Posted on 01/07/2009 1:29:33 PM PST by Raven6
Tennessee Firearms Association, Inc.
Legislative Action Committee
I know of at least 3 FFL holders in parts of the state of Tennessee who are actively being pursued by ATF on license revocations and/or who have recently surrendered the license because its simply too expenses and to hard to fight ATF. I have been told there are many more. What I have seen is that this trend by the ATF is getting worse and will likely get much worse with Obama in control of the Executive Branch (and thus appointing the Attorney General) and with Pelosi and Reed in almost total control of Congress. Couple that with Republicans who are increasingly federalists and the future for gun owners shows an increasingly dark cloud on the horizon.
One trend I am seeing is that ATF is spending weeks and in some instances months doing a "compliance inspection" that Congress (as if those elected to Congress really remain true to the Constitution once they get there....) initially intended be a relatively brief spot check to confirm that things were running smoothly and, if not, to give correct instruction and guidance. Inspections which were intended to be cooperative and to help licensees have now become essentially a dreaded visit from the "angel of death" masquerading as the ATF knocking at the door with a slogan of "we are the government and we are here to help you...." Instead, these compliance inspections have turned into burdensome and time consuming almost-anal dissections of a FFL's entire existence including a scrutiny of the FFL's records at a level never seen on a regular basis prior to 2004 and never heard of prior to 2001.
ATF has succeeded in convincing the federal courts that it has the absolute authority to revoke a federal firearms license if it finds even one (1) error on a 4473, or even one (1) error involving anything else that a FFL is required by law or regulation to do. Arguments that perfection cannot be attained have been resisted by the ATF (an institution with an admitted willingness to perjure itself in court in the name of getting guns off the street see documents compiled at GunOwners) or simple Google "ATF INSTITUTIONAL PERJURY"). ATF has sadly but repeatedly convinced the federal courts that these errors need only be reckless and that specific intent is not required (ATF actually argues that negligence is all that is required). See Oct 2008 6th Circuit Court of Appeals decision in Armalite v. Marcia Lambert.
The federal courts have bought in to ATF's argument and essentially find that normal record keeping errors are not "normal" or acceptable errors if they are on any document that the licensee is required by law or regulation to maintain. The courts find this determination to be even easier if the licensee has ever had a prior inspection that resulted in the licensee being advised that there were record errors (which is quite common) and that future errors would be considered "willful" violations of the law. Its an absurd argument and frankly a standard that the ATF does not hold its own agents accountable to (agents often make all kinds of errors in preparing their "worksheets" that are used to document the "errors" by federal licensees in order to revoke their licenses). In addition, a 2008 Government report found that ATF had lost 76 of its own firearms and 418 laptop computers. http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/ATF/a0829/findings.htm But, of course, no one is even thinking about revoking the ATF's authority as a result of these "willful" errors in their duties and/or firing (or even criminally prosecuting) those employees who were in charge of those items.
Thus, ATF argues and courts agree, any single error or omission on a Form 4473 or any error or omission (including even transposed numbers in a serial number or minimal delays in transposing information from a 4473 to the bound books) is sufficient to put a dealer out of business.
I would like to find some means of quantifying how many FFL holders in Tennessee over the last 5 to 10 years have been subjected to ATF license revocation proceeds (including those who have surrendered their license as well as those who are or have fought to keep their licenses). Asking ATF for this information is useless because they will not disclose the information willingly. I would like to start documenting, perhaps to assist willing federal legislators, the ATF abuses in Tennessee so that the changes which are needed to reign in the ATF's intentional attack on licensees can hopefully be curtailed before it reaches the point that Tennessee's gun owners will no longer be able to buy guns - not because guns have been banned but because federal licensees have been abused out of business by the ATF on purpose.
The TFA is basically a state level version of the NRA, though I do believe we have better lobbyist and representation (along with the fact that we take a tougher stance on anything remotely related to the 2nd Amendment.
The information is worthy of note, even if you are not an FFL Dealer... As ATF gets bored with hounding/harassing/beating on FFL Dealers, they will turn to the everyday citizen. As John noted in the information contained above, the parties that are in control will do nothing to curb them, and the few Republicans that do voice opposition to abusive actions of a rogue agency will not be enough to garner any media attention whatsoever. Any media attention would be to portray the FFL Dealer or citizen as an extremely dangerous outlaw (regardless of the truth), while the BATF would be portrayed as an agency that, through great work and effort, prevented some crime that would have surely endangered hundreds or even thousands of people.
Anyway... Information submitted for all to review...
Regards,
Raven6
Can you get this out to the "CW2" list and the "armed citizen" list, respectively?
I appreciate it...
Regards,
Raven6
The fact that the ATF even exists is a huge indicator of how far we’ve drifted from the Constitution. That agency should be disbanded and every single one of its current and former employees barred from serving in any law enforcement capacity for the rest of their natural lives.
For this alone he deserves the RINO label.
Bush was really no friend to firearms owners.
Although he didn’t sign any anti-gun initiatives, he didn’t really take a pro-active stand for Second Amendment Rights like Reagan did.
Obama promises to be a nightmare. We are looking at European type repression of a basic human right - a right even animals enjoy - the right to self defense.
And we can thank Bush II and McCain for helping put Obama in the White House.
Is the bureau planning to morph into the Bureau of Alyky, Tobaki, Firearms, BB guns, Pea Shooters, Knives and Hard Drives?
The right answer is to abolish the BATF. Anybody working for them is a Brown Shirt and totalitarian crapbag. The Bureau is an answer in search of a question.
Fed's want the FFL's paperwork.
Same guy also opined, "If 'more government' is the answer, are you sure you were asking the right question?"
So they don’t ban guns but they run everbody out of the business of selling guns. Obama is right when he says he won’t infringe on your right to own a gun. Just your right to buy one. The icing on the cake for the gun control crowd would be pushing gun sales to a black market. Then, if you dare buy one you’re a felon. Clever.
When one of my favorite gun shops went out of business some years ago, there was an unfortunate flood which destroyed all their records.
I was deeply saddened.
Sure is good that the flood didn’t cause a short in the electrical that might have burned the office desk and file cabinet.
Yes, but a couple of sayings apply here:
1) "In for a penny, in for a pound." In other words, if you're a felon for a little .22 revolver, then why not go for the full auto Uzi or AK from that friendly guy downtown who doesn't do background checks or charge sales tax?
2) "The first one costs, the rest are free." In other words, once you've committed one offense with a heavy penalty, why stop there?
I wonder how much foreign countries and companies desperate for U.S. dollars will bring here in an attempt to repair their balance sheets. Drug cartels already have distribution channels, and have paid-off police and judges...so how much could it really cost to add a new product line that has few other sources of supply and nearly insatiable demand?
Maybe they are a bit TOO clever, by half. Law of Unintended Consequences, you know.
Yes. It's fortunate that nothing of value was harmed in the flood.
Is that where the muzzle loaders hang out?
It’s going to be a looooong 4-8 years....
I have that shirt!!!!!
“Government is a disease masquerading as it’s own cure”.
Great tagline material!
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