MAYBE THE ATF SHOULD BE CLOSED DOWN

Over the years, I've come to believe that the ATF isn't very competent but I didn't have much evidence for that claim so I used LexisNexis to search for "ATF" and "mistake" in American newspapers and wires. There were 1,414 results going back to 1/27/1988:

The Associated Press
January 27, 1988, Wednesday, PM cycle
Agents Get Wrong Apartment In Search
SECTION: Domestic News
LENGTH: 475 words
DATELINE: CHICAGO


Federal agents said it was a mistake. Susan Chornomaz said it was a nightmare for her and her family.

"I'm still shaking," Ms. Chornomaz said Tuesday night, recalling the search by federal agents who raided the adjoining apartments of her mother and brothers.


The agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, along with Cicero police, were trying to search for contraband weapons at what they believed was the second-floor residence of a man named Ronald Connaly, said Jim Reeves, special agent with the federal agency.

Reeves said the agents were given the wrong description of the apartment by a "reliable confidential informant," and he said address numbers were not posted outside the building.

The agency would pay for any damages, he said.

Special Agent Robert Gorecki of the ATF said the agency discovered it had made a mistake after reporters began calling. But he denied that officers had caused any damage beyond the front security door.

Here's another from 1991:

Orange County Register (California)
August 29, 1991 Thursday MORNING EDITION
WRONG RESIDENTS;
Agents deny trashing home in raid conducted month late
BYLINE: Tracey Eaton, The Orange County Register
SECTION: METRO; Pg. B04
LENGTH: 570 words
DATELINE: ORANGE, CA

Federal agents raided an apartment here Wednesday, forced a man
to the ground at gunpoint and rousted his wife and young children
from bed. Only after ransacking the home did it dawn on the agents:
They'd made a mistake.

Agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
had expected to find heavily armed gang members, but neighbors said
they had moved out nearly a month ago.


Henry Truong, an electrical engineer who moved into the East
Adams Avenue apartment eight days ago, said he was handcuffed and
ordered to lie on the pavement outside his front door.

"I was very, very scared," he said.

This may be ATF's worst moment:

USA TODAY
October 1, 1993, Friday, FINAL EDITION

ATF lied about Waco raid / Report shows bungling and coverup by agents

BYLINE: Debbie Howlett; Robert Davis
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 1A
LENGTH: 353 words



Federal agents bungled the raid on the Branch Davidian sect near Waco, Texas, and then lied to cover their mistakes, says a sharply critical Treasury Department report.

Once the ATF learned sect members had been tipped, the raid should have been aborted, said the report, out Thursday.

And agents compounded that "error in judgment" by making a "concerted effort" to conceal evidence.