Oh, this is jolly:
In an unprecedented move, twenty armed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents carried out a raid on a gun store in Great Falls, Montana, seizing all Form 4473 – documents that record buyer’s information during firearms transactions.
“We have now confirmed that both the IRS and the ATF were at Highwood Creek Outfitters in Great Falls around 7 am this morning. Both the IRS and ATF would not say why they were there,” KMON Radio reported.
“A spokeswoman for the IRS would only say they were there on official IRS business. The ATF says it was providing assistance to the IRS. We attempted to enter the store today and were stopped by agents at the door who would only say that the gun store is closed and will reopen tomorrow,” the news outlet added.
Considering that this raid was conducted under the auspices of the fine folks at the IRS, one would question whether the agents needed to confiscate the 4473 forms — which, lest we forget, contain absolutely no financial information.
However, ’tis an ill wind that blows absolutely no good, and there’s this little snippet:
Highwood Creek Outfitters is America’s largest online firearms and accessories mall, according to its website. The store is known for selling what Van Hoose calls “fun guns,” including AR-15’s and AK-47s.
And they did all that despite my never having heard of them before. Sadly, I’m not in a position to give them any business at the moment, but if any of you are thinking of making an online purchase of a gunny nature, you might want to give HSO a look.
As for the Gummint thugs… [taking the Fifth here, Boss]
only reason I could see for the IRS to legitimately want those forms is to find out if people who claim to not be able to pay their taxes ARE able to buy new guns.
And that’s a really large stretch of the term “appropriate”.
I expect to see a great deal more of this type of harassment. You didn’t think they’re
hiring 80 some-thousand new agents just to fill up office space did you ??
IMHO – I think the ‘reason’ mentioned by jwenting is a feint, diversion, watch
the shiny object, whatever. They want the forms to continue building their
‘registrations list’ which they are LEGALLY NOT allowed to have.
They are going to have their conf….. cough cough registration list of owners,
addresses, etc if it hair lips hell and the law be damned !
They are doing this because they can and do get away with it. Period.
“…because they can and do get away with it.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRcfqpyuk9k