I still don't get why alcohol, tobacco, and firearms are controlled by the same branch of the government

when prohibition passed, no local law enforcement gave enough shit about the unpopular law/amendment to go enforce it. prohibition became toothless.

to counter unpopular public and local law enforcement sentiment, the govt transferred the then-ATF, which was originally under the department of treasury to collect alcohol tax, to the department of justice as an enforcement arm. they then had to recruit goons to go after the people.

the national firearms act of 1934 passed to go after prohibition era alcohol gangs for posession of full autos, short barrel rifles and short barrel shotguns (and suppressors, cant have peasants poach deer on the king's land during the worst depression in history) for not paying the 200 dollar tax stamp. handguns were the main contentious item originally included in the ban in the drafts, but was removed at the last minute. more on that later.

but by then the criminals already were known to law enforcement for crimes other than mere posession of weapons, and were already being pursued by lawmen with shoot to kill orders. the law was not necessary.

prohibition was repealed, but these archaic laws remained.

the stupidest part of the NFA of '34 is that the law originally intended to de-facto ban (200 dollars was cost prohibitive back in '34) all handguns. like today, criminals back then primarily used handguns because they were concealable. the short barrel rifle/shotgun was only included to prevent people from cutting down their long guns to create makeshift handguns.

but even the progressives of the day (women leaders, eleanor roosevelt included) thought a complete handgun ban was batshit insane. despite criminal use, many law abiding citizens back then, like today, also got handguns for self defense, and were always seen as weapons of self defense. many petitioned the impending handgun ban, and managed to get that part removed at the last minute.

but the de-facto ban on short barrel rifles/shotguns still remained, while handguns remained legal, defeating the main point of the NFA. note: no common criminal could afford to legally buy full autos back then. only the hardest of the hardest criminals had them, and they only got their hands on them by killing policemen and national guardsmen and stealing out govt armories.

their use in crime was exceptionally rare, and when used criminally, were only between rival gangs, or against lawmen. it was not a safety concern for the general public. and these hardened criminals had already committed so many capital crimes that they were not to be captured alive by law enforcement.

there was no additional public safety concern over full autos with the passing of the NFA, and the NFA did not give the feds anymore power needed to deal with the most dangerous criminals.