The guidance says the ATF can ‘use inspection reports to establish willfulness even if the inspection found no violations’
FIRST ON FOX: Internal documents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) show the “zero tolerance” guidelines the agency is using to shut down gun stores.
Fox News Digital exclusively obtained the ATF’s federal firearms licensee (FFL) inspection guidance from January 2022 that makes it easier to revoke gun stores’ federal licenses.
The guidance says the agency “has zero tolerance for willful violations that greatly affect public safety and ATF’s ability to trace firearms recovered in violent crimes” and that “revocation” of the FFL’s license “is the assumed action” with violations.
“Therefore, revocation is the assumed action, unless extraordinary circumstances exist, when violations are cited that include” transferring a firearm “to a prohibited person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe the transferee is a prohibited person,” failing to perform a background check, and “making a false or fictitious written statement in the FFL’s required records or in applying for a firearms license,” the guidance reads.
The guidance defines administrative action “as a warning letter, warning conference, revocation, imposition of civil fine, and/or suspension of a federal firearms license, including a recommendation of denial of an original or renewal application, and alternate action to revocation.”
According to the documents, the “ATF must establish willfulness to proceed with revocation” under federal law, but the agency “does not have to establish a history of prior violations to determine willfulness.”
“Accordingly, ATF will revoke a federal firearms license, absent extraordinary circumstances on initial violations, if those violations inherently demonstrate willfulness, such as transferring a firearm to a prohibited person; failing to run a background check prior to transferring a firearm to a non-licensee; falsifying records, or making false statements; failing to respond to an ATF tracing request; refusing to permit ATF to conduct an inspection; or allowing a straw sale of a firearm to occur.”
As it should be. What’s possible to criticize in response to “transferring a firearm to a prohibited person knowing or having reasonable cause to believe the transferee is a prohibited person”, or “failing to run a background check prior to transferring a firearm to a non-licensee; falsifying records, or making false statements; failing to respond to an ATF tracing request; refusing to permit ATF to conduct an inspection; or allowing a straw sale of a firearm to occur”?
Take your blinders off 11’45
You must like being ruled upon – go to a country that does this – get out of the US Libtard, when the rights are taken away, you will wonder what happened…
Soooo, they are making up reasons just to shut these retailers down….
Tyranny!
Abolish the BATFE!
They’re not making them up! See 11:45am. Those all seem like excellent reasons.