing political environment. Currently associate professor of criminal justice at California State University, Sacramento, Vizzard recounts a number of violent ATF confrontations with members of militant right-wing or religious separatist groups before the bloody sieges at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and Waco. He gives a scholarly, non-personal account of the botched Waco raid in 1993, blaming the disaster on a top-level management that had little or no experience in overseeing such an operation. Although it offers few surprises, this earnest report provides a privileged insider's look at the controversial agency, drawing as it does on interviews with past and present ATF employees including all its former directors.
Copyright 1997 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherLynne Rienner Pub
- Publication date1997
- ISBN 10 1555876714
- ISBN 13 9781555876715
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages228
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