Except when they are. And, y’know, DO.
‘We’re Shutting the Gun Shows Down’: ATF SWAT Team Raids Part-Time Oklahoma FFL’s Home, Confiscates His Guns
Russell Fincher is a high school history teacher, a Baptist pastor and a part-time gun dealer. He also coaches Little League in his hometown of Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, which has a population of around 151 souls.Fincher, 52, has had a federal firearm license for three years. He has no brick-and-mortar gun shop. He’s what used to be called a “kitchen table FFL.” He sells most of his firearms at gun shows, including Wanenmacher’s Arms Show in Tulsa.
“Living in Southeast Oklahoma, if you don’t have a gun under $400, people ain’t buying it,” he said Thursday. “Rarely do people come to my house to buy a gun.”
In April, Fincher received a call from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. They wanted to do an inspection at his home. “I told them they were welcome anytime,” Fincher said.
Two ATF inspectors arrived a few days later. They spent three hours in his home. They took pictures of his 4473s with their cell phones, which Fincher has since learned is an illegal although common practice.
“Honestly, they were way nicer than I expected,” he said. “They said I had some guns that had traces on them, which concerned them. It concerned me too.”
And that was only the beginning of an ordeal which, in the end, cost an entirely blameless man who had committed no crime, never faced a single charge, and never had his day in court, an estimated 50-60,000 dollars’ worth of legally-owned firearms—guns that he will never, ever get back, no matter what he says or does. Bottom line:
“They have my life in the palm of their hands, and they have very little accountability,” he said. “I’m just trying to make a living and it takes three jobs just to make ends meet. Dealing as little as I have with the ATF, when you ask them a specific question, they’ll tell you it’s a grey area. Well, a grey area can send you to jail. I’m not Hunter Biden. I’m not going to get my weapon charges dropped.”
Nope, you won’t. The best you can hope for is to not be summarily and without due process thrown into the Amerikan gulag to rot alongside hundreds (thousands? Millions? Who among us can really know?) of other poor naifs who imagined they still had rights, a Constitution to protect them, and a country that bore any resemblance to the one the forefathers created.
Far be it from me to urge martyrdom on anyone, but the day has come when, the very minute that initial intel-gathering phone call from any FederalGovCo agency is finished, the recipient of said call should be running to load mags, then positioning him/herself in good cover by his front door, ready to open fire when several carloads of Feds arrive.
If people like Fincher must henceforth consider themselves to be targets, then they by God oughtn’t be the only ones present. From now on, there shouldn’t be any more “one-way” shooting ranges, not even in our own neighborhoods.
Read all of it—and prepare to be sickened, appalled, and infuriated. Then, just, y’know, prepare. Because you know as well as I do that sooner or later, they’ll be coming.
(Via Insty)
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Having an FFL and being small puts all your other income production at risk (job, etc.). A local here that I used for a couple of mail order purchases got out just because of the threat.
It’s wrong of course, and what they did in this case is also illegal, but who will hold them accountable? No one. The GOP is the party tasked with this and they are owned by the chinese just like the other branch, the democraps.
This is is wrong and we need an organization that fights back in the legal arena to protect our rights and the 2nd amendment specifically. I know of no effective organization at the moment. Lots of talk, fundraising, etc. But action at every level in every case, those like this, I don’t see it.
If I’ve missed one, let me know who it is. It’s not either of the big gun organizations even though they may do some good work.
High speed lead works as well on BATFE as it does on other FedPigs!