# Why alcohol, tobacco and firearms? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 24, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059 "2005-12-24T05:22:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Otto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Otto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otto)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/1 "2005-12-24T05:22:13Z")
What led the feds to put these three together? ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/2 "2005-12-24T05:25:16Z")
One hell of a party? [ATF history page.](http://www.atf.treas.gov/about/atfhistory.htm) ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/3 "2005-12-24T06:15:43Z")
I just figured they wanted to lump all the cool stuff together. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/4 "2005-12-24T06:42:26Z")
dont forget [Explosives](http://www.atf.treas.gov/) ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/5 "2005-12-24T17:26:07Z")
Alcohol and tobacco are obvious candidates to be joined. They were among the first items on which federal excise taxes were levied, and for a long time were just about the only items. As for firearms, the ATF site sums it up about as pithily as possible in a single sentence: > [@](#): > > In 1942 enforcement duties for the “Firearms Program” fell to the ATU, which was accustomed to managing controversial industries. Maybe the “Bureau of Controversial Industries” would be a better title! Nah, then they’d have to include oil and porn. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/6 "2005-12-24T18:46:35Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > Nah, then they’d have to include oil and porn. Well, the porn could easily be lumped in to create the “Bureau for the Control of Really Cool Stuff” ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 7:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/7 "2005-12-24T19:24:25Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > What led the feds to put these three together? Maybe based on a redneck night out? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/8 "2005-12-24T19:33:53Z")
My ex worked for ATF. In the bureau, it was “affectionately” known as Booze, Butts, and Bang-Bangs. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/9 "2005-12-24T19:46:22Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > Well, the porn could easily be lumped in to create the “Bureau for the Control of Really Cool Stuff” If we want to stop skirting the truth, we could throw in porn and call it the Federal Nanny Agency. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/10 "2005-12-24T21:14:18Z")
Taxing these commodities sidesteps the question of whether the government has the power to ban their possession _per se_. Congress has the power to make laws to regulate interstate commerce and levy taxes - and in the process make life difficult and/or expensive for those who possess and trade these items. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/11 "2005-12-25T00:38:48Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > Alcohol and tobacco are obvious candidates to be joined. They were among the first items on which federal excise taxes were levied, and for a long time were just about the only items. **Bryan** ’s link says ATF was split off in 1972 from IRS. Thus the term the moonshiners used for still-busting feds: “Revenooers.” ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/12 "2005-12-25T00:53:13Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > If we want to stop skirting the truth, we could throw in porn and call it the Federal Nanny Agency. Fifty unlicensed fully-automatic assault rifles?! **NAUGHTY STOOL!** ---
**Author:** ![mks57](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9bd4f/32.png) [@mks57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mks57)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2005, 10:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-alcohol-tobacco-and-firearms/337059/13 "2005-12-25T10:24:02Z")
> [@Otto](#): > > What led the feds to put these three together? Taxes. Before the Supreme Court rolled over for FDR, the federal government used taxes to restrict and control things that it didn’t like. They didn’t prohibit the ownership of automatic weapons, they imposed heavy taxes and paperwork requirements. This was also done with drugs like marijuana.