ATF inspector seizes gun store customer records without warrant (illegal, suspected, government)

[mike1003]

https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/atf-...ithout-warrant

According to 18 U.S.C. 923(g)(1)(A), FFLs must maintain records such as a bound book and copies of the ATF Form 4473, which Kiloton Tactical did maintain. During an inspection, an IOI is able to look over records for policy violations but does not have the authority to inspect the documents off-site. This action is expressly prohibited by 27 CFR § 478.23(cd).


At the time of the seizure, no wrongdoing was suspected. The IOI insisted he was within his legal rights to remove the documents from the store. The IOI’s deviation put him at odds with federal law.


The ATF’s IOI handbook doubles down on forbidding an IOI from removing records from a business. The ATF has been slow to release the IOI handbook to the public, and when they finally did, the document was heavily redacted. AmmoLand News acquired an unredacted copy of the guide from our sources inside the ATF. Every IOI is responsible for knowing the policies laid out in the handbook, but the ATF employee ignored page 10 of the handbook, which expressly prohibits IOIs from making any seizures.

How can the government get away with pulling this totally illegal and spelled out crap?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by mike1003

https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/atf-...ithout-warrant How can the government get away with pulling this totally illegal and spelled out crap?

Big Brother is here. It's going to take a while for people left of center to notice. They are next.

[swagger]

Originally Posted by mike1003

How can the government get away with pulling this totally illegal and spelled out crap?

Because the people running it don't even pretend to respect the rule of law anymore. For about the last 10 years, it's been "just do it and by the time the courts tell you that you can't, whatever you wanted to do is already done and can't be reversed."

Once they have the records, they have them. Doesn't matter if they lose a lawsuit over them - the data's already been absorbed into the collective. And besides, making the gun store sue them just wastes the gun store's resources - a double win for fedgov.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by mike1003

https://www.buckeyefirearms.org/atf-...ithout-warrant How can the government get away with pulling this totally illegal and spelled out crap?

If we had a DOJ that wasn't corrupt, the IOI would be arrested and in jail awaiting trial. But we all know better than that. I wonder how many records of 4473s will "disappear" or end up altered while in the hands of ATF.