Though the agency itself has stated that inclusion in the program is not an indication of wrongdoing on the part of FFLs, noting that "a number of factors, including geography, sales volume, secondary market transfers by an original lawful purchaser, and the level of sophistication of firearm traffickers, may be involved in a traced crime gun,” the gun control lobby and their allies in the media and politics have used the release of this information to name-and-shame FFLs on the list; accusing them of being "the suppliers of America's gun violence epidemic." 

Now a group of anti-gun congresscritters are abusing the Demand 2 program to target the FFL's on the list. California Senator Alex Padilla and Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland have introduced legislation prohibiting retailers that are a part of Demand 2 from selling firearms to federal agencies. 

“Far too often, lucrative federal contracts are inexplicably awarded to firearm dealers who have been linked to dangerous crime,” said Senator Padilla. “Our commonsense legislation aims to combat senseless, preventable gun violence by ensuring that gun dealers follow responsible business practices to keep guns from falling into the wrong hands.”

“With gun violence continuing to ravage America’s social contract and terrorize our communities, it is incumbent on Congress to act swiftly to pass common-sense gun safety policy like our Clean Hands Firearm Procurement Act,” said Representative Raskin. “The federal government should not be giving lucrative federal contracts to the bad-apple gun dealers who are consistently selling firearms to people who use them in violent crimes or transfer them to people who use them in violent crimes. I’m immensely grateful to Senator Padilla for his great leadership on public safety and partnership in this vital effort.”

Again, not even the ATF itself says that those FFLs on the Demand 2 list are "bad apples". If there was evidence that these retailers were breaking the law or knowingly facilitating the trafficking of firearms, the agency would move to revoke their licenses. 

The D.C. police department was among those FFLs on the Demand 2 list in 2022, because at the time they were the only FFL conducting transfers in the District. According to Raskin and Padilla, that must mean that the Metropolitan Police Department wasn't following "responsible business practices", and instead was responsible for arming up criminals.

In reality, even if a firearm is lawfully sold but is stolen from its legitimate owner months later, the ATF still counts that as a "crime gun" as far as the Demand 2 program is concerned. But most people aren't aware of that, which is exactly what the anti-gunners want. Ignorance isn't just bliss for the gun control lobby, it's an inherent part of their strategy to restrict the right to keep and bear arms. 

In fact, some "crime guns" have no connection to a crime at all. Eric Delbert, an Ohio law enforcement officer and co-founder of L.E.P.D. Firearms & Range in Columbus, Ohio, was informed that L.E.P.D. was put on the Demand 2 list last year, and back in March was contacted by a reporter with the Columbus Dispatch who wanted to know why the store "is selling so many guns to criminals." Delbert told Bearing Arms that he investigated the sale of the 30 "crime guns" that had been traced back to his store, and found that some of those guns were never associated with a criminal offense.

"Their definition of a 'crime gun', and I'm going to read it verbatim from their email, is 'any firearm that is illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected by law enforcement of being used in a crime'", Delbert relayed. 

Yet Delbert was able to determine that at least one of the "crime guns" traced back to L.E.P.D. came from a collection that had been voluntarily and temporarily turned over to the Columbus police by someone who was going through a divorce and wanted to ensure his guns were safely secured during the process. When he asked for his guns back, one or more were traced. 

Even though the Columbus P.D. police report states that the subject of the trace request was "recovered firearm" and explicitly mentions that there was no crime involved in the trace, those firearms magically became a part of the "crime guns" that were cause for ATF scrutiny. Delbert says he determined that least three other guns traced back to L.E.P.D. had been stolen from their owners' vehicles and two others had been taken as part of drunk driving investigations. Those aren't "crime guns", at least as most of us think of the term, but they were still included in the ATF's determination that L.E.P.D. should be put under closer supervision. 

"I started talking to my ATF friends and asking them why are we seeing this listed that way, and they said there's been a push in the last couple of years to the agencies to run or to trace any firearm that's in their possession," Delbert relayed. 

 "So, for instance, I roll up to an accident scene," Delbert elaborated. "The driver is a concealed carry holder and is transported for medical reasons to the hospital. They have their concealed carry gun in the glovebox. As a law enforcement officer, I'm going to hold that for safekeeping, and now in this scenario ATF wants my agency to trace that firearm." 

As Delbert said, abusing the firearm tracing system like this actually makes it harder to identify gun trafficking networks. But it does make it easier for anti-gun politicians like Padilla and Raskin to smear FFLs as "bad apples" who are intentionally arming criminals and to punish them without any evidence of wrongdoing, and as we know, the anti-gunners love to blame lawful gun owners (and sellers) for the actions of criminals.