Texas Gun Store Owner Sues Biden’s ATF for Cracking Down on Legal Gun Ownership

While President Joe Biden is pushing his public agenda to restrict legal gun ownership, the administration behind the scenes has taken steps to attack gun shops and threaten the Second Amendment. Since the White House tried to make firearms owners’ lives more difficult, this issue has been ignored.

However, at least one company is responding.

According to the Washington Times, Michael Cargill, a gun dealer, owns Central Texas Gun Works, Austin, TX, and Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF). He is suing ATF for allegedly “misusing” the 1968 Gun Control Act, which governs gun sales. The act focuses on inadvertent mistakes, such as mistaking ‘county’ for ‘country’ on paperwork. According to the Washington Times, the suit alleges that ATF used these clerical errors to close down gun shops.

Nate Curtis is an attorney for the TPPF.

This administration began revoking licenses due to a few of these mistakes in thousands of Form 4473s. These errors do not result in criminals or prohibited persons obtaining guns. One problem is that the administration’s enforcement policy does not follow the Gun Control Act’s text.

Plaintiffs claim that President Biden’s ATF unfairly targets gun dealers through record-keeping measures designed to stop criminals from buying firearms.

In October, The Trace reported that the ATF had revoked three times as many gun dealer licenses for 2022 than they did in the previous year. This is due to the Biden administration’s “zero tolerance” policy regarding firearms-selling establishments.

The following is taken from the report:

The agency had revoked 92 licenses by 2022, which is roughly 1.3 percent of all dealers that were inspected. This number more than triples that of 2021 when similar numbers of dealers were inspected. Another 136 dealers were subject to warning conferences. This is the most severe penalty that inspectors can recommend, without having their licenses revoked.

David Chipman, an ex-ATF agent who is now an advisory board member for Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Gun Violence Solutions, celebrated the data. He said, “The trendline was good.” “I think we should applaud the agency for holding industry accountable — and for doing its job.”

Chipman’s rantings are not a reason to hold anyone responsible. Anyone with an intelligence higher than the room temperature will know this. It won’t make anyone more secure to shut down gun dealers because of silly clerical mistakes. Responsible citizens will find it harder to exercise their right to self-defense. The ATF’s role is to prevent illegal gun trafficking. This policy of “zero tolerance” is not designed to achieve that goal. It is an attempt to violate the Second Amendment by trying to eliminate firearm-selling entities.

The Biden administration is urging Congress to pass anti-gun legislation in its lame-duck period before Republicans take control next year. This effort is unlikely to bear fruit. However, this doesn’t mean that the White House won’t use executive power to restrict gun ownership in any way. Hopefully, Cargill will succeed in using the legal system against the administration.