Morehouse Enterprise operates as Bridge City Ordnance, and the company found itself in deep trouble. Trouble that, for the record, is faced by a growing number of upstanding weapons dealers under the ATF’s new and onerous ‘zero-tolerance” policy.
Inspectors found minor paperwork errors in the company records. While accuracy is important, the ATF previously considered that human beings fill out documents and as such are bound to make the occasional mistake. The agency would issue warnings and mandate that corrective actions be taken for these small errors.
The serious step of license revocation would only commence if the company did not demonstrate improvement in its record keeping.
Further, the timing of the “random” inspection of Bridge City Ordnance was more than suspicious. The company recently joined with Gun Owners of America (GOA) and the Gun Owners Foundation (GOF) in a separate lawsuit pushing back against the ATF’s Ghost Gun Frame and Receiver Rule.
The ATF action carried obvious overtones of vindictiveness on the part of the agency.
Thankfully, both GOA and GOF filed a lawsuit defending Bridge City Ordnance against the ATF over its attempted FFL license revocation. The agency recently announced it is backing away from its attempt to shutter the doors of the business, marking a major victory for gun owners in the area.
This is a pattern that should be repeated across the nation. Gun shops are engaged in a Second Amendment-protected enterprise and should not be swept up in a misguided “zero-tolerance” mandate aimed at closing them down.
GOA and GOF are to be commended for their work, and more such action is desperately needed to protect lawful businesses.
