How the A.T.F., Key to Biden’s Gun Plan, Became an N.R.A. ‘Whipping Boy’

The federal agency tasked with enforcing gun laws has been hamstrung for years by the firearms lobby. Now, the president’s plan to rein in gun violence hinges on the A.T.F.’s success.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — If there was one moment that summed up the current state of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, it was when the floor at the agency’s gun-tracing center caved in a couple of years ago under the weight of paper. The accident was not entirely accidental. The gun lobby, led by the National Rifle Association, has for years systematically blocked plans to modernize the agency’s paper-based weapons-tracing system with a searchable database. As a result, records of gun sales going back decades are stored in boxes stacked seven high, waiting to be processed, against every wall.