Nation IN BRIEF : WASHINGTON, D.C. : Plan to Merge ATF Into FBI Scrapped

Vice President Al Gore’s plan to merge the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms into the FBI as part of his reinventing government proposals has been scrapped, bureau and Treasury Department officials said. Administration officials apparently backed off the proposal after receiving little congressional support for the measure and after re-evaluating the wisdom of eliminating the country’s principle enforcer of federal firearms laws at a time when gun violence has reached epidemic proportions in many communities.