The ATF is not easing up on its efforts to destroy the Second Amendment. So far, in 2024, the ATF revoked an alarming number of gun store licenses. According to The Trace, the number of Federal Firearms License (FFL) revocations this year was the highest since 2005 (per ATF figures published on October 4).
These numbers are not shocking to those who have been paying attention over the past three and a half years. The goal of the Biden regime has been to implement a zero-tolerance policy against firearm dealers. In the fiscal year 2024, ATF investigators revoked 195 licenses, which is roughly a 13% increase from the 2023 total of 173. This figure represents more than 2% of all licenses inspected.
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua admitted that the agency has bolstered its inspections program. They are currently using an analytics tool to direct resources toward harassing gun dealers who allegedly pose a higher risk to public safety. She claimed the changes have “increased the effectiveness of compliance inspections” in the last three years.
The ATF’s inspections division is tasked with making sure that gun stores follow federal gun control laws, no matter how onerous or arbitrary they may be. Inspectors visit federal firearms licensees to ensure that they are keeping required records and not illegally selling firearms. If a violation is discovered, the inspector can enforce penalties as minuscule as warnings in writing or as detrimental as the revocation of a store’s license to sell firearms.
Though Biden was unable to pass Universal Gun Registration or national Red Flag confiscation legislation, the administration’s zero-tolerance policy has been its greatest anti-gun accomplishment. Where legislative efforts have failed, Biden has used pure executive fiat to undermine gun rights. Granting the ATF more powers to attack gun rights has proved to be most effective. According to a report by The Trace, the ATF revoked three times as many FFLs in fiscal year 2022 as 2021, even though a comparable number of stores were inspected. Fast forward to the present, the ATF’s persecution of FFLs has increased at alarming rates.
The harsh reality is that the Biden regime’s zero-tolerance policy toward “rogue gun dealers” targets small gun stores guilty of nothing more than minor paperwork errors. One little mistake results in ATF goons breathing down the necks of gun store owners. In the worst scenarios (cases in which the ATF determines that their FFL must be revoked), these owners are deprived of their livelihood.
The ATF is showing its true colors as a thuggish bureaucracy dedicated to upending the lives of lawful gun owners. They simultaneously strengthen the federal government while micromanaging the people’s right to bear arms and shutting down lawful businesses.
Gun Owners must keep this in mind and hold their representatives accountable. Not only must we call on the ATF to be further scrutinized, but we must also demand real measures to hamstring the ATF’s ability to attack our freedoms. In an ideal world, the ATF would be abolished and tossed into the dustbin of history. Let’s make this goal a reality.
