Joe Biden
(AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

By Lee Williams

In late June, Joe Biden announced a new zero-tolerance policy for “rogue gun dealers,” who he claimed were responsible for skyrocketing violent crime rates in major cities historically controlled by Democrats.

The violence wasn’t caused by “progressive” prosecutors who refuse to hold criminals accountable, or gangs or underfunded police departments or by any combination thereof. It was all the fault of “rogue gun dealers,” who Biden claimed willfully transfer firearms to prohibited persons, and/or refuse to cooperate with a tracing request from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Biden’s illogical rant produced a bit of head scratching among the gun-rights community. After all, why target Federal Firearm Licensees, who are arguably the most heavily regulated federal license holders.

If Joe really wanted to reduce violent crime, why not go after the real criminals instead, such as the 100,000 documented gang members living in Chicago. Hit them with federal RICO statutes, or fire the cowardly prosecutors who won’t send them to prison, or both.

It all made no sense, unless of course Biden’s entire plan was nothing more than a pretext to make life even more hellish for American gun owners, which we all knew was the case. However, saying that a president is lying and proving that he’s lying are two different things. We went for the proof.

To vet Biden’s rogue gun dealer theory, the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project immediately sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the ATF, seeking the following:

Copies of documents that show the number of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and their state of residence, who have been prosecuted for willfully transferring a firearm to a prohibited person over the past three years (from June 23, 2018 to June 23, 2021.)

Copies of documents that show the number of Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs) and their state of residence, who have been prosecuted for ignoring and/or refusing to cooperate with a tracing request from the BATFE, over the past three years (from June 23, 2018 to June 23, 2021.)

(Note: We did not seek the names or other identifiers of any FFL.)

I wish I could take credit for the idea, but I can’t. It was Alan Gottlieb’s, and it remains one of the cleverest strategies I’ve seen in a long time. Gottlieb is the executive vice president and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.

Our FOIA request was pretty simple, and it would definitely prove or disprove Biden’s claims which everyone, even the ATF, likely knew were false. If the “rogue dealers” were responsible for the increasing violence, there should be hundreds if not thousands of prosecutions and subsequent FFL revocations. If Biden’s claims were false, there would likely be only a handful of prosecutions across the country.

I need to point out this wasn’t my first FOIA. During my years as an investigative reporter and editor, I have made hundreds of FOIA requests – local, state, federal and even a few territorial.

After your first 100 or so, you start to learn what is in-bounds for FOIA and what isn’t. You also get to know how long a response should take. This request was an easy one – a couple of key strokes and it’s done. It should have taken a few hours at most, certainly not days, or even weeks, and definitely not eight months.

Four months passed without a word from the ATF, not even an acknowledgement they had received the FOIA request. Then, in October, the ATF finally admitted it had received the request, but warned it might take even longer to process.

“For your information, this office assigns incoming requests to one of three tracks: simple, complex, or expedited. Each request is then handled on a first-in, first-out basis in relation to other requests in the same track. Simple requests usually receive a response in approximately one month, whereas complex requests necessarily take longer. At this time, your request has been assigned to the complex track.” 

The letter also provided the names of two FOIA liaisons, Darryl Webb and Zina Kornegay. Months of calls and messages left for these alleged liaisons were not returned. This week, however, after another four months had passed, Kornegay finally answered her phone.

“I’m seeing a bit of back-and-forth,” she said of the request. “Let me look into this further. I will try and find out what’s going on with this.” She refused to say when the ATF would actually respond to the FOIA request. “Let me speak to my team leader,” she said. “I do see your request, but there seems to be some back-and-forth about the best way to handle it.”

A Toothless Law

The Freedom of Information Act is federal law. The ATF is a federal law enforcement agency, responsible for enforcing federal law. In a perfect world, that alone should be enough reason for the ATF to quickly comply with any and all FOIA requests. Unfortunately, the ATF’s world is far from perfect.

ATF headquarters hq
ATF Headquarters dbking, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

The Biden-Harris administration has weaponized the agency and given it specific orders to infringe upon our right to keep and bear arms. That much is abundantly clear. No law — especially one as anemic as the federal FOIA statute — will stop the ATF from targeting gun owners and gun dealers.

If the ATF or any other federal agency fails to comply with a FOIA request, the requestor doesn’t have many options They can file a lawsuit, and if a federal judge determines the agency acted “arbitrarily or capriciously,” the court can assess attorney fees, which will be paid with taxpayer dollars.

Also, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel can investigate a FOIA dispute. The OSC can determine whether discipline against the federal employee who improperly withheld the records is warranted, and the offending agency must take whatever corrective action the OSC mandates, but these actions are extremely rare. Actual federal FOIA-related criminal cases are even rarer, practically unheard of.

As a result, most federal agencies — especially one as heavily politicized as the ATF — know there is no easy or timely way that they can be forced to turn over documents they want to conceal from the public.

By comparison, many states have FOIA-type laws that have actual penalties, especially Florida. In the Gunshine State, knowingly violating public records law is a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to one year in prison, a $1,000 fine or both. Why the federal government doesn’t have a tough FOIA statute is a question for your elected officials.

Options

The ATF is in a trick-bag of sorts. They can comply with federal law and provide the requested documents, which will likely reveal that Joe Biden’s “rogue gun dealer” policy is just a ruse concocted by anti-gunners. Or ATF can continue to deny and delay the FOIA request, even though their actions violate federal law.

I’m starting to wonder if there is anyone left at ATF who even cares about such things.

 

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This story is part of the Second Amendment Foundation’s Investigative Journalism Project and is published here with their permission.

122 COMMENTS

  1. If the ATF prosecutes crimes like that noted they are likely filed in federal courts. It should be easy to build the searches necessary in Lexis or Westlaw to find those cases, if they exist at all. It would be interesting to see the outcomes, which I would believe are more related to errors in the background check system than those made by an FFL.

    • BTW, notice there apparently isn’t a single Republican senator or Rep that has bothered to pursue the same answer.
      Uniparty.

  2. What most people don’t understand is that the President, HOR, Senate or even a combination of all 3 are less of a threat to their Freedom. Than the nameless, faceless bureaucracies that control 99% of what the government does is. The regulations that are imposed without the ability of the citizenry to approve or disapprove them, are far more dangerous. Especially when that bureaucracy is allowed to pick and choice which one they will invoke or ignore. Unfortunately because people could not and can not be bothered with the nuts and bolts of government. It has been implemented by both parties to impose regulation in the darkness of it’s own design. On the citizenry that could never pass muster in the light of day.

    • “Than the nameless, faceless bureaucracies that control 99% of what the government does is”

      nonsense. the bureaucracies only do what they’re told, nothing more or less or other than.

      the problem is who is telling them what to do.

      • Those bureaucracies that includes ATF, EPA, DEA, etc have extremely broad powers vaguely delineated by Congress, which largely a hands off approach to them. They can decide what is illegal, judge the violations, and mete out the penalties (judge, jury, and executioner). They call it delegation; I call it a travesty.
        Congress may pass a law and the POTUS (we currently have a POOTUS) may sign it, but mostly it is up to unelected and largely unaccountable bureaucrats to interpret, regulate, and enforce.

      • Yeah, rant7, those federal bureaucracies were Johnny-on-the-spot to do EXACTLY what the evil Orange Man told them to do, weren’t they???

        What color is the sky, on your world??? Federal employees who are NOT directly appointed are civil servants, and we all KNOW how easy it is to fire a “civil servant”. Career bureaucrats laugh at “directives” from their political “bosses” and do WTF they want.

        If you REALLY believe otherwise? I’ve got some nifty oceanfront property in Oklahoma I’d love to sell you.

        • neiowa,

          Been trying to figure that out, myself. rant7 makes many posts that I read and say, “Yeah! Wish I’d said that.” And then he’ll come up with something that leaves me scratching my head. HOWEVER, rant7 is more articulate and literate than either dacian the demented or the nameless, brainless troll, and I’d trust his firearm knowledge over theirs in a heartbeat.

          Generally I don’t evaluate people by their politics, and I haven’t figured rant’s out, yet. He’s a puzzle.

          Sometimes I want to think he’s libertarian, but then he’ll come out with some next-level nonsense, almost worthy of dacian the stupid.

          Hey, if you’re a POTG, I don’t have to agree with you on anything but guns . . . hell, I don’t even have to agree with you on that. Since I’m an old fart, I love 1911s, but I’ve got a really close friend who likes to tweak people by wearing a T-shirt to the range that says “Friends don’t let friends shoot 1911s”.

  3. If Joe really wanted to reduce violent crime, why not go after the real criminals instead, such as the 100,000 documented gang members living in Chicago. Hit them with federal RICO statutes, or fire the cowardly prosecutors who won’t send them to prison, or both.

    Cannot jail 100k gang members. No place to put them. Suggestions? Airplane rides and parachutes?

    • avatar Geoff "A day without an apparently brain-damaged mentally-ill demented troll is like a day of warm sunshine" PR

      “Cannot jail 100k gang members. No place to put them. Suggestions? Airplane rides and parachutes?”

      PwrSerge lives near Chicago, and has a love of massive Russian helicopter gunships.

      We GoFundMe him the funds for helicopter pilot lessons, and he will be happy to provide ‘helicopter rides’ for convicted criminals over a large lake adjacent to Chicago…

        • And we’re stuck with you, a “wannbe” Russian. Well, we do also have dacian, the other Marxist idiot, so we have a surfeit of Leftist/fascist trolls.

        • Come on man, you remember clearly that power outage was a suck up to abusive police.

          Remember when he said the McMichaels were innocent, and that he would trust the word of the local prosecutor… The prosecutor who is niw being charged with felonies for corruption?

          Deep down, all you conservatives are authoritarians who want to rule America with an iron fist and enforce your particular brand of religious delusion in spite of our first amendment protections.

        • Miner MINER49ER Pure unadulterated HORSE PUCKY!

          You Leftists-Socialist are the real authoritarians. You want to be able to control the populace as you feel inadequate to be able to handle life like the rest of us. America is waking up to your fascism. It’s on a short string.

          Get a Grip. I remember when there was a saying. “Kill a Commie for Mommy!”

    • That’s a good salmon lake. Don’t go polluting it. Better to put them on the return flights of those midnight illegal alien junkets, let ‘em ply their trade south of the border.

    • Colosseum and pay-per-view. I’m sure some of the big cats at the local zoos could use some exercise as well.

      • Excellent idea. Can we outfit Don lemon and Brian stelter in a couple of their tu-tus (you know they have some) and toss them in their too? Better yet, the idiot manchild up here in Ottawa and maybe, I don’t know… David chipman?

        • Rider,

          What did those poor fish ever do to you, that you would inflict Tater and the Gay Caballero on them???

          Besides, if you knew someone else had done that, how long would it be before you were willing to eat the fish??

          I think we let Elon get his “heavy lift” launch vehicle worked out, and then start offering them free, one-way tickets to Jupiter.

  4. I have never encountered any FFL who did not dot the i and cross the t on everything. If it’s not FFL hoopla it’s 80% firearms hoopla, etc. Gun Control zealots are always sneaking around finding something to lie about.

    • Okay, special treatment for lil’ d… a plane ride with a parachute, but pushed out of the airplane over the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

        • Oh, unicorn,

          That was cold. Funny as hell, and probably accurate, but . . . cold. Besides, from their recent posts, I think MinorIQ, dacian the stupid, and the nameless, brainless troll have a nice little three person circle jerk going.

  5. As usual T Tag authors lie about what Biden actually said. Below is his exact speech.

    THIS IS BIDENS EXACT SPEECH, NO T TAG DISTORTIONS OF THE TRUTH.

    But there’s more we can do. Across the country, police departments reported sharp increases in the number of ghost guns found at crime scenes. That’s why, today, the department is launching an intes- — an intensified National Ghost Gun Enforcement Initiative to determine and deter criminals from using those weapons to cover their tracks.

    If you commit a crime to the ghost gun, not only are state and local prosecutors going to come after you, but expect federal charges and federal prosecution as well.

    We’ve also created a strike force to crack down on illegal gun trafficking across state lines. As the mayor said, as he pointed out, guns that are used to kill people in New York City, they aren’t made in New York City, they aren’t sold in New York City. They are sold in other places.

    Today, the Attorney General directed all U.S. attorneys in the United States to prioritize combating gun trafficking across state lines and city boundaries.

    The Justice Department is sending additional prosecutorial resources to help shut down what’s referred to, as you all know, as the “Iron Pipeline” that funnels guns from shops in states like Georgia to crime scenes in Baltimore and Philadelphia and New York and so many other places.

    Governor, you worked with the mayor and the NYPD and nine other states to create an Interstate Task Force on Illegal Guns. That’s the kind of leadership that’s going to solve the problem. And I’m eager to hear more about that progress.

    And Biden was correct when he mentioned Rouge Gun dealers, they do indeed exist, although their numbers are very small when compared to the majority of F.F.L. dealers.

    I think Biden should have been more clear about the tremendous traffic across state lines in second hand guns from states with lax laws into states and cities with tough gun laws.

      • Oooof. And Mr. ‘Hitler was just misunderstood’ jwm here knows what it is to be an ‘uneducated moron’.

        • avatar Geoff "A day without an apparently brain-damaged mentally-ill demented troll is like a day of warm sunshine" PR

          “… jwm here knows what it is to be an ‘uneducated moron’.”

          He has you to use as a perfect example, dumbass.

          You really are that stupid… 😉

        • Geoff, remember – like dacian the stupid, this nameless, brainless troll is too stupid to insult.

          But it sure is fun to play whack-a-mole with these two idiots.

      • So y’all don’t think there are rogue gun dealers illegally selling guns out the back door to felons, criminals, etc.?

        Jay-bird, you know it’s true, happens here in West Virginia all the time.

        Here’s a specific example just right down the road from jwn’s Hometown.

        J, are these folks any of your kin?

        “This was the ATF’s third inspection of Uncle Sam’s in seven years. The two most recent audits found that the store had transferred weapons without conducting background checks and failed to provide safety notices to handgun buyers. At one point, ATF records show, more than 600 firearms that should have been in stock could not be found – a red flag for gun trafficking.

        In both cases, the violations were serious enough to warrant stripping Uncle Sam’s of its license to sell guns, according to ATF records. But agency officials decided to spare the shop, issue an official warning to its owners and give them another chance to prove they could follow the rules.

        As the investigator leafed through handwritten ledgers in the spring of 2014, she discovered that things had hardly improved. Sales records were incomplete, the store failed to report required information to law enforcement, and safety notices still weren’t going out. The inspector typed out her findings and sent them to her superiors.

        Their decision: Issue yet another warning.

        Months later, the ATF learned that Uncle Sam’s was the backbone of a sprawling gun trafficking scheme. Witnesses told the agency that Steven Adkins, a longtime shop employee who’d purchased a stake in the business, had enlisted a host of people, including a colleague’s girlfriend and his brother-in-law, to falsify paperwork so it would appear they had purchased guns in legitimate transactions, according to court records. In reality, the guns were used to bribe coal officials in a pay-to-play scheme at a local mine. Others were sold on the black market, witnesses said.

        One accomplice told investigators “hundreds, if not thousands of firearms” had been trafficked through Uncle Sam’s. According to court records, he recalled parking his truck around the back of the store, loading up guns and delivering them to a convicted felon. Another accomplice said he drove guns from Uncle Sam’s to Adkins’s home, where Adkins allegedly sold them out of his basement.

        Adkins pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting a false statement relating to purchases of more than 50 firearms from late 2008 to August 2014. He was sentenced to 10 months in prison. No one else was convicted in the trafficking scheme.“

        https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7210266002

      • Miner. Did these folks send out as many illegal guns as holder and clinton with fast and furious?

        And it’s been 4 decades since I’ve lived in WV.

        • It don’t make no difference if it’s been 40 years, y’all still got kin down here.

          You’ll notice the main perpetrator on this particular rogue gunrunning FFL was a gentleman named Steve Adkins.

          And it’s a fact that the Adkins and the McCoys have many intertwined branches on their family tree…

        • Miner MINER49ER Are the Adkins and McCoys relatives of yours? Seems you have their mentality.

        • MinorIQ,

          That’s your idea of wit?? OK, now you are officially as stupid as dacian the stupid. I have been trying to retain a modicum of respect for your prior (misguided and delusional, but still SOMEWHAT rationally expressed) efforts. I can no longer afford you the benefit of the doubt – you’re a nitwit, Leftist/fascist troll, making half-witty, drive-by comments.

          Begone, troll, the cable awaits you. Go micturate up it.

        • Never heard of the dude. But very fascist of you. You going to blame his whole family for his crimes?

          miner you are a wannabe jack booted thug.

    • Here is a verbatim quote from Biden’s remarks on Feb 3, 2022. This is from the white House Transcript.
      ” First, we want to crack down on the flow of firearms used to commit violence. That includes taking on and shutting down rogue gun dealers at — and it’s about doing background checks, as well as outright selling of that — making sure the people who are not allowed to have a gun, don’t get the gun in the first place. ”

      So he did mention rogue gun dealers. Background checks also. Funny thing is it is very hard to buy a gun legally today without a background check. Even the gun show loop hole is a falsehood.

      • Joe Biden knows what he’s talking about, rogue gun dealers are a major problem, selling thousands of guns to prohibited persons every year, just like this:

        “One accomplice told investigators “hundreds, if not thousands of firearms” had been trafficked through Uncle Sam’s. According to court records, he recalled parking his truck around the back of the store, loading up guns and delivering them to a convicted felon. Another accomplice said he drove guns from Uncle Sam’s to Adkins’s home, where Adkins allegedly sold them out of his basement.“

        • I’m sorry, MinorIQ, did you cite any source? No, you never do. Did you cite the figures for ACTUAL prosecutions for false 4473 forms, illegal sales, etc.?? WTF has BATFE been doing with the BILLIONS of tax dollars they are given, and why do they need a “special project” to do what is supposedly a key part of their job?

          Oh, that’s right, it has NOTHING TO DO with actual law enforcement, public safety, or anything else. It’s just political theater to try to distract from the ever-worsening s***show that is the Xiao Bai-Din “administration”.

          No, thanks, MinorIQ, we already have a lifetime supply of false-to-fact BS from dacian the stupid. Peddle your wares elsewhere.

        • Lamprey, i’m sorry you have such a problem with reading comprehension, perhaps you should’ve actually paid attention in elementary school.

          Here’s a citation for you once again, feel free to find information that shows these numbers are incorrect. Otherwise, they stand.

          https://amp.usatoday.com/amp/7210266002

        • Miner MINER49ER, Horse pucky! The “rogue” FFL’s are few and far between. In spite of your “sources” (ROFLMAOBT).

          Many informants inflate their allegations and stories in an effort to get lesser sentences for their crimes. I ought to know. I was a law enforcement officer for 35 yrs with a rather good conviction rate. I never lost a case in court. All convictions.

        • “I ought to know. I was a law enforcement officer for 35 yrs with a rather good conviction rate. I never lost a case in court. All convictions.“

          Really?

          “Walter E Beverly III
          @WalterEBeverly3
          Retired from NYS Dept of Correctional Services where I was a Sergeant. Now I serve legal papers for the courts, attorneys etc and teach NRA firearms courses.
          Rome, NY Joined March 2012“

          Seriously, you are as honest as Donald Trump…

        • Miner MINER49ER that is correct. I retired as a Correction Sergeant, NOT Correctional Sergeant as in NYS there is no such thing, you Lefty piker. Second my conviction rate as a Correction Sergeant for Assault 2nd (Inmate on Inmate) is rather impressive when you find out that I was able to get WRITTEN confessions from the perpetrators with Miranda Warnings written by the convict himself. Prior to my service in the DOCCS, I was a police office with 36 felony collars in a six month period with all perps being convicted, including a volunteer fireman for Arson 1st.

          Top that one, dingleberry.

        • Good God, you’re an idiot, MinorIQ!! First, the article threw in a chart, of unstated provenance, ALLEGEDLY stating numbers of inspections, citations, and license suspensions (without ANY detail as to the underlying concerns). Oh, and a bunch of anecdotes. The plural of “anecdote”, MinorIQ, is NOT “data”.

          You might have notice, had YOU any reading comprehension, that I requested numbers and basis for SEIZURES, and prosecutions of 4473 violations, etc. Try again, you witless fool.

    • Ghost guns are just guns that they can’t trace – for whatever reason.
      1. Guns that were sold and not recorded(this was a thing before 1968)
      2. Guns that the numbers have been ground off.
      3. Guns were the numbers were worn off or not able to be brought back by x ray or acid etch
      4. Guns that never had a serial number(again, some manufacturers did not before 1968)
      5. Guns that are homemade, including 80% lower kits.

      I suspect that #5 is the smallest part of all this
      Only the guns that have irretrievable numbers are illegal
      Although they lump all of these as “ghost guns”, I would tend to believe most retrieved were old guns that did not track original sale and ground serial numbers.

    • dacian the stupid,

      1. Cite me the controlling, accepted legal definition of “ghost gun”, and the agency propounding such definition – be specific, I want to know what guns are covered by the definition);

      2. I normally wouldn’t do this, since I fat finger my typing much more often than I’d like, but “Rouge gun dealers”?? AYFKMRN?? I guess you go to Sephora and get a gun and some makeup???

      3. When are the Feebs going to start publishing their actual results as to the sources of guns recovered, i.e., how many were stolen, how many were bought off the street, and how many were ACTUALLY “homebuilt”?

      4. When, if ever, are you going to become smart enough to insult??

      5. When will you do your duty, and go micturate up a cable?

      And a bonus question:

      6. If you believe ONE WORD coming out of the mouth of Lyin’ Joe Biden, the senile serial-child-molester, how does that NOT make you a complete idiot?? Joe Biden has said many stupid things, over his 50+ year political career – point me to the ones that WEREN’T lies.

        • Hi, nameless, brainless troll!!

          Been taking care of the cable?? Ever figure out what “Balaam’s off ass” means??? Ever get that GED???

          Child, I’ll take writing advice, or educational advice, from you when you get your FIRST college degree – no, make that first GRADUATE degree (hey, I have two, and according to you, I’m stupid, so you should be able to rack those up in a heartbeat).

          You are too stupid to insult. Go micturate up a cable (hell, I don’t even know if you’ve figured THAT one out, yet).

        • Holy s*** on a cracker!!! I ask when BATFE is going to publish DETAILS on gun seizures, and you cite me to a COMPLETE bulls*** USAToday article, that doesn’t even say what you appear to think it says???? AYFKMRN????

          While I know that USAToday is “state news”, and about as accurate and reliable as Pravda, they are NOT an official source of “government” statistics (or much else except administration propaganda).

          Wow, MinorIQ, you hiatus from the blog has NOT improved your skills. Your arguments used to be deluded, ahistorical, and frankly laughable, but they were at least somewhat creative, and you made an effort. Now you’re just mailing in low-grade, drive-by snark. You should join our nameless, brainless troll in the Peanut Gallery.

          Pathetic. You are rapidly achieving “too stupid to insult” status.

        • Lamprey, I realize your mom’s computer may be very confusing for you, but merely reading the articles and exploring the links included will supply the information you seem to be lacking.

          “Every year, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives inspects thousands of federally licensed gun dealers and manufacturers, from local pawn shops to big-box retailers. While inspectors uncover violations at a third of all businesses, many violators go unpunished. This database contains inspection reports for nearly 2,000 licensees inspected between 2015 and 2017 which received revocations, warnings, or other penalties during their inspections. Explore the map to find gun dealers that were disciplined in your area, or browse by state, outcome, or violation. Read more about the data here.“

          https://projects.thetrace.org/inspections/

        • Miner MINER49ER Oh, please. Not another USA article which is as baseless as your other sources?

        • No, you absolute jackass, the information I requested was NOT either cited or linked in the article. Try again.

        • Rider,

          dacian the stupid has diarrhea of the fingers, and will not post one word when 1,000 will do, so I honestly don’t think he gets paid by the word – unless Soros is stupider than I think, or he is becoming as senile as Gropey Joe.

          dacian the stupid can’t get any real people to pay attention to him, so he haunts our blog and harrasses people until he gets attention. His mommy used to tie a pork chop around his neck to get the dog to play with him.

    • dacian, the Dunderhead, Each and every point that Sleepy Joe made is an out right, bold faced lie. Most crimes that are committed with a firearm is with a TRACABLE FIREARM.

  6. I suggest that we use miner49er’s standard in this case. He wanted the entire NRA shut down because of corruption at the top. That sane standard should apply to the atf.

    • jwm, that would be “alleged corruption” at the top of the NRA, none of which is yet to be proven in a court of law.

    • “He wanted the entire NRA shut down because of corruption“

      I have never abdicated shutting down the NRA.

      But I have found much humor in a bunch of dumbasses being snookered by city slicker elites like Wayne Lapierre, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon and their wealthy cronies.

      • You got snookered by Wayne LaPierre, Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and their wealthy cronies?? Sorry, MinorIQ, you really are a dumbass. You must be so happy now that the adults are in charge! That senile, serial-child-groping idiot in the FAKE White House TV set sure is doing a hell of a job, isn’t he??

        MinorIQ, did your parents have any children that lived??

        • Your child like insults continue to be amusing, but your juvenile post are completely devoid of any facts to back up your claims.

          If you want the documents to prove so-called licensed gun dealers are delivering thousands of guns to criminals under the table, out the back door, etc. just follow this link to the actual documents.

          “Explore the Data
          By State »
          The database contains inspection reports from 49 states and Puerto Rico.

          By Outcome »
          Learn about the penalties that the ATF issues to licensees.

          By Violation »
          Explore the federal regulations that govern the firearms industry.

          Download ⤓
          Download inspection reports data in CSV format.”

          https://projects.thetrace.org/inspections/

        • MinorIQ,

          Gee, I’m glad you find me amusing. Wish I could say the same. You seem to confuse “facts” with your own predilection to find an article (article, not actual reports or studies) that kinda sorta says something vaguely similar to the issue at hand, but agrees with your narrative, and go “AHA!! See, this proves it!” When it is actually unresponsive, or only tangentially responsive, to the actual point under discussion.

          You want to talk about FFL inspections and licenses, knock yourself out. But the article you “cited” didn’t even address those as to substance, except in a few anecdotes.

          You are now officially too stupid to insult.

      • Miner MINER49ER Donald Trump, etc, Sounds to me like you have a LOT of penis envy?

        Trace is another one of your anti-gun radical misinformed nitwits like yourself.

        • So Walt, download the actual ATF inspection forms so you can check them out for yourself, you may find it in lightning…

          Download ⤓
          Download inspection reports data in CSV format.”

          https://projects.thetrace.org/inspections/

          And Walt, be honest with the folks on this list and tell them that you are a NY State corrections officer who has put the screws to many people who’ve done nothing but attempt to possess a firearm under their Second Amendment rights.

          Walter, you are one of the jackbooted thugs that everyone hates on this list.

        • Miner MINER49ER Actually, I am a RETIRED NYS DOCCS Corrections Sergeant who has seven convictions for assault 2nd (Inmate On Inmate). Before that I was a police officer here in NYS with an enviable record of 36 felony collars over a six month period with all convictions. I have more law enforcement experience in my little tow than you have brains in your whole body.

          Again, another example of your penis envy.

          I’m damn frickin’ proud of my record.

          Again, your source “Trace” cherry picks what it wants and throws out the rest. Why? Because it doesn’t suite your or their agenda.

          You and dacian the DUNDEARHEAD are cut from the same cloth.

  7. “If Joe really wanted to reduce violent crime, why not go after the real criminals instead”

    because for the ones who control joe, the real (religious) crime is anything that is not submitted and enslaved to them. so they hate and judicially criminalize anything they don’t, or might not, control.

    that’s it. that’s all this is. going on about what is happening without addressing the who and the why is nothing more than entertainment, a distraction and evasion.

    just like you’ve been taught to do.

      • You Nazi sure do like to use terms like final solution, etc.

        May I suggest a remedy to the thousands of guns being illegally sold by so-called license dealers?

        How about taking their FFL when they are caught selling one gun to a prohibited person, that would cut down on traffic, wouldn’t you think?

        Unfortunately, the right wing leadership at the ATF take a hands off approach to cracking down on renegade gun dealers because they share many of their twisted conservative philosophies.

        • Here is a RED HOT NEWS FLASH for you, Miner MINER49ER. The Nazis were aligned with you Lefties. You see there was this guy, Giovani Gentile, an Italian Socialist who ghost wrote Mussolini’s Manifesto. He was also a favorite of your other buddy, Hitler. It was ONLY after the Nazis turned on your Joe Stalin and invaded Russia did you folks try to claim that Nazis and Fascists were “right wing”.

          We have this thing called “due process”. I am sure that is a novel idea as it would strip you Lefties of your “power” that you don’t even have.

          ATF? Right wing “leadership”? Have you lost whatever little mind you have left?

        • Projection, miner? I call out a known fascist and you rush in to attack me. The fascist left, bought and paid for by corporate billionaires, sticks together.

          Earning your soros silver, miner.

        • Scratch a Leftist; find a fascist, MinorIQ. Hitler was a Leftist fascist. Mussolini was a Leftist fascist. Stalin was a Leftist fascist. Mao was a Leftist fascist. Castro was a Leftist fascist. I can name you about umpty dozen others.

          You want a Rightist fascist, just to prove they exist?? OK, Hirohito and Pinochet. There. I guess, if he keeps going on his current path, and lives a couple more years, Senile Gropey Joe might qualify. But most of the fascists we are all familiar with are YOUR fellow travelers, not Rightists.

  8. And we expect bureaucrat drones to be honorable and do the right thing because … ???

    Given a choice, government bureaucrats will ALWAYS opt for a course of action that improves the chances of keeping their paycheck. Laws and what the public wants is irrelevant.

  9. By the way, good luck getting the Democrat controlled United States Justice Department to do the right thing–which is holding the ATF accountable and therefore undermining the Democrat Party’s objectives.

  10. F-Troop is more politicized than the FBI. Of course they will drag their heels of such FOI requests. The answer does not fit the boss’ and party’s agenda.

    It is guaranteed if F-Troop did make such arrests their penchant for self-aggrandizement would make the event memorable.

  11. What can you expect from a bunch of jack booted thugs? They’re not just part of the RICO conspiracy, they’re the shock troops.

  12. Federal Law Enforcement is not to be trusted and treated as the enemy. They routinely violate their sworn oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and have been weaponized against American Citizens and in particular conservative minded people. If at any time they come to your home do not let them in and call your local police. The Supreme Court has emphasized the need for a warrant to enter your home and if you live in a Make MY Day or Castle Domain State any intrusion without a signed warrant explicitly citing what they are looking for and where should be met according to the rules of engagement in those States when someone enters your property without permission. Fight and don’t back down.

    • If they have L.E. I.D. along with body armor, militarized equipment, and are 20 deep, it would be suicide to take one out. I have a family, I don’t want them burned to the ground, like in WACO.

      What should happen and what you will do are 2 different things

      • It’s understandable, and nobody should judge you for feeling the way you do.

        I’m old and my kids are grown. I’ll go out on my feet.

        • Word. I just recovered from covid. As an old fart I would not mind picking my own way out. It beats dying by inches.

        • Well, jwm, I know “suicide by cop” is a thing, but . . . an ATF SWAT team breaking your door down isn’t exactly “suicide by cop”. Like Will Smith said in “Men in Black”, “Don’t start none, won’t be none.” OTOH, if they ARE breaking down my door? My options on the ground are slim and none, and Slim just left the building. I want to go to Valhalla with an honor guard.

        • @JWM
          I had covid too.
          Besides the no taste no smell and sleeping for two days that was it.
          Weird disease, the way it affects some and not others.
          Funny thing is I feel better now then before I got it.

        • My son and I contracted Omicron just after new year from a day at the beach. My mum got it from me who then gave it to my dad. Both are in their 80s, so it wasn’t much fun for them.

          My son was quarantined in his room for a week by his mum. With his PC in there he said it was the best week of his holidays.

          I was confined at home for a week. My employer changed half of my 14 days of leave to sick leave. For my son and I, it was 2 days of not feeling well and the rest feeling okay if you didn’t push yourself too much.

        • Wait a minute, Donald Trump said there were only 15 cases and soon that number would be near zero. He promised Covid would disappear, just like a miracle. He said it would be gone by Easter of 2020.

          Do you think Donald Trump was lying?

          Where his lips moving?

          Y’all are hilarious.

        • MinorIQ,

          WE’RE hilarious???? Your pathetic point about Trump making a stupid prediction (which he frequently did) and telling us WE’RE hilarious, when your boy, the senile, lying, plagiarist occupying the fake White House set PROMISED to “end COVID”. Trump at least came through with (crappy) vaccines. Other than pissing away billions on “infrastructure” that wasn’t, WTF has Senile Joe, the serial-child-groper ACTUALLY done?

          Oh, that’s right, he abandoned thousands of Americans, and BILLIONS in weapons, in Afghanistan, allowed MILLIONS of illiterate, unskilled, and illegal “migrants” to flood over our borders (and delivered them to cities in the dead of the night), destroyed our energy independence, emboldened China, emboldened Russia, reopened talks with the jihadist theocracy of Iran, ran inflation up to the highest level in over 40 years (and that based on “government” numbers, which are watered-down bullshit).

          Boy, yeah, sure am glad the Bad Orange Man isn’t in office anymore. No more mean tweets!! Kinda miss gas being under $2 per gallon, though. Oh, and actually having food on the shelves in the grocery store.

          Keep on f***in’ that chicken, MinorIQ.

        • No, Miner MINER49ER, No, Donald Trump was mistaken. but no less mistaken than you Lefty control freaks.

          It’s Lefties like you that bring JOKE a whole brand new meaning.

  13. “ATF to Decide: Cover for President Biden’s Lies” OR
    cover THEIR OWN ASS while Cover for President Biden’s Lies

  14. If there were any “rogue” FFLs, they would be paraded before the media with a pile of guns and claims of how many bad sales they did,. It’d be like when they make a big catch of a drug smuggler. Since none of that has happened, it’s pretty obvious that they haven’t found any. That means either they aren’t investigating, or rogue dealers are unicorns and all they’re turning up are minor clerical errors.

    • “If there were any “rogue” FFLs, they would be paraded before the media“

      Nope, that’s bullshit.

      Rogue gun dealers get a pass from the right wing leader ship at the ATF:

      “Inspection Reports by Outcome
      The majority of firearms licensees inspected by the ATF receive no penalty. When inspectors do identify violations, they can issue a variety of penalties ranging from a mailed warning letter to revocation of the license. Read on for definitions and data on each of these inspection outcomes.“

      The majority of licensees whose violations merit revocation under ATF guidelines ultimately receive a lesser penalty from an ATF director of industry operations. This category includes inspections for which the report indicates that the final outcome was granted in lieu of revocation.

      “In this database, 82 licensees, or 4 percent of the total, were found eligible for revocation but received a lesser penalty.“

      https://projects.thetrace.org/inspections/outcome/

      More info:

      https://projects.thetrace.org/inspections/

      • Miner MINER49ER There you go with your stupid “Trace” source. It is as useless as your other sources, like USA Today.

        Again, Lefty, we have this thing called due process.

        • Walt, if you actually knew how to use a computer you could follow the links to the actual documentation on the violations and the lack of meaningful penalties.

          But you probably won’t, because you don’t want the facts to interfere with your opinion.

          Sad!

        • Miner MINER49ER
          Oh i know full well how to use a computer. I also know cherry picked bull shit when I see it.

          You are so full of shit you are like Christmas Turkey.

          I know the facts. Not conflated Bull SHIT coming from a Left wing anti-gun propaganda site.

      • “Right-wing leadership” at ATF???????? AYFKMRN????

        Yeah, BATFE is about as “right wing” as the Fat, Bald, and Ignorant or the CIA. You are pathetic, MinorIQ – anybody you happen to want to denigrate or disagree with automatically becomes “right wing” (at least temporarily), for your purposes. Right wing? As Inigo Montoya said, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

        Get another insult; that one is getting as worn out as the race card.

        How about this: “MinorIQ, my dog is sweet, but dumb . . . and she would be embarrassed to be as stupid as you.” “MinorIQ, a new thought and a cold drink of water would end you.” “MinorIQ, is it true that your mother used to tie a pork chop around your neck to get the dog to play with you?”.

        There, see. Even you could do it, if you really tried.

        “Right wing”, my @$$. You don’t even know what “right wing” IS, you pathetic troll.

    • Like the dealers who were involuntary participants of stings including Fast’n’Furious who were then charged with allowing prohibited sales at BATF’s direction.

      • And it was the most cocked up failed sting in US government history. It accomplished absolutely nothing because the Feds were trying to blame licensed gun dealers for the problem is illegal purchases.

        • Walter,

          No, it accomplished quite a bit. Got several Border Patrol and LEOs killed with guns illegally trafficked BY the ATF to Mexico, made Eric “Contempt of Congress” Holder a hero to the hoplophobic Left, and demonstrated the fecklessness of Barry Soetoro.

          Unfortunately, to the Leftist/fascists in the U.S., those were features, not bugs.

      • Those so-called gun walking operations were started under the eight year presidency of Republican president George W. Bush:

        “Gunwalking, or “letting guns walk”, was a tactic used by the Arizona U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Arizona Field Office of the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which ran a series of sting operations[2][3] between 2006[4] and 2011[2][5] in the Tucson and Phoenix area where the ATF “purposely allowed licensed firearms dealers to sell weapons to illegal straw buyers, hoping to track the guns to Mexican drug cartel leaders and arrest them”

        “WASHINGTON – A second Bush administration gun-trafficking investigation has surfaced using the same controversial tactic for which congressional Republicans have been criticizing the Obama administration.

        The tactic, called “gun walking,” is already under investigation by the Justice Department’s inspector general and by congressional Republicans, who have criticized the administration of Democratic President Barack Obama for letting it happen in an operation called “Fast and Furious”.”

        https://www.foxnews.com/us/ap-exclusive-second-bush-era-gun-smuggling-probe

        Oh look, it’s a Fox News article…

        • Miner MINER49ER Nice try. Those “gun walking” operations were DISCONTINUED under Bush when it was found that there was NO way to trace the guns. You are almost as much a DUNDERHEAD as your bud, dacian, the DUNDERHEAD. Almost. Try a little harder?

          keep lauding the “accomplishments” of Obuma the Phony. God save us from Leftists and fools. (Again, aren’t they the very same thing?)

        • Walter’s arleady taken you to task for this pathetic attempt at misdirection and “whataoutism”, but this is PARTICULARLY vapid, since in fact there were NO incidents under Bush, even BEFORE the program was terminated, of “walked” guns being used in crimes against Border Patrol and LEOs.

          Nice try, MinorIQ, but that does NOT exonerate Black Chicago Jesus and his execrable “wingman”. Hmm, wasn’t Eric Holder cited for Contempt of Congress??? Seem to remember something about that.

          As the old saying goes, MinorIQ, “You’d lie if the truth would serve you better.”

  15. I seem to remember a dealer in Tenn. several years ago who got caught selling multiple firearms at a time to a couple of out of state people. He in turn agreed to testify and helped catch the straw buyers who were selling the firearms out of their trunk in Baltimore. Didn’t even lose his license.
    I also seem to remember the actual number of so-called rogue dealers being prosecuted in a decade listed in the single digits. The excuse was the ATF had more important things to do than actually enforce the law.
    BATF was originally under treasury dept. as tax collectors of federal excise taxes on booze and cigarettes. And selling tax stamps on NFA weapons. Since everything BATFE is tasked to do is also covered by the FBI or US Marshal’s service, they could be easily disbanded and not missed by anyone but their fellow bureaucrats.

  16. Well, SloJo should have no trouble shutting down the “iron pipeline”. He’s managed to shut down just about every other pipeline in the country, so he’s had a lot of practice.

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