Gun Show
(AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

By Lee Williams

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives isn’t regulating the firearms industry as required by statute. The ATF is choking the life out of it – tearing it down, one gun dealer at a time. 

Before Joe Biden declared war on gun dealers, ATF inspectors used a five-percent rule. If less than five percent of a gun dealer’s paperwork contained errors, the ATF would take minor corrective action, usually a warning letter or a warning conference. If more than five percent of the transactions contained errors, sanctions could be more severe.

But after Biden weaponized the agency, anything goes. Even a minor clerical error is now viewed as a “willful” violation of ATF rules, and the dealer’s Federal Firearm License is in jeopardy. 

Biden angry speech SOTU
(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, Pool)

Today, the ATF is clearly on the prowl. The more FFL revocations they can gin up, the better. The more dealers they can intimidate into surrendering their FFL, the happier the White House will be. After all, Biden has ranted publicly about “rogue” gun dealers, so now it’s up to the ATF to deliver revoked licenses by any means necessary. 

Easy pickings 

ATF knows that high-volume gun dealers can afford to fight a revocation. They have compliance officers, attorneys, and money. But an FFL is an FFL, so ATF is targeting home-based dealers. They’re easier to take down, and they typically don’t have an extra $50,000 to $100,000 to defend their FFL from revocation. The ATF knows this, too and they’re abusing the hell out of it. 

Lately, the ATF doesn’t even bother to start a formal revocation process for home-based dealers. Instead, they cook up some violations and then threaten and bully the dealer, hoping to scare them into “voluntarily” surrendering their FFL.

This abusive tactic worked with a homebased dealer in Oklahoma, after ATF hit his home with a SWAT team, but backfired when tried on a savvy Texas gun dealer. 

ATF agents
(AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

The ATF is also employing new tactics, which violate their own policies. Before Biden took office, the ATF didn’t use gun shop inspections to further a criminal investigation. Now, that’s all changed.

ATF inspectors are now teaming up with criminal investigators – special agents. This unholy alliance creates yet another mechanism to ensnare the unlucky dealer who has been targeted for revocation based on some agent’s whim. 

One thing has become abundantly clear: ATF’s recent revocation spree has resulted in a pattern and practice of civil rights violations. Those are important words. They’re the bedrock of civil rights litigation – civil or criminal.

Today’s rogue ATF agents may believe they’re immune from internal sanctions because they’re only following orders, but they can still be criminally prosecuted or found liable for violating someone’s civil rights. And to be clear, they’re violating someone’s civil rights on a regular basis.  

Takeaways

It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s familiar with ATF’s history that one of their core missions has been shelved because they’re preoccupied with revoking licenses for “The Big Guy.” The ATF is doing nothing to keep guns out of the hands of law-breakers, because they’re too busy turning law-abiding Americans into criminals.

Shaking down honest, hard-working gun dealers does nothing to deter or prevent crime. It’s nothing but an obvious attempt to curry favor with ATF brass and the resident of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and it’s morally wrong. 

I sometimes wonder whether there’s even a single honorable employee left at ATF. If there is, I’d love to hear from them. It can’t be easy working at such a hyper-political agency, surrounded by nothing but oath-breakers. 

 

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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.

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46 COMMENTS

    • Therein lies the problem. The majority of Republicans want to play nice and don’t have the nads to do that.

    • they’re a redundant agency…others could do their job quite nicely…thus their endless quest to please their master…funding is their lifeline….

  2. There’s another aspect to this. Most crimes, especially violent crimes, are committed by one of the Democratic party’s pet constituencies. There is no way to properly prosecute these crimes without backlash from that constituency. So, scapegoats must be found and crucified. Such scapegoats must more likely be from the other party, and of a constituency the left can demonize. While this does nothing to stop crime, it rouses the base and provides talking points. “Look! We’re doing something about it!”

    • johnnyboy…RE: “Most crimes, especially violent crimes, are committed by one of the Democratic party’s pet constituencies.”

      Why don’t you cut the crap and just go ahead and say the n-word? Perhaps the problem is those who were filled with demoCrap and quick to throw POTUS DJT under the bus?

      BTW…Only the politically inept subjected to media propaganda would ever regurgitate the word democratic. FYI…The ic was added to hide the Rat in democRat…fool.

      • What? Norwegians? Nicosians? Nevadans? New Zealanders?? None of those are at the top of the FBI stats when it comes to both perps and victims of violent crime.

      • Debbie,
        you’re correct, according to the US Department of Justice, more violent crimes are perpetrated by negroes (13% of the population) on a percentage basis (54% of all v. crimes) than any other group.

        Thank you for taking the time to demand this clarification.

      • Whats wrong Deb? the truth hurt?
        Ranger quoted some true stats and you have nothing to say?
        I’m not racist I call em like I see em. and I’ve seen them, many times.

      • Not what he meant IMO Debbie. if you’ll check most mass shooters are registered as democrat voters (usually white ones), or their parents are. Sad but true.

  3. The leftists are at the trough, and like so many hogs, are going to scarf up as much as they can while they can. Like the contest winner who gets a chance to grab dollar bills swirling around in the air, they will grab as much of the easy stuff as they can.

  4. I have used numerous FFLs and not one showed any indication whatsoever they needed supervision or harassment from what by all accounts appears to be along the lines of the nazi ss.

    • The Nazi SS like you, cupcake?

      If anyone doesn’t goose-step in line with what deb the retarded dunce says, she will lie about you.

      You’re not silencing me, hunny. If anything, I will keep on saying loud and long how Trump will cost us the next election, because of brain-damaged dunces like you… 🙂

      • Goeff, IMO she’s much smarter than you. Now why not try to be a tad more civil, after all…you’re among friends here.

    • That is the criminal side. Good luck getting Garland’s DOJ to prosecute any ATF agents doing its bidding.

      • @Mark N. Biden only has 2 more years, statute of limitation doesn’t expire yet.

  6. All this is nothing new. In N.E. Ohio about 27 years ago the ATF closed a substantial number of gun dealers who had brick and motor stores and had been in business for years and sometimes even for decades. Not one of them got their licenses, back even though they all had high priced lawyers. The appeals board is run by the ATF themselves making the entire process nothing more than an absolute joke. Many home based F.F.L.’s bit the dust as well during that period. One particular store is still open but has not been able to sell guns now for several decades

    • And fascists such as you are giddy about it, aren’t you?

      But then again — you lie. No source to your screed. No way to verify what you say, so I’ll just go with the old stand-by: “You’re a liar.”

    • The BRITISH SUBJECT getting his/her/its “FAKE STORIES” from its/his/her “HANDLER’S”!!!!

    • dacian, the DUNDERHEAD, that is why you don’t go through the AFT “Appeals” process. You take ’em right to US District Court.

    • remember an ATF agent sitting in my kitchen and telling me to just to drop the damn thing…she basically said they’re out to get as many as they can…and there’s no way they’re going to approve a renewal…they’ll just find something to deny it…at least she was honest…

    • Because it will be harder to confiscate IRAs in the name of fairness or take away social security payments for the same reason when the law abiding citizens are armed and finally have had enough.

  11. Even if this was tightened to 1-2% I have issues believing that most FFLs would have problems much less 5%.

    I am also kind of concerned this FFL had records going back to 07, depending on when this investigation started. That says nothing of the ATF keeping records they are obligated to destroy. I mean when does the statute of limitations end on this anyways?

    The FOPA 86 needs to go away. It’s obviously toothless and we gave up machine guns for it.

    • We Gave up nothing. Iirc new full autos were added at the last minute. That $hit was stolen from us

    • the repubs had a hand in that…they just didn’t want to own it…thus shady moves in the wee small hours…sound familiar?

  13. Appears the acronym for the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and firearms) has been changed to :
    Achtung The Fuhrer

    • when’s the last time they shut down an alcohol or tobacco dealer?…they should just admit they’re solely a gun-chasing outfit…

  14. No “honorable” person would be employed by the Jackbooted thugs at 3letter Fed agency.

    • regulatory people always treated me decently…it’s the enforcement branch that hires all the thugs…worked 10 years alongside these people…don’t think I ever saw them smile once…let alone engage in small talk…

  15. The FBI was the mastermind of the Las Vegas shooting and many other mass shootings. Also they assassinated JFK, RFK, and MLK.

    • can you spell CIA?…..Kennedy had enemies everywhere…but none more vicious or capable as that bunch….

  16. …putting one of their own people on the Warren Commision pretty much said it all…..

  18. Until recently, the most hated and despised government employees were IRS agents, or “revenuers.” If an IRS agent was invited to a dinner party and asked what they did for a living, they’d have to lie if they didn’t want to be shunned by polite company. Today, IRS agents must be relieved their occupation is now considered downright friendly and neighborly compared to the hateful, despicable, detestable, jackbooted criminal thugs working for the despised BATF!

    Remember the movie Untouchables, when Sean Connery played a cop who stopped Elliot Ness (Kevin Costner) for carrying a concealed weapon? Elliott Ness told him, “I’m an IRS agent,” and Sean Connery said, “Okay, you’re free to go,” or something like that. Ness asked, “Aren’t you going to ask to see my badge?” Sean Connery said, “Why would anyone ever claim to be an IRS agent unless he really was one?”
    But today, nobody is more hated than BATF scum, not even IRS agents.

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