Changes are needed in law and policy to put outlaw federally licensed gun dealers out of business. As with background checks, the basic laws and
systems are in place. The laws need to be enforced more strictly and efficiently.
“ WASHINGTON — As they inspect the nation’s gun stores,
federal investigators regularly find violations of the law, ranging from minor
record-keeping errors to illegal sales of firearms. In the most serious cases,
like a sale of a gun to a prohibited buyer, inspectors often recommend that gun
dealers lose their licenses. But that
rarely happens. Senior officials at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives regularly overrule their own inspectors, allowing gun dealers
who fail inspections to keep their licenses even after they were previously
warned to follow the rules, according to interviews with more than half a dozen
current and former law enforcement officials and a review of more than 100
inspection reports. . . . For gun dealers to lose their licenses,
the A.T.F. must prove they “willfully” violated the Gun Control Act. Violating
the law is not enough to justify the loss of a license; inspectors must prove
that store owners knew they were acting illegally.
“Other regulatory statutes don’t have that,” said Adam
Winkler, an expert on constitutional law and gun policy. “This is part of a
larger pattern in the federal gun laws that make it hard for A.T.F. to
enforce.”
In the bureau, one former A.T.F. inspector said, that
standard was seen as difficult to uphold in court, where dealers would almost
certainly appeal the A.T.F.’s decision. That prompted supervisors to overrule
inspectors’ recommendations to revoke licenses, said the former inspector, who
requested anonymity because he continues to work with the gun industry.
To prove violations were willful, the A.T.F. seeks to
establish a record of warnings. In warning letters, senior A.T.F. officials
told dealers that violating the Gun Control Act again could jeopardize their
license. But a review of A.T.F. records showed that even when stores had
received such warnings and continued to violate the law, supervisors let them
keep operating.”
I had a table at gunshows two or three times per year for almost thirty years. After BATF changed the regulations to allow FFLs to sell at gunshows, the shows evolved to have a much higher percentage of FFLs than of collectors like me.
ReplyDeleteLots of gossip about dealings with BATF. Much griping about hassles over trivial issues. And the dealers I saw at major shows were scrupulous about how they did their sales.
I have no doubt that there are crooked dealers. From my years of direct experience and observation, however, I can't agree with the slant of the article that it's any sort of real problem.
And, for what it's worth, there are way too many well-researched and credible articles about the bad behavior of BATF agents. Notably, Waco, of course. More recently during the Obama years, the "Operation Gunrunner" effort which led to thousands of BATF-approved sales to illegal buyers, over 300 dead Mexican citizens and the murder of a US Border Patrol agent.
Art