Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst are pressing the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) about the agency’s priorities after recent reports of businesses being forced to forfeit their federal firearms licenses for minor paperwork mistakes. In their letter, the senators note clerical errors that were easily fixable in the past are being used to shutter small businesses, including an Iowa FFL holder based out of Des Moines, and infringe on Second Amendment rights. The senators write, “While we understand and support regular compliance checks, revoking FFL licenses based on minor clerical errors appears to be focused on shutting down businesses rather than improving public safety. These types of revocations are distracting the ATF from the more necessary work of combating violent crime with the United States continuing to suffer from an unprecedented surge in murders.” They add it used to be common practice to allow businesses to fix minor errors on the spot, but the Biden Administration has adopted a policy of revoking licenses immediately and asking questions later. Grassley and Ernst are calling on ATF Director Steven Dettelbach to provide additional information on the FFL revocation process, what would be considered a revocable offense, and how many revocations have occurred under the Biden Administration compared to recent years. The letter comes just two months after dozens of ATF and FBI agents served search warrants at five western Iowa locations, including a Denison-based firearms retailer and the Adair Police Department. The U.S. Department of Justice has repeatedly declined to comment on what led to the raids and what, if any, charges may come from the significant allocation of federal resources. You can find Grassley’s and Ernst’s letter to the ATF included below.
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Grassley/Ernst Nov. 7, 2022 ATF Letter