WASHINGTON, DC - Gun dealers across the United States are livid after the Biden Administration pulled licenses from 122 gun dealers last fiscal year, a 35% increase over the year before and nearly five times the number from 2021, a Wall Street Journal report says.
Some dealers believe they are being targeted, and the Biden administration uses technicalities to circumvent the Second Amendment.
“We were making $1 million a year; now it’s less than $100,000,” Anthony Navarro, a gun dealer who lost his license last year, told the paper. “This policy is designed to be a backdoor violation of the Second Amendment.”
According to Navarro, he received warnings over mistakes gun purchasers made on paperwork but noted that they were not prohibited from buying firearms. Others say gun dealers are typically strong allies of the federal government, willing to provide tips on suspicious gun purchasers to authorities, and noted dealers may be less inclined to cooperate with the feds due to the crackdown.
Peter Forcelli, a retired deputy assistant director of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), told the Journal, “The gun dealers were our first line of defense against gun trafficking. Why are we now beating an ally into submission?”
Fox News contacted ATF to ask about the crackdown, to which the agency said they were merely following the law.
“Federal Firearms Licensees are often our first line of defense against gun crime and are often a source of critical enforcement information that helps law enforcement identify straw purchasers and disrupt firearms trafficking schemes,” replied ATF spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua.
“FFLs that willfully violate the law, however, must be held accountable. ATF conducts inspections to ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations and to educate licensees on the specific requirements of those laws and regulations.”
The sudden crackdown has also created a gulf between law enforcement officials, with some praising the crackdown. In contrast, others say the move risks cooperation between the dealers and the government.
The Biden crackdown marks a vast difference between how dealers were treated under the previous two administrations.
The Journal noted that neither the Obama nor Trump administrations ever revoked more than 81 dealers’ licenses annually since 2013, the first year when such data became available.
In response to the crackdown, some dealers have filed lawsuits. In contrast, others have threatened to stop informing the feds about suspicious buyers, believing the Biden administration, which has been openly hostile to the firearms industry, is attempting to punish them.
The director of the ATF, Steve Dettelbach, says the agency is merely doing its job. “We’ve taken steps to hold accountable those few dealers who are engaging in these willful violations,” he said. “They’re not going to have the privilege of being a gun dealer anymore.”
Dettelbach said firearms can be sold to criminals and others who shouldn’t have them if dealers don’t follow the rules.
This appears, some say, to be a marked contrast to how things were handled previously, when Hunter Biden, the president’s son, lied on a federal firearms form yet was not held to account.
Republicans and pro-gun rights advocates have pointed out what they call the hypocrisy of Biden’s anti-gun rhetoric while, at the same time, his son was not prosecuted.
Some dealers believe they are being targeted, and the Biden administration uses technicalities to circumvent the Second Amendment.
“We were making $1 million a year; now it’s less than $100,000,” Anthony Navarro, a gun dealer who lost his license last year, told the paper. “This policy is designed to be a backdoor violation of the Second Amendment.”
According to Navarro, he received warnings over mistakes gun purchasers made on paperwork but noted that they were not prohibited from buying firearms. Others say gun dealers are typically strong allies of the federal government, willing to provide tips on suspicious gun purchasers to authorities, and noted dealers may be less inclined to cooperate with the feds due to the crackdown.
Peter Forcelli, a retired deputy assistant director of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), told the Journal, “The gun dealers were our first line of defense against gun trafficking. Why are we now beating an ally into submission?”
Fox News contacted ATF to ask about the crackdown, to which the agency said they were merely following the law.
“Federal Firearms Licensees are often our first line of defense against gun crime and are often a source of critical enforcement information that helps law enforcement identify straw purchasers and disrupt firearms trafficking schemes,” replied ATF spokeswoman Kristina Mastropasqua.
“FFLs that willfully violate the law, however, must be held accountable. ATF conducts inspections to ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal laws and regulations and to educate licensees on the specific requirements of those laws and regulations.”
The sudden crackdown has also created a gulf between law enforcement officials, with some praising the crackdown. In contrast, others say the move risks cooperation between the dealers and the government.
The Biden crackdown marks a vast difference between how dealers were treated under the previous two administrations.
The Journal noted that neither the Obama nor Trump administrations ever revoked more than 81 dealers’ licenses annually since 2013, the first year when such data became available.
In response to the crackdown, some dealers have filed lawsuits. In contrast, others have threatened to stop informing the feds about suspicious buyers, believing the Biden administration, which has been openly hostile to the firearms industry, is attempting to punish them.
The director of the ATF, Steve Dettelbach, says the agency is merely doing its job. “We’ve taken steps to hold accountable those few dealers who are engaging in these willful violations,” he said. “They’re not going to have the privilege of being a gun dealer anymore.”
Dettelbach said firearms can be sold to criminals and others who shouldn’t have them if dealers don’t follow the rules.
This appears, some say, to be a marked contrast to how things were handled previously, when Hunter Biden, the president’s son, lied on a federal firearms form yet was not held to account.
Republicans and pro-gun rights advocates have pointed out what they call the hypocrisy of Biden’s anti-gun rhetoric while, at the same time, his son was not prosecuted.
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