Gun Shop Owner Takes On ATF

Our Western Shooting and Northwest Sportsman correspondent, Dave Workman, tackles an issue involving a San Diego-area gun shop obtaining a temporary restraining order against Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Here’s some of Workman’s column:

The shop, Ares Armor, is seeking a preliminary injunction against the agency and has also filed a complaint for deprivation of civil rights, naming ATF Director B. Todd Jones as a defendant.

District Court Judge Janis L. Sammartino issued the order allowing ATF to oppose the Ares motion by today, and is then allowing Ares to respond by next Monday at 9 a.m. The judge also set a 1:30 p.m. preliminary injunction hearing next Thursday.

At issue, according to Fox 5 News, are allegations that Ares has sold thousands of “80 percent” lower receivers with which people may build their own AR-type rifles. As noted by the news agency, “It is legal to build a rifle from scratch without serial numbers only if the base is manufactured to ATF specifications.” The ATF wants the names of those clients and Ares does not want to give them those names.