By Lee Williams
Twenty-five Republican Congressmen – including every Republican member of the House Judiciary Committee – sent a letter Wednesday to Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Acting Director Gary Restaino, demanding an explanation for “the Department’s broad and unprecedented effort to revoke Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs) from law-abiding business owners throughout the country.”
Led by Rep. Andy Biggs, (R-AZ), the Congressmen are seeking answers to issues first revealed in a Special Report by the Second Amendment Foundation, titled: “ATF Federal Firearm License revocations up a staggering 500%.”
The Special Report revealed that in the years before the Biden-Harris administration took over the White House, the ATF usually revoked an average of 40 Federal Firearm Licenses per year. But, in the 18 months since Joe Biden declared war on “rogue gun dealers,” the ATF has revoked 273 FFLs. Rather than targeting the true law breakers, Biden’s ATF is revoking FFLs for the most minor of paperwork errors, which were never a concern until Biden weaponized the agency.
“The Biden Administration’s radical anti-gun agenda is infiltrating the ATF and law-abiding business owners are having their businesses destroyed,” Congressman Biggs said in a press release. “Under this Administration, the number of FFL revocation proceedings initiated by ATF has skyrocketed and are often based on minor infractions.”
In the letter, Biggs and the other lawmakers said the ATF is launching revocation proceedings based solely on past ATF inspections, up to 18 months earlier, even after the agency had decided the inspection did not merit revocation.
“This pattern is deeply troubling and makes it abundantly clear that this Administration seeks to advance its anti-firearm agenda at any cost,” Biggs said.
Lawmakers’ questions
According to the Daily Caller, the Congressmen are seeking answers to the following:
- Is there an official or unofficial competition among ATF field divisions related to FFL revocations?
- Has the DOJ or ATF established quotas related to FFL revocations or any other metric related to FFL revocations?
- How many FFLs were revoked by ATF from 2009-2016?
- How many FFLs were revoked by ATF from 2017-2020?
- How many FFLs were revoked by ATF from 2021-present?
- How many FFLs is ATF in the process of revoking?
- Please provide all email communications from DOJ or ATF leadership to field division leadership regarding the revocation of FFLs.
- Please provide all email communications from ATF field division leadership to field agents regarding the revocation of FFLs.
“Acting Director Restaino must provide us with details surrounding ATF’s FFL revocation policies,” the letter states.
The information the lawmakers are seeking from ATF is similar to data the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project sought in a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the ATF, which was sent more than a year ago:
Copies of documents that show the number of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and their state of residence, who have been prosecuted for willfully transferring a firearm to a prohibited person over the past three years (from June 23, 2018 to June 23, 2021.)
Copies of documents that show the number of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and their state of residence, who have been prosecuted for ignoring and/or refusing to cooperate with a tracing request from the BATFE, over the past three years (from June 23, 2018 to June 23, 2021.)
(Note: We did not seek the names or other identifiers of any FFL.)
To date, the ATF has not responded to SAF’s FOIA request.
The other co-signers of the letter include: Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH), Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO), Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL.), Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA.), Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA), Rep. W. Gregory Steube (R-FL), Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), Rep. Dan Bishop (R-NC), Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-MN), Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI.), Rep. Cliff Bentz (R-OR), Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT), Rep. Jody Hice (R-GA), Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), Rep. Fred Keller (R-PA), Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL), Rep. Andre Clyde (R-GA), and Rep. Ted Bud (R-NC).
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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.
Keep this event “on file”. See what happens when Republicrats control House and Senate.
Good luck with yer investigation. You’ll need it!
What’s with this “Please provide….” bullshit? Show up at their offices in assault vehicles, dressed head to toe in tactical gear, and armed with M4s and flashbangs. Handcuff everyone on premises and destroy the place while looking for “evidence”. Then throw the booty in the back of a dump truck to transport it to secure storage. You know, the way THEIR personnel conduct operations.
The ATF has always been weaponized, it’s what they do. They are obsolete so let’s shut them down permanently. Cut the D O J and F B I 50 % starting at the top. Go flat tax and eliminate 90 % of the I R S.
OMG, Ed! If you start shutting down government agencies, do you have any idea what that will do to the unemployment figures?!?!?! Sleepy Creepy Joe already looks bad, he can’t afford unemployment rates going through the roof!
Hmmm..jusst might force some of those agents of the brute state to learn a few skills and go find REAL jobs. You know, where there is an actual “work product” of general usefulness delivered on occasion.
Who caares what that does to pogey, anyway? Let the whole thing collapse. Maybe SLeepy Dopey Joey cn’t afford the dole to collapse, but I rather think the rest of us can….. and would ctually rejoice in that outcome. Particulary if outfits like ATF, TSA, Ed, CDC, NIH, we cabeasiky begin to prosper once they are done away with.
I wonder if the founders knew how tragically comedic the whole “redress of grievances” thing would wind up being?
I suppose it’s a polite and bureaucratic step to take on the path to dissolving the union.
“I wonder if the founders knew how tragically comedic the whole “redress of grievances” thing would wind up being?”
Yes, they did; and warned us of not making wise decisions in picking representatives to the central government.
ATF Response: “Joe made us do it.”
since when does BATF jig to BIden’s fiddle? BATF are SUPPOSED to be beholden to COngress…….. take THAT, stuff it in yer corncob, and smoke it.
“BATF are SUPPOSED to be beholden to COngress…”
BATF is an executive agency. Since the executive branch is supposed to implement/carry out congressional legislation, Congress long ago delegated the details of the actual law to the executive branch. BATF responds to the Executive, not the Legislative.
Congress could pass a law tomorrow stating that the number of crimes where a firearm is used, or present, shall be reduces to zero by 2050. The president would advise government agencies of the law, and direct them to enforce the law. Each agency would be free to establish the regulations by which the legislative demand is fulfilled.
(wonder why Congress hasn’t already done that).
SCOTUS sunk much of that swamp think this morning with WV v EPATHUGS
Crickets, that’s what they’ll get. At least they can go bluegill fishing.
We are the BATFE, we do what we want.
Untouchables, 100% endorsed by your President.
Big Joey can’t even spell it.
“We are the BATFE, we do what we want.”
“We are BATFE/. Resistance is futile….”
@neiowa
“SCOTUS sunk much of that swamp think this morning with WV v EPATHUGS”.
Thinking that the WV case will be very limited. “Chevron doctrine” remains in place. If “Chevron” were displaced, the SC would have made specific note, due to the very wide reaching implications. The majority of members of the SC are not unfamiliar with “Chevron”.
“Thinking that the WV case will be very limited. “Chevron doctrine” remains in place.”
On that subject LKB opined earlier “The writing is on the wall.”
Build a legal foundation of many bricks…
“On that subject LKB opined earlier “The writing is on the wall.” ”
Often true, but “Chevron” was a major decision for the SC. Difficult to think all of them unintentionally ignored it, left and right.
No surprise! Crooked joe will make it worse! He and his minions want this country to die!
No big deal! Cocky Joe will exacerbate the situation! He and his henchmen want this nation to perish!
I appreciate you taking the time to write this post, which is really helpful and engaging because of the content.
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