Dui or not?

[PayrollHRGuy]

The site got the name right: Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. There is no descriptive name in front like national, federal, etc in the agency's name. But national is an accurate description of the reach of the BATFE's jurisdiction.

Then the N in National should be lowercase. And in all my years of dealing with guns and the ATF, I've never heard it called national BATF&E. I've heard federal BATF&E many times.

 

[Tax Counsel]

Then the N in National should be lowercase. And in all my years of dealing with guns and the ATF, I've never heard it called national BATF&E. I've heard federal BATF&E many times.

I agree it should be lower case. But as for describing it as "federal" versus "national", I don't really see a significant difference. That one is used more than the other doesn't make it more correct.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

The difference is subtle but it is there.

fed·er·al
/ˈfed(ə)rəl/

adjective

1. having or relating to a system of government in which several states form a unity but remain independent in internal affairs.
   • relating to or denoting the central government as distinguished from the separate units constituting a federation.

na·tion·al
/ˈnaSH(ə)n(ə)l/

adjective

1. relating to a nation; common to or characteristic of a whole nation.

 

[Tax Counsel]

The difference is subtle but it is there.

But when referring to agencies of the U.S. government, there is no significant difference, as I stated before. Would the National Park Service be any different if were called the Federal Park Service? Or would the Federal Bureau of Investigation be significantly different if it were the National Bureau of Investigation? I don't think so. When referring to government agencies, the terms are pretty much interchangeable.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

And why did you pick two organizations with the Federal or National in their name?

 

[cbg]

And what does any of this have to do with the question at hand?

 

[Tax Counsel]

And why did you pick two organizations with the Federal or National in their name?

Because it illustrates the point -- the U.S. government does not see any significant difference in the use of the two terms. The result be no difference if we referred to the federal Internal Revenue Service or national Internal Revenue Service, to use an example of an agency name that does not include either of those terms. When it comes to the U.S. government, the terms are pretty much interchangeable.

 

[adjusterjack]

Enough.

Thread locked.