He has been elected, why not slip one by the rubes.
"Things like this don't happen without the President's knowledge."
On the contrary, President Bush is certainly preoccupied with the war effort, moving forward his legislative agenda, and defending against the socialist Democrat war against America and himself.
BATF obviously has numerous Clinton administration leftover bureaucrats "in the woodwork" that are promoting Clinton Democrat policies rather than Bush Republican policies whenever they can get away with it. This is also true of other federal government organizations, including the State Department, EPA, etc.
We should all contact President Bush and Congress on this issue, and also ask him to ask Congress to repeal or rewrite the 1968 Gun Control Act provisions that only recognize sporting as a legitimate reason to own firearms. That is, rewrite the law to recognize self-defense, casual or serious collecting, family heirloom, investment, business purposes, etc., in addition to sporting, as legitimate reasons to own firearms.
We should also urge the NRA to contact the President and Congress on this issue, if they have not already done so.
I believe President Reagan wanted to abolish the BATF and have the FBI perform take over any of its duties that the FBI does not already perform.