2 agents from the Springfield office of the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, were guest speakers at the weekly meeting on Tuesday, of the Taylorville Kiwanis Club at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium.

Agents Randy Boston and Tamara Livingston spoke to the club about the history of the federal agency, and what it does today.

Boston told the local Kiwanis Club that the A-T-F Bureau was first founded by the federal government in the 1800’s as part of the Internal Revenue Service and U-S Department of Treasury

Boston added that additional gun regulation the agency enforces, came about following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy in 1963, and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King both in 1968.

Boston added that the Bureau was moved to being an agency of the U-S Department of Justice in 2002 after the 911 attack.

[audio:BostonaudioFeb1814.mp3]comment here[/audio]

In her remarks, Livingston told Taylorville Kiwanis members that she’s been an agent over 8 years, and her job is to make sure gun dealers are complying with federal gun laws. She and Boston call on gun dealers in an area from I-80 to just south of Springfield, and from Danville to Quincy. Livingston said the vast majority of gun dealers she inspects, follow the law.

[audio:LivingstonaudioFeb1814.mp3]comment here[/audio]

Livingston added the A-T-F also regulates the fireworks industry.

The Taylorville Kiwanis Club is part of global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world one child and one community at a time. Weekly meetings are held Tuesdays at noon at the Taylorville Memorial Hospital auditorium. For information on the club, go to taylorvillekiwanis.com.