There’s been no doubt that one of Joe Biden’s priorities has been to disarm America – somehow restricting guns, magazines, ammunition, or all three.
“How much more carnage are we willing to accept?” he demanded this week, after criminals in several states used weapons to inflict death and destruction on innocent Americans.
There is that pesky Second Amendment, which protects Americans’ right to be armed, and defend themselves. But the Biden administration apparently has found at least one way around it.
The Federalist reports the Biden administration has created a 500% increase in the number of firearms retailers who are being forced out of business over technicalities, as small as typographical errors in paperwork.
“President Biden never hid the fact that he intended to use the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to drive his gun control agenda. He campaigned on a platform of targeting the firearm industry instead of focusing on criminals,” the report explained.
He once charged, “Our enemy is the gun manufacturers, not the NRA, the gun manufacturers.”
The result is that Biden’s administration is turning technicalities into a hammer to destroy retail businesses through its inspections program.
The report noted Lee Williams, an investigative reporter specializing in the firearms issue, confirmed the ATF once revoked the licenses of federal firearms licensees at a rate of about 40 each year.
“But, in the 11 months since Joe Biden declared war on ‘rogue gun dealers,’ the ATF has revoked 273 FFLs — an increase of more than 500%,” Williams said. “However, rather than targeting the true rogues, Biden’s ATF is revoking FFLs for the most minor of paperwork errors, which were never a concern for the ATF until Biden weaponized the agency.”
The report explained the federal agency used to be interested in keeping the industry in compliance with rules and regulations.
Now, the report said, it is revoking licenses “for even these minor clerical errors” that used to trigger a warning letter.
The report said the National Shooting Sports Foundation now is working to make sure retailers are prepared for the new level of inspections.
The report also pointed out that Biden’s proposed budget emphasizes driving gun retailers out of business instead of fighting crime.
Biden wants $20.6 billion for the DOJ for law enforcement, crime prevent and intervention, the report said.
“Tucked into that spending proposal were plans for the ATF to hire 140 special agents and another 160 Industry Operations Investigators. That’s more inspectors to revoke licenses than special agents to actually lock up criminals,” the report said.
The report noted that it often actually is the firearms retailers themselves who alert the government regarding suspected attempts to purchase firearms illegally.
“Now, those same retailers are forced to consider the consequences of inviting ATF into their retail locations. When a potential tip to criminal activity by a random person wandering into their store could result in a business owner losing a license and income, that threatens the ability of the ATF to enforce the law,” the report said.
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