"Every woman that makes a purchase, every woman who comes to my table to buy a gun was automatically [treated as] a straw purchaser," White said. (A "straw purchaser" is a person who can otherwise legally purchase a firearm, but who does so with the intent to illegally provide it to an ineligible buyer such as a convicted felon or an illegal alien. "Straw purchases" are illegal.)
Those b@stards!"
"Oh man, this is just p!ssing me off!..."
Not in defense of ATF tactics, but a little background on why they were doing what they were doing.
In the Pittsburgh area, the big gun show is at the Expo Mart in Monroeville. I attended many of these show. I have friends who are dealers who set up there.
What was happening was some obvious gang members were coming to the show with their ladies. They would all go to tables and look at guns together. A while later the lady who was with them would come back to the table alone and attempt to purchase a handgun.
To the dealers at the tables it was obvious what was going on. The dealers I know refused to sell the guns to the lady as they strongly suspected that she was purchasing the guns the gang members were interested in for them.
The gang members and their babes were all "persons of color".
I guess that explains some of the ATF's actions, but the way the ATF went about things was mostly all wrong.
But I hope I have explained to you why the ATF was taking an interest in things.
Thank you for the explanation. I would hope that the gun dealers would be smart enough to say no deal in cases like that. Maybe it's a whole different ballgame there than it is up here, but it's like you're suggesting, the ATF are going way too far here.
Even if they are found not guilty, they have lost their guns, their financial stability, and often their reputation. It is not unknown for them to be convicted based on dishonest testimony, at least that is what I have read in the American Rifleman.