How gun dealers with serious past violations got licenses back under Trump
Gun Dealers with Major Violations Regain Licenses Under New Administration
Goldlaner.com – Facebook raffles offering exciting prizes like PlayStations, basketball tickets, and firearms from neighborhood shops caught the attention of law enforcement. What authorities uncovered was surprising: the organizer of these contests lacked a proper firearms license and was, in fact, a convicted felon. When ATF agents investigated further, the man claimed the shop owner who supplied the guns was aware of his criminal history and assisted him regardless. That shop owner, however, rejected this assertion.
ATF investigators examined financial records at The Outdoorsman’s Attic, located in Sheridan, Colorado. They discovered the proprietor had altered documentation to conceal the felon’s involvement in the business. Based on these violations alongside numerous additional infractions, the ATF removed the shop’s license during the Biden administration approximately two years prior. Today, under President Donald Trump, the establishment operates once more.
A Broader Shift in Gun Regulation
The Outdoorsman’s Attic represents just one example of a larger trend. According to a CNN investigation, nearly twelve establishments that experienced license revocations under Biden have now been permitted to resume firearm sales under Trump. The current administration has implemented a more lenient stance toward gun regulation, notably terminating the Biden-era “zero-tolerance” framework designed to penalize the most problematic dealers.
In at least five separate situations, the Trump administration’s Department of Justice dismissed legal challenges brought by gun shops contesting their Biden-era license revocations. This allowed those businesses to return to selling firearms. The ATF verified that it extended invitations to dealers who had lost licenses under Biden to submit new applications, ultimately approving at least twenty-three additional shops. The agency chose not to publicly name these specific retailers.
Several of the businesses receiving fresh licenses under Trump had previously been identified for significant compliance failures. ATF documentation reviewed by CNN indicates that two establishments received multiple warning letters noting that at least twenty-five firearms they sold appeared at crime scenes within a single year. Those warning letters documented that a minimum of 175 crime-related guns were recovered from those two locations between 2021 and 2024.
Former Officials Express Concern
Some former ATF leadership members have voiced particular worry about these businesses regaining their licenses. They emphasize that establishments failing to conduct proper background checks or selling to straw buyers contribute disproportionately to violent crime nationwide.
“We were laser focused on inspecting the gun stores that were the source of crime guns,” said Marianna Mitchem, who directed the inspection division before departing the ATF in May 2025. She currently serves as an adviser for Everytown, an organization advocating for gun violence prevention.
Mitchem highlighted that straw buyers and unlicensed operators represent the primary channels through which traffickers obtain firearms illegally. She added, “The bottom line is, ATF isn’t focused on firearms trafficking anymore… and it’s very sad, because our citizens, our communities, are going to pay the price for this.”
ATF chief counsel Robert Leider pushed back against claims that oversight has diminished. “We are taking corrupt dealers very seriously and we are bringing serious charges when we find them,” he explained to CNN. “We are taking straw buyers very seriously. The difference is that this administration does not see any tension between fighting violent crime and reducing restrictions on law-abiding citizens.”
Leider noted that for dealers whose licenses were withdrawn under previous policies, the agency conducted both legal and factual reviews. He acknowledged that some reapplications involved technical infractions rather than the severe violations that gun control supporters have emphasized.
Dealers Feel They Were Unfairly Targeted
The Outdoorsman’s Attic declined to provide comment on the situation. Meanwhile, other retailers that recovered their licenses argued they faced disproportionate scrutiny under Biden’s approach.
“We were not giving out guns to people that … should not have them or purposely like not running background checks just to get a sale done,” stated Will Boswell, proprietor of The Tactical Edge in Tennessee. The shop lost its license in 2023 and successfully reapplied under Trump last fall. “We’ve never done anything like that. We will never do anything like that. But the way that the ATF portrayed that and spoke to us, it made us feel like criminals.”
Since Trump resumed his presidency last year, the White House has substantially decreased the number of ATF inspectors while simultaneously limiting their power to suggest license revocations for federal gun law violations. Additionally, the agency has diminished transparency in its enforcement activities by eliminating certain firearms-license inspection reports from public access.
