ATF Begins 'Zero Tolerance' Attack On Firearms Shops

P. Gardner Goldsmith | March 30, 2022

 

In a revelation first delivered to me by my friend, YouTuber Liberty Doll, I’ve discovered that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE, or, simply ATF to its “friends”) is ready to interpret and enforce a brutal Biden “Zero Tolerance – SHUT YOU DOWN” policy on gun shop owners who make minor paperwork errors (paperwork one can argue that the shop owners should not have to fill out in the first place).

As LD observes in her video on the alarming news:

This story has evolved a lot since June, probably because it’s easier to change your policies when no one is looking, because they’re preoccupied with, I don’t know, all that talk about World War Three…

Indeed, the Biden Administration’s ATF have received very little attention as they have begun interpreting and prepping enforcement of something the Bidenistas presaged in June, 2021.

As Biden’s June 23rd “Executive Order” stated, in association with unconstitutionally handing out cash to “local and state law enforcement” through his also unconstitutional COVID-19-related “American Rescue Plan”, the ATF would:

…seek to revoke the licenses of dealers the first time that they violate federal law by willfully 1) transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, 2) failing to run a required background check, 3) falsifying records, such as a firearms transaction form, 4) failing to respond to an ATF tracing request, or 5) refusing to permit ATF to conduct an inspection in violation of the law.

And…

In addition, ATF will notify every firearms dealer whose license is revoked about how to lawfully transfer any remaining inventory, as well as the potential criminal consequences of continuing to engage in the business of buying and selling guns without a license.

Ahh, yes. “Licensing…” That mafia-like practice of government agents forbidding you from engaging in a peaceful activity until you pay them and get their permission to do so. It’s the idea of, “You’re free to do this, because we say you are,” which always plays so well among free people who have God-given rights, regardless of what politicians claim.

And since when did the US government, which is supposed to operate according to the manual, called THE CONSTITUTION, start disregarding the rules and just claim power it’s not supposed to have?

When it comes to guns, it goes back to the dark, FDR-era, 1934 Firearms Act, which slid its camel’s nose under the Second Amendment tent through the tax code, violated the Fourth Amendment, and has seen the feds steadily increase their noxious nostrums to prohibit and “regulate” and “license” firearms sales – that last being a command brought about by the 1968 Gun Control Act (GCA).

Now, the Biden Administration will shut down sellers (i.e. “pull their licenses”) for minor paperwork errors. As Liberty Doll (LD) notes:

So, the new policy and the updates to what gets your FFL (Federal Firearms License) revoked are supposed to be part of its (the Biden Admin’s) way of ‘combatting violent crime.’ Biden is calling it a ‘whole government approach’ and claims that cracking down on licensed dealers is a ‘proven method.’

Of course, the June, 2021 Executive Order provides no evidence of this.

Continues LD:

The White House claims it is a plan using ‘historic funding levels’ to, ironically, put more cops on the street in ‘defund the police’ cities… and strengthen and maximize the already bloated ATF.

Nothing quite like the freedom to engage in peaceful transactions without armed agents of the state looming over you, is there?

As the National Rifle Association reports:

Other willful violations that may result in the issuance of a notice of revocation include but are not limited to failure to:

  1. Account for firearms
  2. Verify and document buyer eligibility
  3. Maintain records needed for successful firearms tracing
  4. Report multiple sales of handguns

Remember back a couple-hundred years ago, when King Joe III sent his dragoons through the streets of Boston, New York, Philly, and other colonial towns to arbitrarily stop folks and to enter their homes and businesses, checking on whether they had the proper STAMPS on items they had bought or sold?

That kind of behavior prompted the colonials to respond, and they used – firearms to do so.

Now, the ATF is acting on the Biden 2021 E.O., thanks to some slippery federal activity in which the bureau engaged in December. As the NRA notes:

Then, last December, ATF updated its Federal Firearms Licensee Quick Reference and Best Practices Guide. The updated guide makes clear that ‘ATF will, absent extraordinary circumstances, initiate proceedings to revoke the license of any dealer that has committed a willful regulatory violation of the Gun Control Act (GCA) for specified violations.’

The NRA also makes two other important points. First:

While some of these may be serious violations that warrant revocation, many will be simple paperwork errors. Notably, ‘falsifying records’ is a very broad category that can include making simple errors on the Form 4473, and ‘failing to respond to a trace request’ could result from simply missing an attempted contact by ATF.

Anyone who has dealt with any level of government agency knows that its gang can, at will, increase or decrease the amount of demanded paperwork, and they also can make getting or properly filling out that paperwork an almost impossible task. The ATF can flood businesses with “Trace Requests” anytime the feds want to decrease the number of dealers it will “allow” to sell firearms.

Because, of course, they claim the “licensing power” over our lives.

And, notes the NRA:

The new ‘zero tolerance’ policy has a clear aim of reducing the number of federally licensed dealers, which will in turn make it more difficult for law-abiding Americans to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Which will put them in greater danger of being attacked by criminals, criminals who, by their nature, do not care about the statutes and the paperwork and the ATF at all.

Related: Rep. Jordan: Biden's ATF 'Going After Law-Abiding Gun Owners' | MRCTV