[Kansas City Star] Leaders of the largest county at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks say they will not answer questions from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about local gun businesses.
At Thursday’s county commission meeting, Presiding Commissioner Ike Skelton notified the public that the ATF had recently sent emails to county staffers asking whether four gun businesses were in compliance with local zoning and business licensing regulations.
Skelton said the county would not cooperate and read aloud from a letter he intended to send to the ATF on Camden County letterhead.
The commissioner said the ATF had been "weaponized" under the Biden administration and said he viewed the information request as part of a larger attempt to revoke federal firearm licenses.
"I believe it is their intent to revoke as many licenses as possible to squeeze them down to the large sellers such as Bass Pro, Academy Sports, things of this nature, so they can keep a very close eye on who is and who is not selling firearms," Skelton said. "I think they want to squeeze the small business person out the best possible way they can."
John Ham, spokesman for the ATF’s Kansas City field division, said the agency’s inquiries were routine: the law requires that the ATF check whether gun manufacturers and sellers are in compliance with local zoning and business regulations. The only time those questions are asked, he said, is when the agency is considering issuing new licenses or renewing existing ones.
"That’s what is prompting our inquiries — trying to put people into the firearms business," Ham said. "It has nothing to do with taking people out of the firearms business."
Reached on the phone Thursday afternoon, Skelton rejected that explanation.
"I do not trust the ATF at all," he said. "I think they will use anything they can to revoke licenses."
|