Posted on 03/16/2007 9:50:21 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
TWIN FALLS - Red's Trading Post, one of Idaho's oldest gun shops, can trade no longer.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has revoked the business's license to buy, trade or obtain guns after an ATF audit found Red's employees sold guns improperly numerous times between 1999 and 2004.
Red's manager, Ryan Horsley, admits when the business sold guns it sometimes left blank required parts of a gun purchase form, omitted a background check on a special order, failed to log multiple handgun sales to the same customer in five working days, did not keep track of guns returned to manufacturers, threw away denied applications dealers are required to keep for 20 years and failed to post a gun safety sign and pamphlets.
The ATF revoked Red's license March 5, shutting down 90 percent of the income that has sustained the store through three generations of Horsleys.
"They are taking very minor things and blowing them out of proportion," said Terry Horsley, the shop's owner and Ryan's mother.
The shop, at 215 Shoshone St. South, can sell the 1,000 guns remaining in its inventory, and can continue selling gun accessories and ammunition.
But accessories account for only 10 percent of its revenue.
"I'm just sitting here going, 'What am I going to do?,'" Ryan Horsley said.
The five-year audit found violations over a period in which 10,000 guns were sold, Horsley said.
"Mistakes happen. Stuff happens," Horsley said. "I think it's unreal expecting to have 100 percent non errors."
The bad news, which comes on the heels of record profits, could now close the store, Terry Horsley said.
Red's has paid $20,000 in legal fees protesting the ATF's decision. On Feb. 23, Red's legal team filed a petition in federal court in Boise.
The judicial review will consider, among other things, whether Red's "willfully" violated the law.
"'Not willful' is one of their petitions," said Deborah Ferguson, assistant U.S. attorney, representing the ATF's industry operations. "'Willful has been defined by case law. I would expect the court to look at that legal authority."
Case law defines "willful," an essential component of the allegations, as "they knew of the regulations and did not abide by them," Ferguson said.
Ryan Horsley said Red's was found responsible of several violations in an earlier audit.
But he said the infractions are petty and do not justify a revoked license.
"There's no missing guns," he said. "There are errors but everyone has errors."
Walt Sinclair, a Boise co-counsel for Red's, said the errors were clerical, not intentional.
He said it's not the first time the ATF has revoked the license of a Twin Falls gun dealership.
"Blue Lakes Sporting Goods lost its license," Sinclair said. "They had been there forever. It was a family business. It was a real success story, but this type of petty, technical noncompliance caused them to end up going out of business."
The ATF has 60 days from Feb. 23 to respond Red's petition.
The ATF Seattle Field Office spokeswoman declined to comment on Red's case until after judicial review.
"If the individuals reapply, the facts from the revocation would be considered for any future licenses," said spokeswoman Julianne Marshall. "Industry Operations will consider their application. However, they have an interest for public safety. This license was revoked for a reason."
A judge may still overturn ATF's decision.
Burn All Toddlers First
And just what does the "effed", in your post "Sounds like Ryan Effed up" mean?
Advice for your life mylife:
It is better to have people THINK you're an idiot, than to open your mouth (or type some words) and remove all doubt.
Ah yes, the Commerce Clause. I thought that might be what you had in mind.
Since the 1930s, the Commerce Clause has been a favorite of Democrats and Leftists in this country. They have used it to justify the expansion of the power and reach of the Federal government into all areas of life.
Setting aside the question of whether the gun store owner was engaged in "interstate commerce", do you see any limit on power of Congress under the Commerce Clause?
Knock off the big bad guy act
Look at comments 2 and 3.
As long as Americans are stupid enough to allow these jack-booted thugs to infringe a basic constitutional and human right over governmental trivia, our rights will continue to be eroded.
Muchas Gracias Senior Gonzales!!! I hope the Dems fry your butt!!!
Sig Hile, What you don’t understand is that is the way the Feds will take away our rights. You can own a gun, you just will not be able to buy one ANYWHERE. This is happening ALL over. The Feds are busting gun dealers on minor infractions. If you can’t ban guns outright you just make it too difficult to purchase one. So what will happen is that guns will disappear though attrition.
Below. A large number of these licenses were individuals selling an occasional gun from home or at shows, not commercial enterprises.
IF this guy was omitting background checks for "special" cases, and not reporting multiple handgun sales, I'm glad there's one less. These are the abuses that lead to more regulation.
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America Once Had More Gun Dealers Than Gas Stations, Now Only Five States Do: Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming
WASHINGTON, DC—The number of gun dealers in America has dropped by 190,726 since 1994 according to a new study released today by the Violence Policy Center (VPC). The study (see http://www.vpc.org/studies/dealers.pdf) found that the number of Type 1 Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs) plummeted 78 percent: from 245,628 in 1994 to 54,902 in 2005. (The Type 1 FFL is the basic federal license required to sell guns in America.)
The 1992 VPC publication More Gun Dealers Than Gas Stations first focused national attention on abuses by FFL holders and revealed that at the time of its release the number of Americans who possessed the Type 1 FFL outnumbered gas stations 245,000 to 210,000. The bulk of the licenses were held by illegitimate "kitchen-table" dealers who operated out of their homes or offices, an unknown percentage of which were actively involved in criminal gun trafficking. As the result of policy recommendations contained in the study that were implemented under the Clinton Administration, today only five states have more gun dealers than gas stations (see chart below). The full study contains information for all 50 states as well as policy recommendations.
| State | Number of Gun Dealers | Number of Gas Stations | State | Number of Gun Dealers | Number of Gas Stations |
| Alaska | 844 | 229 | Oregon | 1,479 | 1,146 |
| Idaho | 682 | 663 | Wyoming | 550 | 401 |
| Montana | 1,017 | 597 | U.S. Total | 54,902 | 121,363 |
California posted the largest decrease in the number of gun dealers of any state in the nation, dropping from 20,148 in 1994 to 2,438 in 2005—a drop of 88 percent.
VPC Policy Analyst Marty Langley states, "The sharp drop in gun dealers is one of the most important—and little noticed—victories in the effort to reduce firearms violence in America. The dramatic drop in dealers aids not only federal law enforcement, but cities and states as they continue their efforts to reduce illegal firearms trafficking and firearms violence."
"Burn All Toddlers First"
Sure seems that way.
Always eager to take the ATF's side, eh? Do you think this guy was arming terrorists and bank robbers?
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Explain how the paperwork involved is onerous, and leftist.
"Setting aside the question of whether the gun store owner was engaged in "interstate commerce", do you see any limit on power of Congress under the Commerce Clause?"
There is no limit given in the Constitution. The founder's assumed commerce would be regulated to flourish, not regulated out of existence, so no limit was given. As Franklin said at the closing of the Convention, that the Constitution wasn't perfect, it was left up to the future what folks would make of it.
There's a box on the form to be filled in with the background check number. These forms are simple.
"an employee forgot to make sure the customer filled in his county of residence along with mailing address."
The employee should go over the form, to make sure it's filled out right. Horsley should have checked that the forms were also. It's not as if he had to count thousands of grains of sand every night.
A BTT and many thanks. Signed and bumped.
In case you aren't keeping score, mark Red's in the "out of existence" column.
Anytime a bureaucrat is given the kinds of power the BATFE has, it will be abused. Red's is just one in a long line of dealers being rail-roaded out of the industry by crap like this.
I don't think he's being railroaded out of existence. I think Horsley was unreasonable and sloppy at least. He already had at least one warning, which should have woke him up. It didn't and his op continued to be sloppy.
from the article: "Ryan Horsley said Red's was found responsible of several violations in an earlier audit."
The dealers I know don't have these problems, even one with filing system, that amounted to storing their forms at the point in the store where they were filled out and dropped right there, then later fell into a box, into a corner, or stuck to the bottom of a sandwich wrapper. The sales volume, was on the order of this guy's.
6-7 errors out of 10000? Doesn't sound sloppy to me. If government kept track of our tax money like that, we'd be a lot better off...
Considering most of these arbitrary BATFE infringements shouldn't even exist, don't be too happy about this guys business going down the tubes.
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