OAN’s Roy Francis
10:05 AM – Saturday, June 17, 2023
Armed Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive (ATF) agents raided a gun store in Great Falls, Montana seizing all forms that hold buyer’s information during firearm transactions.
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According to the Gateway Pundit, the owner of the Highwood Creek Outfitters, Tom Van Hoose, alleged that he has been under surveillance by federal agents for over two years. On Wednesday, 20 heavily armed IRS agents raided his store seizing all Form 4473s in the store.
The agents had arrived early Wednesday morning as Hoose was opening for the day.
“We have now confirmed that both the IRS and the ATF were at Highwood Creek Outfitters in Great Falls around 7 am this morning. Both the IRS and ATF would not say why they were there,” KMON Radio reported. “A spokeswoman for the IRS would only say they were there on official IRS business. The ATF says it was providing assistance to the IRS. We attempted to enter the store today and were stopped by agents at the door who would only say that the gun store is closed and will reopen tomorrow.”
The owner claims that he was told that his business had been “reported,” however no further details were provided to him. He said that he believed the incident was “politically motivated.”
“I can only assume that it’s because of the style of weapons that we have and the press that’s so against them,” he said. “The current administration seems to be hell bent on getting those guns out of the hands of average Americans.”
The shop’s operations were halted for the majority of the day as agents conducted their searches and seized the documents.
“I had about 30 minutes to operate, making just a single $16 sale,” Hoose said.
The Montana Department of Justice claimed that it had no involvement in the incident, however, an IRS spokesperson said that they had been present at the gun store.
Congressman Matt Rosendale (R-Mont.) expressed his concern over the actions of the federal agencies, saying that this is another example of the Biden regime’s “weaponization of federal agencies against hardworking Americans.”
“I’m incredibly disturbed by initial reports that the IRS and ATF closed Highwood Creek Outfitters without any warning today,” Rosendale said in a statement. “This is yet another example of the Biden Administration weaponizing federal agencies to target and harass hardworking Americans. We cannot allow Biden to continue expanding these agencies to infringe on our liberties.”
On Friday, the Congressman said that he had sent a letter to ATF director Steven Dettelbach and IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel demanding answers.
“The weaponization of our government must be STOPPED, which is why I sent a letter to ATF Director Dettelbach and IRS Commissioner Werfel demanding answers about this outrageous attack and have used every tool available to me to remove funding for the 87,000 additional IRS agents!” Rosendale said.
According to its website, Highwood Creek Outfitters is “America’s largest online firearms and accessories mall.”
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