Free Republic

Flipping a gun for a price higher than one paid now may turn anyone into a dealer, making any such sale unlawful if it does not involve all the licensing and paperwork that govern gun dealers.. On Friday, the 31st anniversary of the massacre of Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, the ATF issued new regulations that make it more difficult to comply with federal laws regulating gun dealing and background checks. Since the 1930s, federal law has required gun dealers to be registered as Federal Firearms Licensees (FFL). The requirements hinged on the meaning of “engaged in the business of”...

The Department of Justice has issued a press release showing that, over five years, from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2021, the number of firearms sold by unlicensed dealers in the USA was less than 1 of 10,000 sold in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s adjusted calculations during the five-year period, the number of firearms sold through the NICS system was 14 million in 2017, 13.5 million in 2018, 13.6 million in 2019, 21.1 million in 2020, and 18.5 million in 2021, for a total of 80.7 million over...

Family of Arkansan killed by ATF last month issues damning statement.The ATF went to Bryan Malinowski’s West Little Rock home last month spoiling for a gunfight, and they got one. Now, a good man is dead — the latest victim of ATF’s overly aggressive tactics and complete disregard for the sanctity of human life.ATF has yet to comment officially on the March 19 killing, other to claim Malinowski fired first. But Malinowski’s family recently released a statement, which confirms what everyone already knew: It is extremely unlikely that the 53-year-old airport executive knew he was trading gunfire with federal agents....

We have long maintained that the two smoking guns of the January 6 Fedsurrection are the curious case of Ray Epps, on the one hand, and the RNC/DNC pipe bomb hoax, on the other. Our extensive reporting on the case of Epps enjoyed a natural assist from the fact that the now-iconic video of Epps urging the crowd to go “into the Capitol” and the subsequent chants from the crowd of “Fed, Fed, Fed” were seemingly tailor-made to go viral. While our ground-breaking reporting on January 6 had been no less comprehensive and no less damning, for the longest time...

Defendant Unlawfully Sold Eight Firearms, Including Two Machine Guns and an AR-style Ghost GunSAN JOSE – Carlos Manuel Ruiz-Montanez was sentenced yesterday to 38 months in prison for crimes related to illegal firearms sales, including the sale of machineguns, announced United States Attorney Ismail J. Ramsey and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) Special Agent in Charge Jennifer Cicolani. The sentence was handed down by the Hon. Edward J. Davila, United States District Judge.Ruiz-Montanez, 22, of Watsonville, pleaded guilty to one count of Illegal Possession and Transfer of Machineguns, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(o), and one...

Five individuals were arrested in Laredo, Hebbronville, and Falls City, Texas, last week for allegedly trafficking military grade firearms to a drug cartel in Mexico.According to court documents, Gerardo Rafael Perez Jr., also known as Jerry, 23, of Laredo, allegedly coordinated the acquisition of more than 100 firearms throughout Texas to be smuggled across the international border and delivered to a drug trafficking cartel in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Perez’s organization allegedly used straw purchasers, including co-defendants Francisco Alejandro Benavides, also known as Frankie, 23, and Mark Anthony Trevino Jr., 24, to procure the firearms from a variety of sources...

NEW VIDEO FROM OMG: “Trump Was Right, Biden doesn’t care about trade” states Trevar Kolodny, Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (@CISACyber) Official in the Department of Homeland Security for chemical security. Kolodny, who declares “I don’t think I can vote for Donald Trump after January 6th,” worked in the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for the U.S. Treasury Department prior to CISA and despite not being a Trump fan observes Trump “was deeply interested in trade,” Kolodny also confirms CISA’s collusion with Big Tech: “And they, they’ve had conversation with Facebook, Google about these things that aren’t true....

Bryan Malinowski, who was involved in a shootout with federal agents Tuesday, was also involved in a legal fight with a neighbor over the placement of a mailbox, claiming it was placed illegally on his property. A judge would go on to side with Malinowski’s neighbor, years before the 53-year-old director of Little Rock's Clinton National Airport was involved in the Tuesday shooting with agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. In August 2018, Malinowski sued Eric and Victoria Pinter, who lived next to a property he owned. He said the year before they “without consultation or...

The executive director of the Little Rock airport who was shot by federal agents serving a search warrant at his home earlier this week has died. A statement from the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport announced the death of Bryan Malinowski at noon Thursday. The statement from Bill Walker, chair of the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission, noted that under Malinowski’s leadership the airport saw “significant growth and success” and offered condolences to Malinowski’s family. “With a heavy heart, we announce the passing of our executive director Bryan Malinowski. Bryan was a 16-year employee of the airport. Under his...

According to Arkansas State Police and ATF, Bryan Malinowski, the executive director of the Clinton National Airport, was being served a federal search warrant when he shot toward ATF, and they returned fire. The airport director was shot at least twice as authorities said he suffered gunshot wounds. Police said an ATF agent was shot once with non-life-threatening injuries. Both were sent to nearby hospitals. De Bruyn said she witnessed an ambulance, firetruck and multiple law enforcement agencies swarmed the cul-de-sac and adjacent street

The executive director of an Arkansas airport bearing the names of former President Bill Clinton and former first lady and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was shot Tuesday, when federal agents attempted to serve a search warrant. Arkansas State Police said the shooting occurred at 6 a.m. local time at a home on Durance Court in Little Rock, while the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was serving a search warrant at the home of airport Executive Director Bryan Malinowski.

New FBI special agents have an important moral and ethical component to their training, culminating in a tour of the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. to see what happens when law enforcement loses sight of what is right. It was started more than two decades ago by then–FBI director Louis Freeh, and in 2005, Director Robert S. Mueller said the training has never been more relevant. “At a time when law enforcement must be aggressive in stopping terror, these classes provide powerful lessons on why we must always protect civil rights and uphold the rule of law,” he said....

VIDEOImagine you are Chris Bort, the acting chief of the ATF Firearms Ammunition Technology Division and you are struggling to disassemble a Glock style handgun during a TV interview. In fact you are struggling so much that you come off as either an unknowledgeable klutz or another Inspector Clouseau. This laughably embarrassing episode took place on "Face The Nation."

Last November, ATF agents dragged a Wyoming man from his house in his underwear even as he was screaming that he had a certificate authorizing him to possess firearms, a gun rights advocate told legislators on Tuesday. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mark Jones, National Director with Gun Owners of America testifies at the Senate Agriculture Committee Meeting on Feb. 19, 2024. (Matt Idler for Cowboy State Daily) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Wyoming Legislature meant well when it decided to reinstate the firearms rights of nonviolent felons last year, but that could have led to a couple’s terrifying experience with federal agents, a gun rights advocate...

An ATF spokesperson confirmed the investigation is moving forward as an "arson investigation.".. Ashlee Sherrill, public information officer for the St. Paul Division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), did not provide details or indicate who, or if anyone, was targeted but confirmed the investigation is moving forward as an “arson investigation.” John Hinderaker, president of the Center of the American Experiment (CAE), said based on the location of the fires in the building, it appears that someone targeted conservative groups. “The fires were obviously set by someone. They targeted conservative organizations. They didn’t firebomb the...

Whistleblowers at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) are sounding the alarm on a reported 1,300-page draft document that allegedly justifies a proposed rule that would effectively ban private gun sales, according to a watchdog group. "The fact that inside ATF sources are blowing the whistle on this draft rule is an indication of what a difficult position it would put the ATF in. ATF agents did not sign up to go after law-abiding citizens for private sales protected under the Second Amendment of the Constitution," Tristan Leavitt, president of watchdog group Empower Oversight, said in a...

WASHINGTON — A watchdog group is demanding documents from the Biden administration after whistleblowers alleged that a regulation is under development that would effectively ban private gun sales. The group, Empower Oversight, said Wednesday that two sources have claimed that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) is preparing to propose a rule requiring background checks for most or all gun sales.

Empower Oversight says power grab would be unconstitutional, usurping powers on Congress and infringing 2nd Amendment. The whistleblower group that represented the IRS agents in the Hunter Biden case is warning that the Biden administration is preparing an “unconstitutional“ power grab to regulate private gun sales by requiring a background check. In a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Empower Oversight said it had learned from two sources that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives was directed by the White House to make the change and “has drafted a 1,300-page document in support of a rule that...

A federal judge in Florida granted a request for a preliminary injunction to block enforcement of a new federal gun law related to stabilizing braces and whether they convert firearms into short-barrel rifles. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) cannot enforce the rule against individuals who live “in the state of Florida,” U.S. District Judge Mary Scriven wrote in an order this week. In part, the judge wrote that the ATF and other defendants, including Director Steven Dettelbach, were not able to meet the standard of showing that the ATF rule falls under “the plain text of...

WASHINGTON –U.S. Senators Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), and Mike Braun (R-Ind.) introduced the ATF Accountability Act, which would provide transparency to gun owners across America on rules made by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The ATF engages in a secretive classification review process where the agency decides whether a particular firearm is regulated by the National Firearms Act and refuses to make final public rules regarding classification. The ATF’s lack of transparency creates significant uncertainty for both gun-owning Americans and firearm manufacturers. “The ATF’s ability to designate firearms behind closed doors puts law abiding...