Nevada carrier
Regular Member
At work, I've kind of become known as the "gun law guy," and the other day, someone asked me about a topic that I have only a rudimentary knowledge about. The question I was asked by a co worker was this;
My answer was; First, what business is it of any government agency how many of a particular item I chose to purchase, provided I am within my right to own it. Second, I responded that to my knowledge, congress had not ratified any legislation requiring gun dealers to report such transactions to the ATF. The ATF is an enforcement arm of the federal government, they are not part of the legislative branch, therefor they cannot write their own laws, only enforce the laws already in place. I then explained the catch 22. The ATF can revoke a gun dealers license, forcing them to challenge the revocation in court. Revoking their license means they can't earn their living, and they probably don't have the money to be shut down and survive a legal challenge that would drag out for years, so they opt to submit to the ATF's unlawful demand.
Several other sheeple made themselves part of the conversation and disagreed with me, citing that the DEA requires retailers to report purchases of pseudo-ephedrine that exceed a certain quantity in a given time period. My argument was that this was because congress actually passed a law requiring this reporting. I tried to find some resources to back up my claim, but I'm hitting dead ends. Am I absolutely correct, somewhat correct or just totally off base?
"What's wrong with the ATF requiring dealers to notify them when someone buys more than one firearm in a 24 hour period, and do they have the legal authority to do that?"
My answer was; First, what business is it of any government agency how many of a particular item I chose to purchase, provided I am within my right to own it. Second, I responded that to my knowledge, congress had not ratified any legislation requiring gun dealers to report such transactions to the ATF. The ATF is an enforcement arm of the federal government, they are not part of the legislative branch, therefor they cannot write their own laws, only enforce the laws already in place. I then explained the catch 22. The ATF can revoke a gun dealers license, forcing them to challenge the revocation in court. Revoking their license means they can't earn their living, and they probably don't have the money to be shut down and survive a legal challenge that would drag out for years, so they opt to submit to the ATF's unlawful demand.
Several other sheeple made themselves part of the conversation and disagreed with me, citing that the DEA requires retailers to report purchases of pseudo-ephedrine that exceed a certain quantity in a given time period. My argument was that this was because congress actually passed a law requiring this reporting. I tried to find some resources to back up my claim, but I'm hitting dead ends. Am I absolutely correct, somewhat correct or just totally off base?
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