There are times when lines are crossed, and it is critical that those who take the law into their own hands are dealt with.
Such a case arose in Florida, where an inspector (IOI) with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was conducting business. The inspector allegedly seized a federal firearm licensee’s (FFL) completed ATF Form 4473s and bound book.
They then proceeded to take the materials away to make copies. This is a clear violation of federal law, and it was a week before the inspector returned the property.
Kiloton Tactical in DeFuniak Springs is not taking the action lying down. Last week it merged with a group of FFLs organized by Eric Blandford of the popular Iraqveteran8888 YouTube channel and moved to file a lawsuit against the ATF.
The grounds are the current administration’s nefarious zero-tolerance policy for FFLs that are now targeted for innocent paperwork errors. Its focus is the illegal action of the ATF inspector in removing the materials from Kiloton Tactical.
According to federal law, FFLs are required to keep records including the bound book and copies of the ATF Form 4473 to be available for inspection. This Kiloton Tactical clearly did. The purpose is to maintain these documents for inspectors to be readily able to examine them for possible policy violations. There is no disagreement over this policy.
The issue emerged with the blatantly illegal removal of the materials by the ATF inspector. Taking the documents off-site is expressly forbidden by federal law.
“The inspections and examinations provided by this section do not authorize an ATF officer to seize any records or documents other than those records or documents constituting material evidence of a violation of law. If an ATF officer seizes such records or documents, copies shall be provided to the licensee within a reasonable time.”
There was no contention that the ATF inspector found wrongdoing. However, he asserted that his actions to remove the documents from the establishment were legal, though they obviously ran afoul of the law.
The IOI handbook makes it even more apparent that the inspector’s actions were against official procedure. Though the ATF handbook has been held out of public viewing by the agency, AmmoLand News reported that it was able to acquire an unredacted copy of the manual.
Page 10 told the story.
“IOIs do not have the statutory authority to affect arrests, make seizures or to carry firearms, and any IOI who operates outside the scope of his/her authority would be potentially subject to disciplinary action, criminal liability and/or civil liability.”
The same IOI guide also stipulates in no uncertain terms that all inspections are to be conducted on-site. It provides no exceptions.
The reasons for this apparent overreach may be debated. There could be ignorance of federal law and agency guidelines on the part of the inspector. However, there may also be a prevailing attitude that the ATF is operating above the law and not subject to its limitations. Certainly, there is an edict from the top that FFLs are to be handled roughly and the slightest and most minute infractions are to be dealt with severely.
Clerical errors are not evidence of “rogue gun dealers.” They instead are examples proving that paperwork is done by human beings who may leave a line blank or misspell a word. But zero-tolerance makes no exception for simple mistakes. Instead, it carries out a protocol that has resulted in FFL revocations reaching a 17-year high.
