ATF Revoked FFL From Gun Store Filing Lawsuit Against the Federal Government

By: José Niño

In the middle of July, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) revoked both Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs) that a gun shop possessed. The government agency did so after the gun shop filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the recently vacated frames and receiver regulation.

Morehouse Enterprises in North Dakota joined Gun Owners of America (GOA) to fight the ATF’s attempt to regulate unfinished frames and receivers via bureaucratic order. The ATF set up a rule as a response to a White House order to prohibit 80% firearms that the Biden administration describes as “ghost guns.” According to John Crump of AmmoLand, this lawsuit was the first case in the nation to take on the ATF rule, which is vacated for now.

Right after Morehouse Enterprises filed its lawsuit against the ATF, the ATF kicked off an inspection of the gun stores. This ATF visit was the first inspection of its kind that the store has ever experienced. The Industry Operations Inspector (IOI), Jacob Temp, said to the store owner, in jest, that the ATF held discussions about whether the inspection would look retaliatory in nature in response to the court case. The IOI initially said that the ATF would postpone any inspection for at least three years, pending litigation. Nevertheless, the ATF opted to conduct an investigation of the store regardless.

Subsequently, on March 6, 2023, the ATF sent out a “Report of Violations.” The ATF discovered that the store violated five of the agency’s policies. Three of those were mere paperwork mistakes. The first violation consisted of the store forgetting to put a record entry of a firearm’s return to a customer who brought the gun to the store for the purpose of gunsmithing. The second violation involved the store erroneously putting a customer’s Social Security number in the NICS transaction number (NTN) box. The third error was a number missing in a NICS transaction number.

The store also had two other grave violations. The store previously transferred a handgun to a resident of Georgia. FFLs are not allowed to transfer handguns to residents of other states owing to the different gun laws that govern handguns. In this instance, Georgia law is not more stringent than the law on the books.

The second violation consisted of the store allowing the customer to use a Georgia concealed carry permit instead of a NICS background check. The Brady law, which established the NICS background check system, grants exceptions for background checks. One of these exceptions is in the case that a state’s concealed carry permit complies with or surpasses the same level of scrutiny as a NICS check. Georgia’s concealed carry permit does that, but it can only be used instead of the NICS background check in the state where the check is issued.

On May 23, 2023, the ATF told Morehouse Enterprises of its plan to strip the company of both of its FFLs, despite the second FFL not committing any violations. The Biden regime has pursued a “zero tolerance” policy towards FFLs, in which they could be shut down for committing simple violations of ATF policy.

GOA has opted to join Morehouse Enterprises in legally challenging the ATF’s arbitrary actions. The gun rights organization asserted that the ATF’s actions constitute “Arbitrary, Capricious, an Abuse of Discretion, and Not in Accordance with Law.” Furthermore, the plaintiffs claimed that the ATF is infringing on the right to bear arms by imposing restrictions on firearm acquisition.

The plaintiffs also claim that the ATF is behaving in a vindictive fashion. They argued that Morehouse’s due process rights have been trampled on through retaliatory prosecution. On top of that, the plaintiffs claim that Morehouse’s First Amendment rights have been infringed on given how the ATF is obstructing the plaintiff’s right to file a lawsuit against the government.

Dudley Brown, the president of the National Association for Gun Rights, offered his perspective on this ATF incident:

“The ATF vindictively harassing an American gun shop? Color me surprised… These mafia-style shake downs are straight out of the ATF handbook. It’s long past time this unconstitutional agency is defunded and abolished once and for all.”

It’s still up in the air if the ATF’s behavior was actually retaliatory in nature. However, given its long track record of abuse, one can’t put it past the ATF for behaving in such a manner. For that reason, among others, the ATF should ultimately be defunded and abolished in the long-term. An agency that operates in such a manner should not be allowed to exist.

José Niño is a freelance writer based in Austin, Texas. Contact him via Facebook, Twitter, or email him at [email protected]. Get his e-book, The 10 Myths of Gun Control, here.