People are confusing the “engaged in business for profit” criteria which ATF uses to determine if somebody is an unlicensed dealer with “selling for profit.” Again in this case it’s arguable either way since Adam had a “gun parts business” and was also selling firearms from his personal collection. It would be extremely easy for ATF to tie the two practices together and simply declare he was “engaged in business for profit” with respect to selling firearms from his personal collection then that is it.
Even if it went to trial it wouldn’t be hard to sell it to a jury of 12 people who probably aren’t savvy enough to understand the distinction and explaining FOPA 86 to them would probably just confuse them even more. The likelihood that Adam can find and afford an attorney that is an expert on things like FOPA 86 and the criteria for being a FFL vs. a private seller is remote.
And even if Adam does beat the unlicensed dealer charges, they will dig around and find something like tax irregularities until they have something solid they can hang over his head that will require him to cut a deal.
Same thing happened to Cav Arms, initially there were charges of unregistered machine guns, illegal guns going to California, fraud and a bunch of other things. In the end they ended up with incomplete 4473s and a guy who claimed to be an AZ resident (guy was working with ATF after he got stung) who was also residing in CA who got the owner of Cav Arms to store some firearms for him since he couldn’t take them back to CA. The customer in question filled out a 4473 and passed a NICS check with his AZ state ID. Last time I checked it wasn’t illegal for anyone to “store firearms” in a state where they are legal, but they had enough to hang over his head so the owner of Cav took the deal that kept him out of jail and avoided heavy fines.
But whatever takes focus away from things like Fast and Furious I guess.
They’ve done all of that work ahead of time SAUG, if you read the indictment it reads more like the IRS is after him and the ATF is going along for the ride. Multiple years of alleged tax fraud are detailed in the PDF of the indictment.
I don’t know what his gunbroker activities were like or his other buying and selling was like.
I think as someone said, having what appears to be a large inventory of the same exact firearms looks suspicious. It’s one thing to have 100 Lugers–a gun commonly collected. It’s another to have 20+ PTR91s of the same model, and close to 100 P-7s.
And that is the fundamental problem here. Rather than providing a provision for him to do exactly that, they actually did the opposite and prevented him from becoming a FFL. I’ve never heard of these kinds of practices in the regulation of any other business.
Even places that violate other ATF laws by selling untaxed cigarettes and liquor establishments with multiple violations of selling to minors do NOT get their doors kicked and rarely are they hit with felony charges and only in the most extreme cases do they get their licenses revoked.
I don’t even think the places that sell medical marijuana are at the same risk as the typical FFL when it comes to having your life destroyed for failure to adhere to regulations and practices.
Also P7s have a strong cult following. They just aren’t as old as Lugers.
Hell, it even says “Our Products” at the top of the page right under the HKParts.net banner and has a SKU number for the rifle. Sure there is a legal disclaimer at the bottom of the page, but if he sold any of these type of rifles, even throuh 3rd party FFLs, it seems a much more difficult argument that he wasn’t using his parts business to also sell rifles. It does not leave a good impression at the very least.
Right they might want to trade them for some other collectors item, that makes sense. I guess even I get having that many of a single out of production gun, especially if there is variation between them.
My question is do these same people have a gun parts website they advertise their Lugers and Colt revolvers for sale on?
He went about selling items from his personal collection in a very business oriented fashion, not a good look for some one with out an FFL and a previous tangle with the ATF.
My brother-in-law works at a large scrap yard here in phoenix and has countless heartbreaking stories of the guns ATF brings in to be destroyed. Even the scum bag agents who have to take them for destruction hate to see the wastefulness of it all. Very few museum grade guns are saved from this doom.
I hope to get pics from him. He says they’ll often get a scrap van, load the guns into it, crush the van, and then run it through the shredder.
Folks get their papers bounced all the time for clerical errors… without cutting deals with the ATF. I don’t believe for a minute that this goober made a typo on a form.
I’m not suggesting a simple typo. But that also doesn’t mean he willfully attempted something “shady.” I’ve seen people attempt all kinds of things they “thought” would be perfectly fine. We actually need a bit more info before either of us can be certain of anything regarding the original “clerical errors.”
Does it really matter that someone buys old cars, holds them for a few years, cleans them up and sell them for a profit?
Do they need a dealers license to sell cars? No
So the government decided you need an FFL to deal in guns. This is a restrictions that FFLs know what they are doing and will not sell to a criminal. So we are on a slippery slope. I sell a gun, am I a dealer? How about if I sell two? How about if I sell three? Does it make a difference that I lost money on the first two?
