The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives appears to be showing the direction it will take under its newly appointed director, Steve Dettelbach, by having agents appear at the home of a legal gun owner in Delaware to demand the serial numbers from his weapons, Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Mont., told Newsmax on Thursday.
"The gentleman bought some firearms, and apparently, it clicked off an alert within the ATF because he might have bought more than one firearm within a stipulated period of time that they track," Rosendale told "Wake Up America." "Several ATF agents in body armor showed up at his house and asked him to produce his weapons and the serial numbers that they had."
In the video, shared on Twitter by Frankie Stockes of the National File, the agents involved were trying to determine that no straw purchases had been made when the homeowner bought more than one weapon, The Daily Caller reported.
Straw purchases take place when a person buys a gun for another person.
"This kind of activity without a warrant, without any crime being allegedly committed is very disturbing to me and the residents of Montana," Rosendale said. "I will tell you if someone dressed in full body armor shows up at your front door without any type of warrant and you have not committed any crime, the people of Montana are not going to comply with this type of activity."
The incident in Delaware took place July 12, the day Dettelbach was confirmed by the Senate, according to reports. The new chief was sworn in July 13.
Rosendale said he sees the timing as "evidence that this is the kind of activity that we can expect out of this director."
"These are the kinds of things that a lot of people were sounding alarms about when you put these radicals in charge of these departments under the Biden administration," Rosendale said. "I can only imagine that if people showed up at your front door in body armor and weapons and started demanding things, it would raise the concern of everyone.
"Any reasonable person would be intimidated by that, and for citizens of the United States to be intimidated by their own government, it is a big problem. You shouldn't be afraid that agents are going to bang down your door if you own guns legally, especially in this country."
Rosendale on Thursday also discussed the slight dip that has happened in the nation's gas prices, saying he does not know why the Biden administration is celebrating.
"The gas prices are exceedingly higher than they were when the Biden administration took office," he said, adding that eight pieces of legislation have been introduced in the House Natural Resources Committee to increase the production of domestic oil and gas.
"For President Biden to start celebrating because the gas prices came down by 40 or 50 cents a gallon when they're still about $2 a gallon more than they had been when he took office, again, this is why I also just signed a letter to have the president take a cognitive test to see exactly what he does and does not understand."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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