Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) is blasting the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) for allegedly retaliating towards a Congressional witness.
In a letter to ATF director Steven Dettelbach, dated September 7, 2023, and shared solely with Breitbart News, Gaetz wrote:
It has come to my consideration that yesterday, September 6, 2023, ATF brokers as soon as once more aggressively focused and harassed considered one of my constituent federal firearms licensees (FFL), Chris Smith of Gulf Coast Gun, this time apparently in violation of federal legislation. Chris has held an FFL in Florida for years with no points, and but the ATF has aggressively audited him with out benefit and accused him of assorted clerical errors in an try and have his FFL revoked. It is for this cause that Chris testified as a whistleblower earlier than members of Congress.
Gaetz famous that the ATF’s go to to Smith’s enterprise got here after Smith offered testimony at Gaetz’s “Field Hearing on the Weaponization of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.”
He identified that Smith has solely had his producer’s license six months and has but to make use of it for enterprise; subsequently the ATF brokers had been compelled to depart Smith’s enterprise empty-handed. He additionally indicated that the ATF had already audited Smith’s retail license throughout the final 12 months “and it follows that given the ATF is forbidden from auditing the same business twice in one year, the only excuse the ATF had to further harass Chris, was to audit a new, unused manufacturer’s license.”
Gaetz additionally defined that the ATF “showed up uninvited to Chris’s manager, Christian O’Brien’s home without making an appointment, as he does not have business hours.” (O’Brien doesn’t have enterprise hours as a result of he doesn’t promote firearms “or perform any business on behalf of Gulf Coast Gun.”)
Christian was not residence when the ATF brokers arrived at his home so the agent(s) allegedly known as him and mentioned, “Don’t worry, we know where you work.”
Gaetz responded by saying, “This kind of stalking is unwarranted and creepy.”
He added, “The ATF’s harassment of law-abiding FFLs is clear and documented. Furthermore, the implication that the ATF may be retaliating against congressional whistleblowers in response to their lawful actions before Congress is astounding.”
Gaetz is asking Dettelbach to handle the problems revealed within the letter and in addition to reply various questions, starting with, “How many audits and/or inspections has the ATF performed on a license held only for 6 months?”
Another query posed by Gaetz: “For what emergency did the ATF find it necessary to perform a house-call to someone who is not involved in the sale of firearms on behalf of Gulf Coast Gun?”
President Joe Biden’s nominee to guide the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Steve Dettelbach speaks throughout an occasion about gun violence within the Rose Garden of the White House April 11, 2022, in Washington, DC. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the author/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly publication centered on all issues Second Amendment, additionally for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow on the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker on the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a deal with the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can signal as much as get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him immediately at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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