by Ed Lewis

January 23, 2002

KeepAndBearArms.com -- Most people believe the "BATF", the "Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms" is an agency of the federal government, specifically of the Department of the Treasury. However, this isn’t true.

It is a bureau and it is of the United States, meaning the United States Government housed in the District of Columbia with jurisdiction over the District, the States of the United States (Guam, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and the Republic of Puerto Rico), federal properties and valid federal enclaves (military posts, arsenals, ports of entry, and federal buildings).

To verify it isn’t an agency, go to USC Title 31, Chapter 3, where you will find the complete list of Department of the Treasury agencies. Of course, the BATF is not listed because it is not an agency nor does it have any jurisdiction over the geographic areas and natural by right citizens of the 50 States.

Currently, the trend is to stop using the "B" designating "Bureau" in this government bureau’s acronym. This is being done simply to add to the facade that the bureau is an agency.

The intent is to cause people to forget the B which designates the organization as a Bureau.

To determine the authority, or lack thereof, of the BATF, get a copy of the Constitution for the united States of America in front of you. Article I, Section 8, Clauses 1-18, defines the exact powers of the federal government. Check this section and determine:

1. Which of the clauses give the power to the United States Government to control alcohol, whether buying, selling, making, keeping, or any other activity associated with alcohol?

2. Which of the clauses give the power to the United States Government to control firearms, whether it be buying, selling, making, bearing, or any other activity associated with firearms?

3. Which of the clauses give the power to the United States Government to control tobacco, whether it be buying, selling, making, using, or any other activity associated with tobacco?

Seems there isn’t a clause giving the federal government any control over these categories of items. However, Clause 1 does give Congress the power to lay and collect duties, imposts and excise tax in order to support itself financially but all the taxes must be uniform throughout the United States. So, perhaps it may apply an excise tax to items of commerce among and between the States.

A serious question arises here. What follows may seem unrelated, but bear with me.

In nearly all of the United States Code, the United States referred to is by definition the District of Columbia, the possessions, the States (named above) of the United States, and federal properties/enclaves.

The Constitution also clearly differentiates the separation of powers of the US Government (Congress) and the several (now 50) States in several articles/sections/clauses. It uses phrases such as “the several states”, “State”, “United States of America”, and “to the States” for the 50 States while reserving “United States” for the United States Government.

As an example, in the 14th Amendment it is stated that: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside...”; then goes ahead with limits placed on the States. Once again, the United States is held to be separate from the States. This is further indicated by: “...nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction (of a State) the equal protection of the laws.”

This amendment was instituted in order to provide the same privileges and immunities of natural by right citizens of the 50 States to people who had been granted citizenship or were born in the geographic area established by the Constitution as the United States (Government). If a citizen by birth in the United States or naturalization moved to one of the several States, then the individual would have to be treated by the State as a natural, by right citizen of the State.

In Article I, Section 8, Clause 1, it states that imposts and excises must be uniform throughout the United States and, in Clause 2, that Congress has the borrow to borrow on the credit of the United States. Does this mean that imposts and excise taxes may only be applied outside the jurisdictional area of the US Government? Never mind what has been but just to think about what should be.

In regards to borrowing on the credit of the United States, the federal government does NOT have jurisdiction over the 50 States. A debt of the federal government cannot be lawfully secured by the people of the 50 States. The people of the 50 States may not be put in involuntary servitude according to the 13th Amendment.

At any rate, any debts incurred by the United States should be repaid by increasing the amount of tax collected on imports into the United States and exports out of the United States, uniform indirect (excise) taxes, such as those lawfully laid on corporations, franchises, and other privileged activities, and, if extreme over-spending has occurred, then a direct and apportioned tax laid on the several States.

In reference to imposts and excises, since indirect tax must be laid uniformly and equally across all the States of the Union, placing on excise tax on the manufacture of one product and not another is unlawful, just as is laying an tax on the exercise of a right is also unlawful. In other words, citizens of the 50 States manufacturing alcohol, tobacco, and firearms cannot be singled out. In fact, Congress has no power to lay such a tax.

Article I, Section 9, Clauses 4 and 5:

"No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census or Enumeration herein before directed to be taken." (Clause 4)

And,

"No Tax or Duty shall be laid on Articles exported from any State." (Clause 5)

There is this to remember about the framers of the Constitution and basic statutory construct. Unless stated otherwise, words used are taken in the common, everyday meanings. Exports and imports are, therefore, goods either sent to foreign lands and brought in from a foreign country. Imports and exports are not commonly thought of by the people at large as goods moving from one State of the Union to another.

Furthermore, the word “among” as used in Article I, Section 8, Clause 3, does not mean “between” because ‘among’ does not mean ‘between’. The word “among” means “in the group” or “...the entire number of.”

As seen above, goods manufactured in one state of the Union traded between the many States of the Union are not imports or exports to which any duty or tax may be laid. However, if those goods are traded commercially with the United States, meaning the District of Columbia, the States (not the 50) of the United States, and federal enclaves, or between other geographic areas deemed under the jurisdiction of the United States Government, or goods from other countries into the several States, then such commerce may be regulated as indicated by Clause 3 of Section 8 (within the limitations of Section 9, Clause 5).

All citizens of the united States of America have the right to make any contract with any other citizen of the united States of America they wish. Thus, if a citizen in one State of the Union makes a contract with a citizen of another State, it is actually none of the US Government’s business. It does NOT have the authority to tell any State or the people of the united States of America what may be traded between the citizens of the several States, be it personal property, goods, labor, or whatever.

The founders wished to protect the unalienable, self-evident rights of the people which meant government had to be limited to legislation which would not infringe upon the rights of citizens.

By all reasoning, the founders after fighting one of the bloodiest wars in our history would not have allowed interference into the normal private and/or business dealings of citizens of the United States of America.

Therefore, one might presume that regulating what is manufactured, sold, or bought by a citizen within the 50 States is NOT a power that would have been granted by the framers of the Constitution. Thus, control of commerce among the States could only be construed as the laying of an indirect tax on goods imported to the States as a whole (among) from a foreign source, including the areas under the jurisdiction of the US Government but foreign to the many States.

In an attempt to clarify this, one might think of all imports from foreign countries as being imported to the District of Columbia and then distributed to the 50 States through commercial transport privileged by or directly under the authority of the United States Government.

In fact, USC Title 49, which establishes United States Interstate Transportation, is jurisdictionally applied only to the District of Columbia, the States of the United States which are those listed above, possessions and territories, and other federal enclaves. This is stated in definitions in Sections 10102, 15102, and others.

The exception is in assuring more efficient transport and the safety of citizens of any of the 50 States that goods pass through or into. Thus, interstate transportation that is in essence by the United States Government is regulated (USC Title 49, Section 31100).

In meeting this purpose of safety being provided for citizens of the 50 States (and those in federal areas), Subtitle IV, Interstate Transportation, Section 13102, the General Provisions for Motor Carriers, Water Carriers, Brokers, and Freight Forwarders, we find one of the few instances in the United States Code in which the term “State” means the 50 States of the United States and the District of Columbia.

Why is it defined as such in this section?

Because this chapter and section deals with carriers and associated agents which are validly under the jurisdiction of the federal government. This section regulates United States interstate transportation so as to assure safety involving transport by US granted businesses across the several States (Section 31100, noted above).

This doesn’t, however, mean regulating interstate commerce, regulating commercial carriers within a state, or regulating means of transport between States unless the carrier is one permitted through privilege and under the jurisdiction of the United States (for example, the conveyances of a created privileged corporation). It refers only to United States modes of transportation, meaning the carrier must be under the jurisdiction of the federal government. To reiterate one more time, it was to insure that a carrier from a foreign area, the District of Columbia, for example, would cross the many States of the union safely.

An important point is this definition in Section 13102 (noted above)  shows the government is well aware of the distinction between “States of the Union” and “State(s) of the United States”. This is also readily seen in USC Title 26, Subtitle A (federal income tax). Chapter 79, Section 7701 (a)(9) of Title 26 defines “United States” as “...includes only the States and the District of Columbia.” Then, in the next definition, (10), it defines “State” as “...the District of Columbia.”

When it in fact does NOT have jurisdiction as designated in the Constitution, it uses “State of the United States” misleading people into believing this means the 50 States when, in fact, it means only those named above. Conversely, when it does have authority for a regulation, it uses a form of “the several States or the 50 States (as in Subtitle IV, Section 13102, noted above).

Although this may have sounded strange and unbelievable to many, the United States Government is not part of the 50 States. It, the corporation limited to the District of Columbia, is as foreign to the many States as is Canada, Mexico, or China.

The below further supports the lack of United States jurisdiction in the 50 States:

“The United States Government is a Foreign Corporation with Respect to the 50 states.” (Volume 20: Corpus. Juris. Sec. Section 1785)

And,

“The United States Government is a foreign corporation with respect to a state.” (NY re: Merriam 36 N.E. 5051441 S. Ct. 1973, 41 L.Ed.287)

To put this simply, the federal and State governments (including political subdivisions) are fooling people by misleading them away from the truth, by telling out and out lies meant to deceive and coerce, and/or allowing them to presume other than the truth. It is a malicious word game meant to deceive the unwary and to steal revenues from an unsuspecting population. The applies to laws of interstate transportation, including the interference in the right to travel freely as a private citizen and to use any conveyance desired as long as the rights of others aren’t interfered with. Billions of dollars of revenue are stolen from people in nationwide extortion and racketeering activities based on the deceits.

It is the same with the BATF

This bureau has jurisdiction in the geographic areas designated in some way or another as being subject to the jurisdiction of the United States Government. The BATF, however, is actually a bureau of Puerto Rico, the same as the IRS (call it the IRS/BATF). The BATF is a tax collector on duties and tax imposed on imported or exported alcohol, tobacco, and firearms into or out of the United States while its IRS component lays and collects tax from those made liable in federally controlled areas or by having earnings from foreign sources.

Thus, alcohol, firearms, and tobacco are unlawfully (unconstitutionally) treated essentially as items of “international” commerce and the sovereign States as US Government property. Through these frauds, the People have been fooled by deceptive wording into believing this foreign bureau has jurisdiction within the 50 States.

In summary, the BATF’s only control over people and businesses in the 50 States is because of using armed marauders along with the many unlawful and illegal searches, seizures, and liens placed on people and businesses in order to scare the devil out of people and coerce compliance.

In other words, the BATF has no constitutional authority in the 50 States, commercially or otherwise. But, it does have POWER -- the power derived from instilling FEAR in the citizenry.