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ATF inspector seizes gun store customer records without warrant
Buckeye Firearms Association ^ | 6:00AM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 01, 2023 | John Crump

Posted on 09/05/2023 3:13:57 AM PDT by COBOL2Java

A Florida-based Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Industry Operations inspector (IOI) seized a federal firearms licensee’s (FFL) completed ATF Form 4473s and bound book to take off-site to make copies violating federal law. The IOI would return the documents a week later.

Last week, Kiloton Tactical joined a coalition of FFLs led by Eric Blandford of the Iraqveteran8888 YouTube channel and vowed to sue the ATF over the Biden Administration’s zero-tolerance policy for FFLs. The lawsuit has now been filed with the illegal actions of the IOI front and center in the complaint.

According to 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(1)(A), FFLs must maintain records such as a bound book and copies of the ATF Form 4473, which Kiloton Tactical did maintain. During an inspection, an IOI is able to look over records for policy violations but does not have the authority to inspect the documents off-site. This action is expressly prohibited by 27 CFR § 478.23(cd).

The statute reads:

“The inspections and examinations provided by this section do not authorize an ATF officer to seize any records or documents other than those records or documents constituting material evidence of a violation of law. If an ATF officer seizes such records or documents, copies shall be provided to the licensee within a reasonable time.”
At the time of the seizure, no wrongdoing was suspected. The IOI insisted he was within his legal rights to remove the documents from the store. The IOI’s deviation put him at odds with federal law.

The ATF’s IOI handbook doubles down on forbidding an IOI from removing records from a business. The ATF has been slow to release the IOI handbook to the public, and when they finally did, the document was heavily redacted. AmmoLand News acquired an unredacted copy of the guide from our sources inside the ATF. Every IOI is responsible for knowing the policies laid out in the handbook, but the ATF employee ignored page 10 of the handbook, which expressly prohibits IOIs from making any seizures.

Later in the same guide, the ATF states that all inspections should be done at the FFL’s location. There is no exception for carrying out an inspection of records off-site. The IOI in question violated the ATF’s own policies and violated federal law. To many, this is just another example of a lack of training for ATF employees. Others believe that ATF employees think they are above the law due to a culture of government overreach.

The Biden administration has empowered the ATF to shut down gun stores for small clerical errors. President Joe Biden claims the new zero-tolerance policy only affects “rogue gun dealers,” but in practice, many more small gun stores are being targeted. FFL revocations are up between 350% and 500%, rising to a 17-year high.

IOIs no longer have the discretion to determine whether a violation is willful. Instead of revocation being the last option, it is becoming the default action by the ATF over minor errors. The zero-tolerance policies have significantly impacted the firearms market, decreasing the number of gun stores across the country and ending the livelihood of not only the stores’ owners but also the employees of the businesses.

One organization that has sounded the alarm against the ATF overreach is Gun Owners of America (GOA). GOA has a lawsuit of its own in North Dakota against the zero-tolerance policy. GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt has pledged to help the FFL Coalition’s efforts in any way possible.

“The ATF is out of control, and both Congress and the Courts have an obligation to rein them in! GOA fully supports the FFL Coalition’s efforts to halt the weaponization of the ATF, and thus protect honest gun dealers around the country,” Pratt told AmmoLand News. “Left unchecked, Biden’s Zero Tolerance policy will cripple the gun industry and make it virtually impossible for law-abiding Americans to purchase firearms and exercise their rights.”
The actions of the IOI show the agency’s problems are systemic and highly politicized, leaving us with one solution: defund the ATF.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; US: Florida; US: Ohio
KEYWORDS: atf; atfthugsarefairgame; banglist; defundatf; donutwatch; stephendettelbach
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To: COBOL2Java

Shouldn’t the Local Sheriff have arrested and prosecuted this criminal for Felony Armed Robbery???


21 posted on 09/05/2023 5:47:55 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: COBOL2Java

These statutes seem to have no problem sending citizens to prison for breaking the laws, but fail to send bureaucrats to prison for breaking the laws.

This must be fixed.


22 posted on 09/05/2023 5:50:07 AM PDT by nagant
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To: COBOL2Java; mylife; Joe Brower; MaxMax; Randy Larsen; waterhill; Envisioning; AZ .44 MAG; umgud; ...

RKBA Ping List


This Ping List is for all news pertaining to infringes upon or victories for the 2nd Amendment.

FReepmail me if you want to be added to or deleted from this Ping List.

More 2nd Amendment related articles on FR's Bang List.

23 posted on 09/05/2023 5:52:20 AM PDT by PROCON (Sic Semper Tyrannis)
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To: COBOL2Java

Need to put an end to “Qualified Immunity.” This “legal doctrine” is a fabrication.

Government officials performing “discretionary (optional) functions” should bear the liability for their actions in a civil suit, NOT the taxpayers.

Make the results personally financially ruinous to the government employee and they will be far less zealous and ambitious in treading on the law and the rights of others.


24 posted on 09/05/2023 6:06:20 AM PDT by Natty Bumppo@frontier.net (We are the dangerous ones, who stand between all we love and a more dangerous world.)
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To: COBOL2Java

Jack boots by any other name.


25 posted on 09/05/2023 6:13:26 AM PDT by Delta 21 (Sufferings are the guardrails on the road to Heaven.)
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To: Dave911
All agencies have run amuck.

And that's because we have ALLOWED them.

26 posted on 09/05/2023 6:23:14 AM PDT by unixfox (Abolish Slavery, Repeal the 16th Amendment)
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To: COBOL2Java

“Left unchecked, Biden’s Zero Tolerance policy will cripple the gun industry and make it virtually impossible for law-abiding Americans to purchase firearms and exercise their rights.”

By design.


27 posted on 09/05/2023 6:25:47 AM PDT by Blood of Tyrants ( "It is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled."- Mark Twain)
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To: COBOL2Java

Once upon a time, our duly elected Republican Congress would be there to right this wrong. Because of their incompetence, once must ask whether or not communists ran as Republicans in order to destroy the party.


28 posted on 09/05/2023 6:27:20 AM PDT by LouAvul (Daniel 4:17: "..the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever He will.." )
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To: Howie66

When ‘public servants’ ignore law as if it doesn’t exist and do as they please, there’s only one way to halt it. But most don’t yet have the stomach for it. The ‘public servants’ count on that.


29 posted on 09/05/2023 7:53:21 AM PDT by curious7
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To: COBOL2Java

Thanks for posting. These government agencies don’t care about following the law, at all.


30 posted on 09/05/2023 8:28:47 AM PDT by Rusty0604 (Despthaerately looking for new conspiracy theories as all the old ones have come true)
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To: COBOL2Java

Their next step is probably to leak the info to the media.

During the Obama reign of hell, I was close to getting my concealed carry permit. But right after passing the required class, some azhole (I think it was in Montana) leaked the personal info of that state’s concealed carry citizens. Even though the normalcy bias tells you “it can’t happen here”... it often does and probably will... so I never followed through. With the same regime now in firm control, looking back, I’m glad I didn’t continue on with it. It’s going to be bad enough for folks on the right now without having ‘that’ piece of info out there, too.


31 posted on 09/05/2023 8:34:54 AM PDT by Danie_2023
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To: COBOL2Java

If they didn’t have a warrant then why didn’t he just kick them off of his property, and tell them to go and get one.


32 posted on 09/05/2023 9:35:39 AM PDT by Rappini ("No man is entitled to the blessings of freedom unless he be vigilant in it's preservation" MacArthr)
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To: marktwain

Lincoln instituted the start of the U.S. becoming a banana republic 160 years ago. I dont even know what a republican is anymore.


33 posted on 09/05/2023 9:49:36 AM PDT by Ikeon (i believe in clubs for women and clubs for males. but only when kindness fails)
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To: COBOL2Java

Name me any communist state in history that cared for, or observed, legalities...

There are absolutely no limits to the powers of our current communist masters...

There are no American citizens who are willing to put a stop to this tyranny... (Just ask the J6 prisoners or the Waco relatives...)

Get used to it or leave...

There is only one solution:
Bow down!... Obey!... Snitch!...


34 posted on 09/05/2023 10:03:26 AM PDT by SuperLuminal (Where is the next Sam Adams when we so desperately need him)
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To: Howie66

Just keep voting.


35 posted on 09/05/2023 10:16:55 AM PDT by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: Ikeon

Actually, the Condederate Government wad semi- Torolitarian. Lincoln was not as great as people say. He appointed too many bad Generals.


36 posted on 09/05/2023 10:40:39 AM PDT by cowboyusa (UA IS KING OF AMERICA! AMERICA FIRST! DEATH TO MARXISM AN GLOBAvolvLISM! Trump 2024, NO more Mr Nice)
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To: curious7

Copy that.


37 posted on 09/05/2023 10:58:15 AM PDT by Howie66 ("Biden-Fetterman 2024. It's A No Brainer")
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To: Jacquerie

Uh huh. Like I have been and still no positive results.


38 posted on 09/05/2023 10:59:10 AM PDT by Howie66 ("Biden-Fetterman 2024. It's A No Brainer")
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To: Trailerpark Badass

bkmk


39 posted on 09/05/2023 11:51:13 AM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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To: Danie_2023

It could have been Montana, too, but it was definitely Missouri. At the time, your CCW endorsement was indicated on your driver license or state ID. Word got out to get the endorsement on a separate ID, because you didn’t want people requesting to see your driver license knowing your CCW status.

Some Missouri Department of Revenue hack was funneling all the information on CCW holders to the Obama Administration. In response, Missouri made it a decentralized system, in which the county sheriffs issue the actual endorsement card.


40 posted on 09/09/2023 6:55:00 PM PDT by scott7278 (Those who beat their swords into plowshares usually end up plowing for those who kept their swords.)
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