ATF Lies To A Judge, Gets Search Warrant And Goes After Customer Lists (Which Was NOT Part Of The Warrant.) Another Police Power Abuse!

2nd Amendment / Gun Control / Surveillance & Privacy

Feds Now Collecting the Names of Gun Part Buyers

On March 15, the ATF broke into four different Ares Armor stores in San Diego, California. The ATF claimed the purpose of the raid was due to the sale of AR-15 lowers. TeaParty.org reports:

Federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives raided four Ares Armor gun-parts stores in San Diego over the weekend and now criticism is being lobbed that the primary purpose was to collect the names and addresses of customers, reported WND.

According to San Diego’s KSWB-TV, although there was a temporary restraining order in place, the ATF agents obtained a search warrant by privately going to a judge and claiming that it was investigating alleged violations of federal firearms laws stemming from the sale of a new plastic version of the 80 percent lowers of AR-15 rifles.

As the TV report explained, building a rifle with specific versions of the 80 percent receivers is legal, however, the ATF claims the polymer lower receiver appears to be manufactured differently with two parts. According to the ATF that makes them a firearm and illegal to sell.

Here’s the video of the ATF raid in National City, California:

What makes this story so unusual is that Ares Executive Officer Dimitrios Karras has been cooperating with authorities from the beginning.

As soon as the legality of the polymer lower receivers was called into question, Karras locked them up to prevent any illegal sales.

Furthermore, he offered to turn over all the parts in question to the ATF until such time as a resolution could be reached. Based on the ATF’s initial justification for the raid, you would think they would have accepted this offer, but they did not.

So if the ATF was not really interested in the polymer lower receivers, then why did they raid the Ares Armor stores?

When federal ATF agents raided [Karras's] stores, agents demanded the lists and confiscated computers, which may hold records, he said.

“I offered to give them keys to the room [containing] the product,” Karras said. “They didn’t want that. They wanted the customer list.”

“Outrageous,” said Michael Hammond of Gun Owners of America about the San Diego raid.

“Obviously, the ATF could have gotten the parts if it wanted them. What it wanted was the customer list,” said Hammond.

In this day and age of government overreach, police brutality, and unconstitutional searches and seizures, customers of Ares Armor have a real reason to be concerned.

A local Fox affiliate reported one customer who said, “I’m on that list, and I’m waiting for the knock on the door to tell me they are here to remove my Second Amendment rights.”