Just days before leaving office on January 20, the Biden Administration quietly reversed its harmful “zero-tolerance” policy of revoking federal firearms licenses from gun dealers for minor paperwork errors.
According to a report from Foxnews.com, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reversed the rule following a lawsuit filed by a Texas firearms retailer. That FFL holder, Michael Cargill, argued that the policy hindered the right to own firearms.
The lawsuit was filed with backing from the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) and America First Legal (AFL). The TPPF stated that random, honest mistakes, such as a buyer entering “USA” in the “country” field, have led to some gun dealers losing their FFLs.
“Many gun stores have been forced to close due to the illegal terms of the old enforcement order,” Matt Miller, a senior TPPF attorney and lead attorney on the case, told Fox News. “The new order effectively restores the old enforcement guidance, which means gun stores don’t have to live in fear of honest mistakes.”
If the name Cargill sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s the same Michael Cargill who sued the federal government over the bump stock ban. In that case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Cargill and overturned the ban.
“There are 100 different ways for customers to make mistakes on the paperwork when you walk into a gun store,” Cargill told Fox News. “In this terminology, if we were to allow them to go in and inspect hospitals, and they say, ‘They made a mistake in the hospital.’ Whether it’s the doctor, the radiology, they made a mistake. We’re going to shut the entire hospital down. That’s insane.
“No one does that. No other industry is put under that type of pressure.”
The policy was part of former President Biden’s broader focus on weaponizing the ATF against American gun owners and dealers. Several executive orders concerning firearms were also part of the Biden Administration’s effort to undermine the Second Amendment.
Gun owners shouldn’t give the Biden administration too much credit for reversing the policy. It’s likely that President Trump would have quickly ended the restrictive enforcement upon taking office anyway.
After Monday’s inauguration, gun-rights groups are closely watching to see which gun-related changes implemented during the Biden era will be reversed by President Trump and his cabinet. We will continue to report on the highly anticipated, gun-friendly presidency as it develops in the coming days and weeks.
A gun store a few towns over was ATF audited several months ago and had over 150 firearms unaccounted for in its paperwork. The owner of that store also happened to own about 80% of the other businesses in town and had the pockets to lawyer up. That gun store is still in business.
It was only “zero tolerance” for the low-hanging fruit.
Rumor control says ….
So have you made an official complaint of misconduct/corruption by the ATF thugs?
neiowa, “rumor control” lol. I haven’t heard that in decades.
The ATF needs to get “rolled back” to zero. Abolish the ATF!
Jim Crow Gun Control democRat joe is so generous.
The irony of government bureaucracy enforcing a zero tolerance approach to paperwork errors is off the charts. The type of thing that would have been lampooned on SNL, in MAD Magazine, Cracked or any number of the things that used to be funny before leftists destroyed them.
No, the actual irony was being “run” by an administration promoting Artificial Intelligence while ignoring it’s Natural Stupidity.
Good riddance.
Where do these closed store owners go to get their reputation, to get reparations from the ATF?
Terminate these useless and immoral
government employees. I’m sure they can find work in the private sector.
Yet another group whos paper shredders are probably begging for mercy.
This was probably done to draw attention away from the ATF. Maybe in the hopes that it will escape the ire of the new President.
When some .gov flunky commits a clerical error all we get is Oops that happens.
Like the wrong address on a search warrant and they shoot your dog instead of the meth dealers dog a few blocks away.
You can’t expect snitches, err informers to be 100% accurate.
^this!
Great, now will my favorite gunshop that closed come back?
Nah, didn’t think so.
FJB.
Dont cry over spilled milk they say.
I don’t , not when I use the kitties lapping up the milk as target practice.
if you made a typo on your taxes, ya might get a letter from the IRS wanting to charge you interest on your own money you are forced to give them. In a Biden second term or a Harris first term, they were gonna send a tac team to your home and tell ya about it at gun point, if you happen to have purchased a gun at some point in your life and if your guns prices just happen to cover the interest they charge you and what you owe on taxes, even partially, then your guns get taken to cover that.
did ya think Biden was arming up IRS tac teams training with ATF, because bean counters get paper cuts?
Doberman Pinschers for a reason.