One man's opinion of Gunwalker, and the 'Don't abolish ATF,

the replacement might be worse!" argument:
Right. Now we’ll see Holder spun as some sort of hero. Great. But that’s not what’s important. Holder – and Obama, for that matter – had absolutely nothing to do with what made the whole F&F thing exciting to me. They’re political apparatchiks, here today and gone forever. I never wanted this to be about them. God, how I wanted it to be about ATF.

And the irony is that by all accounts (damned if I’m going to try to read it) this “report” excoriated ATF. Granted it’s not the first time and the damned zombie of an alphabet-agency not only always manages to wiggle out but even to get its power and authority increased. Yes, this “report” will be forgotten now, if the government and the “news” has anything to say about it. But still, there it is in black and white. Look at it again, America. Here are your heroic protectors, who don’t give a shit about you. Who’ll cheerfully get Americans (not to mention hundreds or thousands of Mexicans) killed to make a single propaganda point. “Botched operation,” my ass. The only thing that was botched was that the ATF brass finally found something so low even ATF field agents wouldn’t swallow it.

Yes, I see and acknowledge the logic of those who said that if by some miracle ATF vanished forever its “duties” would only be taken over by some other federal agency, maybe even a competent one may God forbid. ATF’s only saving grace all these decades has been its ineptitude, and its love of the brutal gesture over common sense.
I acknowledge it – and I don’t care. ATF has been my enemy since I was a kid, watching my own sibling demonized on the news (not by name, granted, but as part of a class) as a foul, evil “kitchen table dealer” because he had the effrontery to try to comply with the law and get an FFL. Oh, that’s a grave I’ve waited a long, long time to piss on. And now I watch another opportunity slip away.

What a symbol it would be – the disbandment of the ATF. I get a little smile on my face just thinking about it. No, in practical terms it might not change much but think about the message it sends. To actually bring the destruction of a federal alphabet agency? You think the others wouldn’t notice that? Oh, baby. I think I need a cigarette.