Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen spoke to Breitbart News Saturday morning and told us that armed IRS agents rolled into Great Falls’ Highwood Creek Outfitters Wednesday and seized dozens of boxes of ATF form 4473s, the background check form containing information on gun purchasers.
The agents hit the store prior to regular business hours, KRTV reported.
Store owner Tom Van Hoose said, “At 7:30, I came in and they pulled in behind me with 20 heavily armed agents.”
He said by the time all was said and done, the agents left him with about 30 minutes of time to do business so he lost virtually an entire business day.
Van Hoose believes his store is targeted because he sells guns the White House opposes: “I can only assume that it’s because of the style of weapons that we have and the press that’s so against them. The current administration seems to be hell-bent on getting those guns out of the hands of average Americans.”
The ATF form 4473 has a gun purchaser’s name, address, birthdate, state/city of birth, gender, social security number, and the serial number of any guns purchased in the store. The information is perfectly suited for use in a registry or registry database.
The danger of federal agents taking this information was not lost on AG Knudsen, who told Breitbart News, “I spoke with the shop owner who told me that 20 heavily armed IRS agents from multiple states in our region served a warrant before his business opened. They took dozens of boxes full of 4473s — more than a decade’s worth. This is extremely concerning because it seemingly exceeds the search warrant which limited the scope of the search to financial records. These aren’t financial records, they’re records of lawful firearm purchases. What the hell does the IRS need with 4473s? We know the ATF in Washington, DC is trying to scoop up as many of these purchase records as possible, and that’s what it looks like they’re trying to do here.”
Knudsen added, “There’s a clear and disturbing pattern developing of the Biden administration sending federal agents to harass American gun owners, shops, and manufacturers.”
He also noted that this harassment is happening while Biden is pushing to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), thereby opening up gun makers to lawsuits over the illegal use of firearms.
Knudsen said, “Biden wants to repeal PLCAA so they can shut down gun companies and coerce states to implement ‘red flag’ laws so firearms can be seized without due process. Now, they’re sending federal agents door-to-door in my state to intimidate people. There’s no question about it, this is the most anti-gun administration in the nation’s history.”
WATCH — AWR Hawkins: Universal Background Checks = Gun Registry
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio and a Turning Point USA Ambassador. He was a Visiting Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal in 2010, a speaker at the 2023 Western Conservative Summit, and he holds a Ph.D. in Military History, with a focus on the Vietnam War (brown water navy), U.S. Navy since Inception, the Civil War, and Early Modern Europe. Follow him on Instagram: @awr_hawkins. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.