Pennsylvania Ping!
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Posted on 01/26/2022 12:16:16 PM PST by Sopater
So far no arrests have been made and authorities are keeping mum about a raid on a property in the heart of Pennsylvania’s Amish country around Lancaster, but the local paper has some intriguing suggestions about what’s going on, and it sure looks like the BATFE is getting ready to accuse an Amish farmer of being an unlicensed gun retailer.
The raid on the property known as the Cattail Foundry took place two weeks ago, with agents carting off an untold number of guns. This week, LancasterOnline.com spoke with Rueben King, who says the guns were all his private property, though he admits that he had also sold several guns.
“This is my business: I’m a dairyman,” he said inside a barn filled with cows as he swept the concrete floor with a pushbroom. He has about 50 dairy cows.
Rueben King said he primarily sold long guns to the Amish for hunting, though he admitted he sold some to non-Amish, too.
“I was not dealing in handguns, positively not,” Rueben King said.
Federal laws require photo identification when purchasing a firearm from a licensed dealer. The Amish contend their religious beliefs prevent them from being photographed, so they cannot buy a firearm from a licensed dealer. However, private sellers don’t have to require the buyer to present photo identification.
Reuben King declined to say how many guns he had or sold, but that more than 600 — which is what a tipster told LNP — didn’t sound right. Agents did not take all his firearms, he said, adding he’s been collecting guns over the years and hunts.
Reuben King’s brother, Emmanuel King, said about 15 agents with a warrant removed firearms from a room above the first-floor foundry and spent about five hours there.
“They were jotting them down and loading them up,” Emmanuel King said.
Reuben King said he has been talking to lawyers, but does not have one yet, and doesn’t know what will come of the investigation.
We don’t have enough information to weigh in on the specifics of this case, but I’d definitely encourage King to speak with an attorney, and one who knows the ins-and-outs of both state and federal firearms laws. The Biden administration has warned that it’s going after “rogue gun dealers,” and while I don’t think busting an Amish farmer would be the public relations coup that Biden’s looking for, the ATF and DOJ could very well decide to make an example out of King if they have evidence he was selling a large number of firearms without obtaining an FFL.
As King correctly told LancasterOnline, there’s no hard or fast rule that specifically designates when an individual must become an FFL, only the cautionary language stating that “persons who are engaged in the business of dealing in firearms be licensed by the bureau.” Was King engaged in a gun business, as opposed to just making a few incidental sales from his collection? To answer that question we need a better idea of how many guns he’s believed to have sold. If it was anywhere close to 600, it’s going to be awfully hard to argue that this was just a hobby or a way for King to occasionally offload some of his collection.
At the same time, I’m sympathetic to the fact that the Amish can’t purchase a firearm from their local gun store because they generally don’t have a photo ID, which in essence requires them to purchase from a private seller.
It wouldn’t shock me if there are some Amish gun owners out there who are in that grey zone of making more than a few incidental sales while not engaging in the same volume that you’d typically see from someone making a living as a gun dealer, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Biden administration claim they’re “doing something” to address violent crime by cracking down on them.. even if most of those sales are to other friends and family living in an Amish paradise.
Yeah I bet that was a real high-risk operation there.
Odd the ATF didn’t kill all the cows.
Theater for Anti-2As. Working hard for the money.
As a side note, I’m always wondering when Fed.gov would begin a campaign against Amish.
They don’t attend public schools, they don’t get vaxxed, they don’t listen to state-run media, they hunt at will without licenses, they own guns, and probably lots of them. The barely pay taxes, and run their own mostly-closed economies.
As I learned in China - its very dangerous to have anyone like this outside of control of the party and state.
if Rueben King is an Amish Farmer, and Amish can’t buy guns from an FFL because photo ID is against their religion, then where did Rueben King get 600 guns in the first place?
Cracking down on the Amish will cause violent crime to plummet.
/s
Must have been through private sales.
Clop, Clop, Clop...
Bang, Bang, Bang...
Clop, Clop, Clop...
Amish drive-by shooting.
Every person who has ever worked for BATFe should be taken to the Grand Canyon and pushed in.
Pennsylvania Ping!
Please ping me with articles of interest.
FReepmail me to be added to the list.
Who was the snitch, I wonder?
They raided his foundry. Probably made them.
The ongoing communist purge has finally reached the Amish culture...
Our communist masters are on a roll...
There is nothing (or no one) to stop them...
Just lots of whining and talk...talk...talk...
The only trustworthy communist is a dead communist...
We definitely need to trust the communists who rule us, ASAP...
Aren't they the ones doing all the murders in all the Blue Dem cities?
Here in Indiana, the Amish attend the smaller gun shows. They trade, buy and sell usually through someone that isn’t filling out federal forms, private sales.
CNN has proof that the Amish are responsible for the vast majority of street crime in Philly!
Will Amish be exempt from any voter picture ID laws enacted?
***Rueben King, who says the guns were all his private property, though he admits that he had also sold several guns.***
Millions of people could be raided for that! going back 553 years!
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