Why Is the ATF Targeting FFLs?

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The ATF is not easing up on its efforts to diminish the Second Amendment, and one way the agency is doing that is by targeting Federal Firearms Licensees for minor infractions.

In 2024, the ATF has revoked an alarming number of gun store licenses. According to anti-gun site The Trace, the number of Federal Firearms License (FFL) revocations this year was the highest since 2005 (per ATF figures published on October 4).

This should come as no surprise, because the goal of the Biden Administration has been to implement a zero-tolerance policy against firearm dealers. In the fiscal year 2024, ATF investigators revoked 195 licenses, roughly a 13% increase from the 2023 total of 173. This figure represents more than 2% of all licenses inspected.

ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua admitted that the agency has bolstered its inspections program. They are currently using an analytics tool to direct resources toward targeting gun dealers who allegedly pose a higher risk to public safety. She claimed the changes have “increased the effectiveness of compliance inspections” in the last three years.

The ATF’s inspections division is tasked with making sure that gun stores follow federal gun control laws. If a violation is discovered, the inspector can enforce penalties ranging from warnings in writing to revoking a store’s license to sell firearms.

According to The Trace, the ATF revoked three times as many FFLs in fiscal year 2022 as 2021, even though a comparable number of stores were inspected.

While the administration’s zero-tolerance policy is supposedly geared toward “rogue gun dealers,” it really targets small gun stores guilty of nothing more than minor paperwork errors.

Perhaps a new administration can eliminate these overzealous enforcement efforts.

 

2 COMMENTS

  1. Why does the ATF target FFLs? Very simply. Because as an agency of the national executive, it takes its orders from the Chief Executive…the President. Just as everyone places blame for bump stock action on the ATF…they had determined they were legal…and then the Chief Executive, Trump, told them to take action against them. It more than annoys me that agencies are held responsible for following the orders given them by their chain of command, and most specifically, when those orders come from the very top. If the rank and file refuse to enforce the direction of the leadership, they face punitive action or even termination…and we face whatever agency it may be being repopulated with personnel whose personal beliefs support the order givers.

  2. The mountain state of Commierado had made a behind closed doors chicken 💩 law to have the CBI check ffl’s the catch is the ffl has to pay a $400.00 per yer license fee. A money grab to support the illegals in the Denver area

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