ATF IDs $59,625 in Potential Red Tape Savings

And so the President named Obama instructed the vast, multi-headed beast that is the federal government to re-examine the regulations and red tape bedeviling American companies and recommend changes which would deliver unto Him credibility-saving savings. And lo, one of the anointed thirty federal departments and agencies, the Department of Justice, instructed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (and Really Big Fires) to see what rules it could change to help the cause of non-crony capitalism. (This even as the ATF seeketh implementation of a new executive order increasing the bureaucratic burden on 8500 American gun dealers.) Hark! The ATF hath found a way to further the Commander-in-Chief’s desire to liberate America’s entrepreneurial spirit from the the yoke of federal bureaucracy. legaltimes.typepad.com reporteth . . .

The search for savings at the Justice Department was less fruitful. In the only example that DOJ officials were able to put a dollar figure on, they said they would examine doubling the length of time that a firearm-importation permit is good for. By making permits good for two years rather than one year, they said they could cut by half the number of annual permit applications submitted to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Approximate annual savings in the salary of a compliance officer: $59,625.

The review adds that industry could also see savings. “ATF believes that extending the term of import permits would result in substantial cost and time savings for both ATF and the industry, which includes many small businesses,” the review says.

Do you wish to see this recommendation in whole cloth?

ATF believes that extending the term of import permits would result in substantial cost and time savings for both ATF and the industry, which includes many small businesses. ATF processes approximately 11,000 import applications each year. Approximately 82 percent of those applications (9,000) are submitted by federally licensed or registered importers. ATF estimates that it takes a compliance officer employed by an importer approximately 30 minutes to complete a Form 6 permit application.

According to the Occupational Employment Statistics (May 2009), published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, the average hourly wage of a compliance officer is $26.50. If the term of an import permit was extended to 2 years, ATF estimates that the number of Form 6 permit applications submitted by licensed or registered importers would be reduced to 4,500 each year. Reducing the number of permits submitted by the industry by half (4,500) would result in an annual savings of approximately $59,625.

Not that the ATF hath done this. It is merely a proposal upon which The One may dwell. Which will require further study, investigation and spiritual contemplation. Which won’t be cheap.

Thinking out loud here . . . attempting to connect with the Divine . . . how much would it cost to shutter the ATF and transfer its responsibilities to the FBI, IRS and H & R Block? From my keypad to God’s ears.