Video: Man Receives Warrantless ATF Visit For Purchasing ‘More Than Two Guns At A Time’

A Delaware man’s home security camera captured the moment two ATF agents and a Delaware State Police trooper showed up at his house to verify he still had possession of firearms he had recently purchased.

The homeowner provided footage of the incident to Armed American News (AAN), which published the videos on Monday.

When the officers arrived at the Delaware man’s door, he asked how he could help them and learned the trio was assigned to a task force investigating potential straw purchases.

A straw purchase is when a person knowingly buys a gun for an individual who is not allowed to obtain one.

The man being questioned by the federal agency told AAN he had bought seven guns since January 2022.

One agent told the citizen the ATF had to check on him because he purchased more than two firearms, adding, “You’ve done nothing wrong.”

“All I’m doing is verifying that you have it, you got two different purchases,” he said, pointing to a paper document apparently showing proof of purchase. “If you have them, I’m out of here. That’s how quick it is. Do you have them with you by any chance?”

When the homeowner told the three armed men his guns were in his safe, the lead ATF agent asked him to “unload them and bring them out.”

Continuing, the agent said, “There’s an email from the federal side saying, ‘Can you make sure this guy’s got his guns?’ If you recently purchased a whole bunch of guns, if we can look at them and just scratch them off.”

Another agent told the homeowner if he’d just let them check the serial numbers on his recently purchased guns, they wouldn’t have “to come back.”

According to the man who was hassled by the federal agency, he got one rifle out of his safe and let the officers inspect its serial number.

After asking if he had to get the rest of his weapons out of the safe, the agents told the man it wouldn’t be necessary and went on their way.

In retrospect, the homeowner feels he was bullied into giving his consent for the property search and is “embarrassed.”

“My neighbors saw the whole thing – guys in these police vests standing in my yard,” he explained. “I was really uncomfortable. I felt really confused, like I was in some way being accused of something even though I didn’t commit a crime. It was quite embarrassing. I knew they couldn’t come in, but I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to get put on some watch list. We just got new gun laws here. I didn’t want them coming back again. I felt like they were invading my privacy.”

According to AAN, “The only insight into ATF’s surprise home inspections was in a Washington Post story published July 22, 2021, in which Attorney General Merrick Garland announced that the Biden-Harris administration was targeting straw purchasers.”

The corrupt federal agency is disrespecting the U.S. Constitution by deliberately disobeying the Fourth Amendment’s stance against unwarranted searches and seizures.