Looking at the Impact of Biden and ATF’s ‘Zero Tolerance’ Policy for FFLs

During the Biden administration, POTATUS said he was going after “rogue gun dealers.” This was a popular enough bit that people really loved to hear. Why wouldn’t they? Rogue gun dealers? I mean, that sounds ominous. It suggests people more akin to Nicholas Cage in Lord of War than Bubba at your local sporting goods store.

Only that’s not what was happening. Those actual rogues are still going strong, unaffected by the ATF’s rules. Instead, it was a “zero tolerance” policy that punished good-faith mistakes as if they were the same as someone selling machine guns out the back of the store to Cub Scouts.

But while we heard stories about what was happening, we need to understand the scope of what transpired.

And a recent report highlighted just how nasty things got.

A new report from the National Shooting Sports shows just how devastating President Joe Biden’s “zero tolerance” police was for America’s gun retailers.

According to the report, the ATF recently released updated data on inspections, warning letters, and revocations of Federal Firearms Licenses (FFLs). These are the typical actions taken after ATF visits an FFL for an inspection.

“Typically, and prior to the Biden administration’s crushing policy, minor clerical errors, such as transposing a serial number or missing a date on an ATF Form 4473, were treated as such—minor—and corrected with no serious penalty or consequence,” the report stated. “They were annotated for corrective action with ATF inspectors instructing firearm retailers on how to stay within regulations and laws. These are not ‘willful violations,’ nefarious retailer behavior or actions of blatantly breaking the law or putting public safety at risk.”

As part of its war on gun sellers, the Biden administration changed the way errors were handled with its “zero tolerance” policy, revoking some licenses for minor clerical errors and forcing some FFLs to give up their license to avoid prosecution.

According to the NSSF report, 195 FFL licenses were revoked in 2024, nearly 25% more than the 157 revocations the previous year. In contrast, ATF revoked 88 licenses in 2022 and only five in the last six months of 2021.

Of course, that policy has been ended under the Trump administration, thankfully, but let’s think about each of these for a moment. Most of them were held by individuals who worked for or owned small, mom-and-pop gun stores. These were small businesses that were effectively put out of business over things like paperwork errors or misunderstandings as to just when the three-day waiting period for a delayed NICS check actually started.

They weren’t “rogue gun dealers” any more than someone who didn’t see the light turn red as they crossed the intersection is a rogue driver.

This was people’s livelihoods. People lost jobs and businesses because of this. They had no choice or else they risked losing their freedom over it. That’s a place no one should be at for a minor mistake.

Let’s also understand something. The pattern here is clear. As more inspectors found what they could get away with, they started revoking licenses for more and more stores. In time, everyone makes a mistake, and these guys were going to find it and strip people of their FFLs just because they could.

Had it not been for the policy ending, your locally owned gun store would have been what ended.

And that’s if it stopped there.