Over a dozen agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) raided the home of an Amish dairy farmer who admitted to local media this week that he had bought and sold a number of firearms over the last several years without a Federal Firearms License.
“I’m not going to deny that I was selling some,” Reuben King told LNP | Lancaster Online.
It’s unclear precisely how many guns King has bought and sold. A tipster told the outlet that King had sold over 600, but King said that “didn’t sound right.”
Pennsylvania allows the private sale of long guns, and King insists he never sold a handgun to anyone. He says he sold mostly to Amish hunters, but he would occasionally sell to non-Amish as well.
The ATF has not charged King with anything yet. Agents in charge would not provide any additional details, citing an ongoing investigation.
“ATF agents, as part of ongoing investigation, executed an enforcement operation at the Cattail Foundry and seized evidence,” on Jan. 12, bureau spokesperson Robert Cucinotta said Monday.
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If King is charged with buying and selling firearms without a license, he’ll be the latest to fall victim to the vague ATF rule that dictates who must obtain a license to sell firearms.
According to the ATF, those “engaged in the business of dealing in firearms” must obtain a license from the bureau. But nowhere does the agency define precisely what this means. It does not provide a specific number of firearms or a specific timeframe in which those firearms must be sold for someone to be considered “engaged in the business of.”
King pointed out as much in his interview with Lancaster Online.
“Reuben King pointed out that the government can’t tell him how many guns a person may sell or over what timeframe before a license is required,” the outlet reported.
Instead, the ATF offers a vague standard that requires someone to obtain a license if they “repetitively buy and sell firearms with the principal motive of making a profit.” Whether someone falls within this category is up to unelected federal agents to determine.
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Even if a home-based dealer obtains a license, however, the ATF might still come after them. A 2021 article by USA Today and anti-gun advocacy group, The Trace, admitted that these FFLs are most often the targets of ATF investigations.
“These dealers are often targeted by the ATF since they don’t invest in the same inventory tracking and security… and don’t fight Department of Justice attorneys with the same vigor established chains or stores have displayed in revocation examinations over the past several decades,” the report says.
Amish people have religious objections to having their pictures taken in some circumstances, so many are barred from purchasing firearms where they must show photo ID. Because of this, they often rely on private sales to obtain firearms for hunting and self defense.