Coming Soon to a Gun Store Near You!!

Ronald Wilson Reagan once said the nine most terrifying words in the English language were "We're from the Government, and we're here to help."

Red's Trading Post in Idaho is continuing to find this out the hard way.

For those of you not paying attention, Red's is the oldest firearms dealer in the state of Idaho. They have sold tens of thousands of guns over the last 80 plus years in business. And due to more 'Help' from the Federal Government, they're about to lose their livelihood.

After undergoing audits by the BATFE starting back in 2000, Red's was alternately given a 'fix-it' list of minor paperwork errors to fix and then a clean bill of health. Then an additional audit in 2007, discovered some clerical errors on the 4473 forms that Red's is required by law to keep on file. Out of 10,000 forms, the ATF found clerical errors in .4% of all forms filed.

Yes, i said .4%

We only wish that our Government had a success record like that in their paperwork practices. But with these errors in hand, the ATF had decided that Red's FFL should be revoked because they posed a 'danger to society'.

Now this story goes on and on. You can find the entire story on Red's website so I am not going to rehash the whole thing. But I will tell the part that I find most chilling.

At some point in the proceedings with the ATF Red's owner/manager Ryan Horsley decided that he had had enough. He had tried to jump through every hoop the ATF had installed. Tried to be nice and keep quiet in order to keep them from getting angry with him. But it suddenly it seemed that the end was in sight, and Ryan decided not to go down without a fight.

So he fought back.

He tried to hook up with the NRA, who continue to be fairly unhelpful when dealing with the ATF, in my opinion. The he got ahold of the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership. And he got to see the real face behind the BATFE.

You see, JPFO was producing a movie called 'The Gang'. A scathing expose on the practices and deeds of the BATFE since its inception. Ryan was able to be get in contact with JPFO and tell his story. This got some national attention on Red's situation. It also got attention from the ATF. After a nationally broadcast interview in May about his problems, the ATF sent 3 agents to Red's to 'find anything that they could'. These were the words of the supervisory agent from Spokane Linda Young.

Then last week, once the movie was released, Ryan decided to spread the word in his community by holding a free screening at the local movie theater. They had a packed house and a stunned audience when the final credits had rolled. It also generated more press coverage. And then this morning I talk to Ryan and find out that Agent Young showed up this morning with 2 other agents, going through all of his records again. Trying to find SOMETHING! Another fishing expedition, by bureaucrats who want nothing more than to keep their jobs and take away everyone's gun rights on top of it.

So keep Ryan and all the folks at Red's Trading Post in your prayers. And maybe even buy a gun or accessories from them as well.

Just make sure you tell them: "We're Freedom Loving Americans and we're here to help"