Posted on 08/21/2023 4:57:35 AM PDT by MtnClimber
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is escalating efforts to strip gun dealers of their federal firearms licenses.
The licenses, which enable businesses to sell firearms for profit, are being revoked in increasing numbers, according to the Wall Street Journal.
The ATF has yanked 122 federal firearms licenses, or FFL’s, from dealers this fiscal year alone.
That’s up from 90 in all of fiscal year 2022, and merely 27 in fiscal year 2021.
The strict enforcement has proved controversial among law enforcement — with some police opposing action that could deter gun sellers from working with federal authorities to thwart crime, according to the Wall Street Journal.
ATF Director Steve Dettelbach is defending the agency’s actions, arguing that the dealers in question don’t deserve the “privilege” of transaction in firearms.
“We’ve taken steps to hold accountable those few dealers who are engaging in these willful violations,” he said. “They’re not going to have the privilege of being a gun dealer anymore.”
One retired ATF official is warning the heavy-handed approach will deprive the agency of key allies against gun trafficking and illegal straw purchases of guns.
“The gun dealers were our first line of defense against gun trafficking,” retired deputy assistant director Peter Forcelli told the Journal of his experience with the agency.
“Why are we now beating an ally into submission?”
(Excerpt) Read more at westernjournal.com ...
“Pedo Peter” and his whole administration suck.
Why?
How many are there and why do you think that is too few or sarc too many? /sarc
What are the reasons being given for gun dealers having their licenses pulled?
Is there an appeal process or a way to have their license restored?
Is this public record so you can look up the names of dealers that have lost their license?
Brothers In Arms, dealer in Cedar Creek, TX closed in 2022. They told me the ATF just hassled them to death over paper work to the point they gave up before the ATF did. I didn’t get the whole story, but I gathered at some point the cost of lawyers, accountants, and bookkeepers was no longer profitable.
Yes, the number of FFL licenses “revoked” by the ATF is probably small compared to the number of FFL businesses forced out of business by harassment.
On a large local radio station yesterday was the weekly visit of "The Gun Guy", a 2A Attorney. I don't know if he was referencing this article, but he and the hosts were discussing the same numbers in the article. The attorney shared the story of a TSA agent who wants to quit. Why? Because the job used to be about helping and educating shop owners in doing it the right way. Today he says the job is all about finding any little reason they can to shut a shop down.
regardless, I stand by my implication that this article is lazy slipshod journalism. The author was too lazy to go find the real story so he tossed together a few numbers and made some claims. Again, I agree with the claims; the problem is that the drivel he wrote doesn't support the truth.
Those of us who understand that the government, driven by the left, is "progressively" eroding our gun rights are already aboard. The brainwashed pearl clutching leftists are a lost cause. The battle for hearts and minds is with those undecided and mildly convinced people in the middle who are open to the truth. Unfortunately, articles like this do a great disservice to winning them over. Essentially this article is a false flag because it is so easily torn apart.
Let's hope the author does better next time.
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