Happiness is in the title. ATF Loses at trial. ATF should be abolished.
An Alaskan jury acquitted a man accused by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) of running a gun store without a federal firearms license (FFL).
Aaron Horwat owned Gator Guns Inc. in Kenai, Alaska, since 1982. During a routine ATF compliance inspection by an industry operations inspector (IOI) of the store, a government employee uncovered 321 missing firearms. Mr. Horwat claimed that the guns were not missing. He chalked it up to multiple clerical paperwork errors. The ATF didn’t buy the man’s excuse. They took further action and revoked the Alaskan man’s FFL in 2019, shutting down the store after almost 40 years in business.
All remaining firearms from the store were transferred to Mr. Horwat’s personal gun collection. The man would then start to sell off the guns through private sales. A concerned citizen would contact the ATF and tell them that the gun store was still open and selling firearms to the general public without running background checks. Under Alaskan law, private firearm sales do not require the seller to run a background check on the buyer. Starting in December of 2022, the ATF would send in undercover agents to purchase firearms from Horwat. The Bureau would make three control buys. In the summer of 2023, the ATF would arrest the Kenai man and charge him with dealing firearms without a license. The ATF claimed that he sold hundreds of guns illegally.
By John Crump
