ATF Requests Records Of Gun Owners In Alaska

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) agents have been visiting gun shops in Alaska and asking for records of firearms sales, stoking fears that the federal agency is building a list of gun owners in the state.

According to the Alaska Dispatch, earlier this year two gun shops in Alaska “reported that ATF agents had asked for their books, and both turned down the requests. The one shop that went on the record, Great Northern Guns in Anchorage, said the ATF agent asked politely for the books, and when store manager Frank Caiazza refused, the agent just as politely accepted the refusal.”

It is illegal for the ATF to remove any material from a gun shop unless it is part of a criminal investigation. The requests for records have lead some to question whether the “ATF will create some sort of list or database of gun owners,” states the report.

Alaska Rep. Don Young requested a meeting with ATF officials after receiving reports that ATF agents were visiting gun shops and asking to see record books.

During the meeting with Young, which took place last week, ATF Deputy Director Tom Brandon attempted to assure him that the, “ATF has never maintained a database of lawful firearms owners; is not permitted by law to create and maintain such a database; and has no intention whatsoever of collecting any information for such a database.”

Read More at prisonplanet.com. By Paul Joseph Watson.