WASHINGTON — The last time the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was caught up in scandal, its director faced accusations of lavish spending on his new office. Before he resigned, Congress, flexing its oversight muscles, decided the Senate would confirm all future A.T.F. chiefs. That was five years ago. Nobody has been confirmed, and the nation has been without a chief firearms inspector ever since. Today, the bureau is again under... (GunPolicy.org)