According to the May 23 audit, Red's has not been filing its gun sales in an appropriate order. Agents also claim Red's did not seek proof that a resident alien buying a gun lived 90 days continuously in Idaho before the sale. ATF also claims Red's left out a mailing address from a box on the gun sales form in 34 applications.Oh, the humanity!
On petition of John Bayard, Joseph Deane, and William Erskine, Being presented to Congress, and read,||
Resolved, That the Secret Committee be directed to sell ||the petitioners|| 550 lb. of powder, and 400 lb. of swivel and grape shot, for the use of their privateer Hancock, and also 750 lb. ||of powder|| before applied for.
June 7, 2007Please join me in this. Please ask other blogs to post on this, please pass the link to this post to your friends, and ask them to write letters and forward the information to theirs.
Hon. Edward J. Lodge
Federal Building & U.S. Courthouse, MSC 039
550 W. Fort St., Room 400
Boise, ID 83724-0039
In re: RED’S TRADING POST, INC. v. RICHARD VAN LOAN
Dear Judge Lodge,
It is apparent from recent actions by representatives of BATFE that they are attempting to do an end run around your recent injunction by cherry-picking minor infractions in their unmasked desire to close down a lawful gun store. As you found, ATF’s conduct in terms of “double counting,” and their calculated exclusion of mentioning audits where no violations were found, shows the agency is itself incapable of achieving the perfection they demand of those they hold power over.
DIO Van Loan’s assertion that he is the sole authority and determiner of what “justice so requires” is an affront to our system of open government with clear standards applicable to all, and most importantly, with checks and balances to prevent abuse. The concept is chilling, presumes authority over the rulings of your court, and allows for what we are seeing now: an apparent vendetta against Mr. Horsley for daring to exercise his First Amendment rights by telling the public of his experiences.
The infractions themselves are meritless reasons for shutting down a family business. We have no public safety issue here, no blatant and willful acts of defiance. Alphabetical vs chronological filings—the information is still there. “Y” and “N” instead of “Yes” and “No” on occasional forms—who in their right mind would maintain the meaning is unclear? Incomplete addresses? Complete information was maintained and on premises. Even the transaction with the resident alien showed a good faith attempt to establish proper compliance, and in fact, this was not a prohibited person and no harm was done.
I half expect Director Van Loan and his staff to write Ryan up for parting his hair on the wrong side, or for wearing the wrong color shirt on Tuesday. I don’t mean to sound facetious, your Honor, but I have worked for many years ensuring compliance with stringent government regulations across a wide variety of industries—from defense contracting, to pharmaceutical and medical device production, to medical practice management—and have never seen anything this intentionally petty and calculating, with but one goal in mind: destruction of the “insolent” who refuse to grovel, rather than public safety.
This is naked bullying and vengeance under color of authority, and I pray you will not tolerate it. Director Van Loan was correct when he stated in his amended declaration that his actions were applicable “not just with respect to Red’s Trading Post, but across the firearm’s industry.” But it’s not justice he’s pursuing, Judge Lodge, it’s judicially sanctioned approval of tactics designed to ensure intimidation instead of compliance.
Please don’t let him get away with it.
Respectfully,
David Codrea
[address, phone, email]
A former Sullivan County sheriff’s deputy pleaded guilty this morning to insurance fraud for allowing a man to crash her Jeep so the insurance company would pay.
Mr. Kubasta, who has learning disabilities and whom family members compared to the title character in the movie “Forrest Gump,” has maintained a measure of self-sufficiency by holding a job at a Home Depot store and earning a New Jersey driver’s license three years ago, at age 39...
Mr. Kubasta, 42, was shot six times by the police on Sunday after ignoring a routine traffic stop in Garfield, N.J...
We have to deal with the availability of guns. We have to change the laws...Nope--no legislation politicking there, Snuffy. No wonder Americans United for Separation of Church and State are hesitant to get involved. I mean, from the 501(c)(3) St. Sabina graphic in front of your mug, it's clear you're speaking as an individual...right?
We have to change the laws and legislation and we have to go after the legislators who are being pressured by the NRA and other organizations to keep them from changing those laws...
We've got to change the legislation--maybe we need to change the Second Amendment. Maybe we gotta go back and look at that and say "Is this really what the fathers meant when they said we have the Second Amendment?"
...We need to do sweeps of the houses...guns have to come off the streets...
We're looking for common sense laws.
Yes, the BATFE is impressed with itself, no doubt. Take a peek at this Amended Declaration (www.jpfo.org/redsdec.pdf). Part of the suit Red's filed in an effort to save the business, this declaration is the sworn statement of BATFE agent Richard Van Loan. In Section 7, he references the phrase "...when justice so requires." This isn't the first time Agent Van Loan has said that. In fact, according to Horsley, Agent Van Loan has stipulated several times that he has ultimate authority "when justice so requires".I asked Ryan Horsley about the missing guns referred to in Van Loan's declaration. His reply:
This inspection was in 2000 the same year that I had taken over management. My parents had just fired [a former employee]* for theft, right on the heels of the firing, we were audited. They went back about 20 years in their audit. In those years after my grandfather's death (after 1986) and when my Grandmother took over there were rumored numerous thefts by employees.It is important to note that since that time, there have been no missing firearms. All of the current findings have been for perceived paperwork glitches.
We still have a surveillance video tape in the back of [a former employee]* stealing from the cash register. Anyway they initially counted 25 missing firearms that had not been properly logged out of the A&D (Acquisition/ Disposition) Book. We were able to resolve 13 of them but the other 12 we were finally forced to declare as lost and report them to the Police Department.
On Wednesday June 6, 2007; the BATFE has submitted a letter to Judge Edward Lodge requesting the termination of the preliminary injunction that was granted to Red’s Trading Post on April 30th by Judge Lodge.
As predicted the ATF is asking for a termination of our injunction, this would prohibit us from buying or selling ANY GUNS!
This is who the City of Los Angeles gave $1.5 million to, for the purpose of fighting "gun crime.
There were two suspects in a white sedan who apparently fired the shots. They were driving alongside the victim's car on Martin Luther King Drive. They fired at least 10 rounds, police say, into the car with a high-powered handgun.
DC: Ryan, a possible tack to mention to your attorney the next time you
speak:
Other industries subject to govt regulation have clear audit expectations and clear guidelines for the auditors to follow. In your case, this seems arbitrary and capricious--especially reporting you to the judge instead of just noting on their form they want something in alpha order and making sure you put things that way.
Are their audit standards and criteria in writing, along with clearly defined penalties for violations?
If not, a strong case could conceivably be made the rules are too vague to enforce and they are singling you out on things they give others a pass on--can they demonstrate they have required the same black and white criteria from everyone else? If not, this is subjective and you're not being afforded equality under the law.
Another question: are ALL of their audit procedures, forms and checklists available to you, so you can use them to ensure compliance?-------------------------
RH: The problem is that when the Judge wrote the injunction, he had stated: "The Court finds that the continued oversight by the ATF via the above conditions will adequately address the need to protect the public safety. However, if these terms prove to be unworkable to the parties, the Court would be willing to entertain a joint stipulation addressing procedures for oversight during the pendency of judicial review. If the parties do not submit a joint stipulation, the terms the Court has outlined herein shall be binding. The Court urges Red’s to be vigilant and meticulous in complying with these terms, as failure to do so will result in a termination of the injunction. If this occurs, the revocation of Red’s license will become effective immediately and Red’s will no longer be able to engage in any firearms activity for which a valid license is required, including selling any remaining firearms in inventory during the pendency of the judicial review."
So that is why they were digging so hard, so to shut us down entirely. The problem is that until the Court Process...anything goes. Because DIO Van Loan uses his "When justice so requires" statement, which means he makes up the rules until the Judge rules otherwise.
There are no audit procedures, there are former ATF agents that will teach seminars (for profit of course) and tell you what they will look for GENERALLY! They will constantly send you to "the books" for all of the answers, when you question where they came up with it. At this point they are not trying to win the case they are trying to bankrupt us.
They wouldn't let you have a checklist, we have asked for this before or some guidance as to what they were looking for. In fact in the 2005 audit, the Agent used the same switch the ATF advised in a recent seminar. Dealers were getting used to the "Y" or "N" and other petty traps they were using so they started using the Poster, Pamphlet and Free trigger lock violations.
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I've forwarded your e-mail to the staffer who handles these claims with a note to follow up immediately.
Prosecutors in Palm Beach County are taking steps to join other South Florida counties in forcing people charged with violent crimes to surrender their concealed weapon licenses...Miami-Dade County prosecutors announced last week, as did Broward on Tuesday, that they are filing motions with the courts to require that people charged with felonies and violent misdemeanors give up their licenses to carry guns.
