A few weeks ago we reported on some ATF enforcement activity at the Stag Arms manufacturing facility. Namely the seizure of thousands of undocumented firearms sitting on the factory floor. It seems that Stag has been doing a pretty poor job on the compliance front, failing to properly record firearms that they produced – among other things that ATF inspectors salivate over. Things came to a head today as the former owner of Stag plead guilty in court to a number of regulatory no-nos. As a result, the ATF has offically revoked the manufacturing license for Stag Arms — one of the larger manufacturers of AR-15 rifles in the United States. From the Courant . . .
New Britain-based Stag Firearms LLC pleaded guilty Tuesday to violating federal firearms laws and as part of a plea agreement company president and owner Mark Malkowski agreed to sell the company and have no further ownership or management role in a gun manufacturer.
The company, with Malkowski serving as its representative, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Hartford to a single felony count of possession of a machine gun not registered to the company.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is also revoking Stag’s federal license to manufacture firearms.
If there’s one thing that I know it’s not to piss off the ATF. As long as you play by the rules they will generally leave you alone. The moment you step over the line you become a huge target. In this case, Stag failed to do some basic record keeping in their manufacturing processes. As a result, the ATF came down on their heads like a ton of bricks, laying charges against the head of the company for the failure and closing their doors.