A lot of folks really don't like buying guns from gun stores. They do it, of course, because that's where most of the guns are, but they don't like it. Why? Because the government then knows who has guns, which is handy information to have when you want to confiscate firearms.
But as bad as some of that is, it seems there's a bigger problem. The ATF is tracking lawful gun purchases.
🚨BREAKING🚨
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) April 2, 2025
ATF & FBI are spying on Californians’ out-of-state gun purchases to enforce CA’s unconstitutional “assault weapons” ban.
FOIA docs obtained by GOA expose how far the government will go to violate your rights. We’ll keep fighting to abolish this tyrannical system. pic.twitter.com/4WTh2k9VyE
Over at our sister site, Hot Air, Mitch Berg shared a bit that I found both interesting and disturbing.
But there doesn't seem to be much criminal-monitoring going on:
One instance highlighted the ATF monitoring a man that the Bureau feared might be buying guns to use during the riots of the summer of 2020. The target purchased a shotgun, which the ATF used as the reason for the monitoring of all his future firearm purchases. Using a lawful purchase to justify monitoring someone’s constitutionally protected activity is disturbing to many in the gun community.
The ATF also monitors people who spend more on guns than the Bureau thinks they should. The Bureau would monitor someone who spends beyond their means on firearms. Yet, people often spend beyond their means on other things, such as cars. The ATF doesn’t provide the percentage of a person’s income it considers to be excessive, but the fact is that many Americans live beyond their means and that is one of the reasons many struggle with debt. It might be more logical to assume that someone is not good with money before jumping to the conclusion that they are involved in something illicit.
Now, the ATF has hinted at such a program before, and while they couldn't release documents at the time because of the courts, the fact that the ATF was responding the way they were was enough for me to believe that they were, in fact, tracking lawful gun sales beyond the normal paperwork. I did a video on YouTube about it.
We now know for certain what is happening, and it's troubling as hell.
Using a lawful sale during a troubled time to monitor someone is wrong on every level. Monitoring people who spend more on guns than they believe is acceptable is wrong on every level.
This is a constitutionally protected right. We have a right to keep and bear arms. The courts have acknowledged that, implicit in that right, is the right to purchase firearms.
It might be one thing if they were alerted to someone from California going to another state to try and buy a gun illegal in their home state, and started monitoring them then. That's someone trying to carry out an illegal act, even if California's gun control laws are blatantly unconstitutional, which they are. That would make it different, though, and I wouldn't really blink at it beyond the issue with California itself.
But this example is a dude who bought a shotgun. You know, one of those "sporting" guns that they promise they're not interested in going after?
Yeah, his purchase during a rough time in the recent past was enough for the ATF to decide to monitor him.
Years ago, I was working a temp job with a few other guys, all temps. We went on permanent with the company that we were working with and that came with a substantial bump in pay. A buddy of mine, another gun guy, went wild. He had a low cost of living, was single, and could do whatever he wanted, so he bought guns. A lot of them. He bought all the things he could never have afforded before.
I can't help but wonder how closely he was monitored after that.
Who knows. The line of "too much" is something that the ATF determines on its own, apparently, which means it could be something like $50,000 in a month or it could be much, much lower. It doesn't matter, though, because unless the act is illegal, there's no reason to monitor jack squat.
It's well past time for this rogue agency to be reined in.
