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In a small, but significant example of more government overreach, an ATF Industry Operations Investigator violated the Second Amendment rights of a central Florida man last month when he ordered a gun dealer to halt a pistol sale because he believed the purchaser possibly smelled of marijuana.

The Industry Operations Investigator, or IOI, who is based out of ATF’s Tampa Field Office, was conducting a routine audit of a Plant City-based gun dealer when Daniel (last name withheld at his request) walked in to pick up a 9mm Beretta APX he had ordered through Gun Broker, which had been shipped from a pawn shop in Alabama.

He had already completed an ATF form 4473, denying he was “an unlawful user of, or addicted to, marijuana or any depressant, stimulant, narcotic drug, or any other controlled substance,” passed a background check and was ready to take his new handgun home when the IOI intervened and ordered the gun dealer to stop the sale.

“I wasn’t high,” Daniel told the Second Amendment Foundation. “None of this makes any sense to me.”

There are many reasons why Daniel could have smelled like marijuana – if the IOI’s allegations are even true.

Florida legalized medical cannabis in 2016. As of last year, the state has issued more than 831,000 medical cannabis cards. There are hundreds of cannabis dispensaries located throughout the state. While federal law still criminalizes marijuana use or possession, even ATF’s Tampa spokesman Jason Medina admitted it was possible that Daniel could have been exposed to second-hand smoke, if his spouse, friends or family use cannabis medicinally.

“That’s true,” Medina admitted last week during a brief interview.

In addition, Amazon and hundreds of other retailers offer marijuana-scented candles, incense, sprays, air fresheners, colognes, perfumes and essential oils – any one of which could have caused a similar odor.

The IOI’s actions raise other questions, which Medina refused to address. Most notably, ATF IOIs are not real cops, or as Medina explained, are “not sworn.”

“They are not certified,” he said. “They are regulators.”

As a result, IOIs are not trained like real cops. Medina would not say whether the IOI who stopped the sale was ever trained to detect the smell of marijuana, or whether his observations were based upon his personal use. Neither would he say whether the IOI was trained to recognize the symptoms of someone who is under the influence of marijuana. And while firearms dealers can stop a sale

Medina would not address under what circumstances an IOI can halt a firearm transfer – a question he described during his brief interview as “a good one.” Neither would he disclose whether the IOI’s actions were within ATF’s policy and procedures.

“Someone will get back to you,” Medina promised Friday.

As of close of business Monday, neither Medina nor anyone else was willing to discuss the case, including the IOI’s boss, Aaron Gerber, the Director of Industry Operations for ATF’s Tampa Field Office. Gerber did not respond to calls, texts or emails seeking his comments for this story.

Takeaways

As for ATF’s disturbing pattern of ignoring media questions that they cannot control – keep in mind ATF director Steve Dettelbach just gave a 21-minute interview to CBS that contained nothing but softball questions – the agency needs to remember it is funded by tax dollars, so the public has a right to know about their employees’ conduct and misconduct.

Daniel denied he used marijuana on his 4473. That should have been good enough. He should have been taken at his word. Instead, the IOI violated his constitutional rights based on a mere sniff. This is just the latest example of the ATF making up an excuse to deny a purchase and then hiding from any ensuing scrutiny or fallout.

 

—Lee Williams for SAF Investigative Journalism Project

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28 COMMENTS

  1. Hey guess what? An FFL can deny a gat sale for whatever whim or whiff he deems necessary. I haven’t partaken of the devils lettuce in some 40 years but the vast majority of crime is committed by booze hounds. Wash that ganja out dude🙄

    • Pinching pennies.
      We used to make fun that Russians didn’t smile.
      The last time I was at the grocery store everyone had expressions of the walking dead, no smiles there.
      I told my girlfiend last night as I inventoried her emu supply, ” I’m certainly glad we bought you those bullets when we could afford them.”
      ‘They’ said Social Security wasn’t meant to be a life style, but damn its getting serious. Not much food in the trash dumpsters anymore, ain’t no leftovers, humans are sucking the bones dry.
      Thankfully America will be able to give humanitarian aid to Hatia and any other country in dire straights but our own.
      And he looked at me with those big blue eyes and said
      ” You ain’t seen nothing yet
      No No No Baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet.”

      • … so your girlfriend is a he, as in –
        ” and he looked at me with those big blue eyes and said…. ”
        Also, I’ve never seen anything other than black-eyed possims, but you’re also the first talking one I’ve run across, so…

        • Hey diction (or contradiction) you seem new around here, so let me welcome you with ” We don’t need no stinkin’ grammer nazis” – and I believe that your complaint is about paragraph STRUCTURE anyway. Also we have all kinds of talking creatures around these parts – possums, unicorns, heck, we even have a number of talking rectums known as dacian, Miner49er, Albert, and others whom will delight you with their abject ignorance on an astonishing array of topics.

      • Maybe possum’s cuzzin Pepe Le Pew blasted him on his way to the ffl? It could happen. I tried some legal lettuce and it bout kilt me. I guess I was expecting the $hit that we had in the 80s’. No wonder peoples brains are fukked up with that genetically engineered super weed. No thanks.

        • Roundup Ready.
          Monosantozumas Revenge is what we call it, seeds found in a Mayan Pyramid fcked with modernaly until it’s one toke over the line sweet Jesus.
          Mosquitoes used to be good for humans.

  4. No sympathy. If someone chooses to inflict that offensive stinkweed smell on others they deserve this and more. I’ve seen my local shop kick folks out over reeking of weed and I love it!

    • So let me get this straight… you would be happy that an ordinary person off the street with zero authority could walk into a gun store and order the store not to sell you a gun because they think they smell pot on ya.

      That’s what this was. This ATF IOI idiot had zero authority for that action just like that ordinary person off the street would have zero authority for doing that to you. This is a ‘bean counter’, their authority only encompasses ‘bean counting’ not law enforcement or ‘I think’.

  5. Legalize and tax it. It’s a lot less harmful than alcohol. I had to be really pissed off before I would arrest someone for misdemeanor possession. Otherwise, dumped it in the ditch, ground it into the dirt under the heal of my boot and sent them on their way.

    • Dupont objected the last time efforts were made to legalize hemp for industrial uses.

      I wonder who would object this time?

  6. I’m very, very comfortable. With a private seller of firearms. Either an individual or a private business, refusing to sell guns. To people who they believe are intoxicated.

    The government requires solid proof. When they deny the sale of a firearm. An individual does not require solid proof to refuse a gun sale.

  8. Well shucks.
    23 years on police work. Saw drunks and dopers beat their children, leave them hungry and homeless, beat and kill their wives, and perform all types of evil for drugs.

    Pot heads- not even once. Not once. Just saying

    • Little known fact : Popeye’s friend Wimpy was an avid marijuana user – ” I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a sack of hamburgers today !! “

  9. Once the pharmaceuticals figure out a way to get their cut they will allow the politicians to change the law.

    Never saw a pot smoker hurt anyone, do a robbery, or break many laws. Alcohol is the opposite. Laws are wrong.

    • They cause their share of car wrecks, not any different than being cockeyed drunk.
      Only folks will tiny brains need to enhance their mental abilities.

      • I’ve put a lot of scrap metal in the ditch drunk.
        I can’t remember every having a wreck stoned.
        ( that’s a double joke if you didn’t catch it) Stoned,– Can’t Remember

  10. No “He” as in Joseph Robinett Biden The Greatest President America has or ever will have.
    It was a snarc wordchanger from a Bachman Turner Overdrive song. My girlfiend is a female chimpanzee/human cross, we are not proud of the human part but you can’t choose your relatives.

    • Cop skool.
      The rub is,
      THC can be detected in a heavy user after quitting for up to 40 days.
      Cocaine a week.
      Marijuana gives off a distinctive oder.
      Cocaine doesn’t. (well it does but most humans can’t smell it)
      FREE HUNTER MANDELA

  14. Love this sentence:
    “ Medina would not say whether the IOI who stopped the sale was ever trained to detect the smell of marijuana, or whether his observations were based upon his personal use.”. Personal use….can ATF personnel use marijuana legally?
    Asking for a friend…

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