20 ‘heavily armed’ agents seized thousands of documents containing personal information on his customers
GREAT FALLS, Mont.—A gun shop in Great Falls, Montana, is back up and running after 20 heavily armed IRS agents raided and searched the business on June 14, seizing thousands of documents containing private customer information.
Highwood Creek Outfitters owner Tom Van Hoose said agents of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) showed up carrying semi-automatic rifles and dressed in full tactical gear when he arrived to open the store at 7:30 a.m.
Van Hoose said he was just as perplexed by the federal search warrant stating he was under financial investigation by the IRS-CI.
“They somehow think a small mom-and-pop gun shop makes enough money to justify 20 heavily armed agents,” Van Hoose said.
“There is no justification for what happened.”
During the 10-hour search, Van Hoose said the agents confiscated documents, including financial records and over 12,000 individual firearms transactions representing 13 years in business.
He said those records filled more than 20 boxes at 600 records in each box and comprised “90 percent” of the documents seized.
Whenever a person purchases a firearm, they must fill out a Firearms Transaction Record, ATF Form 4473, which contains the buyer’s name, address, vital information, and photo ID.
Unlike “box store” gun retailers, small firearms dealers like Highwood Creek Outfitters maintain custody of the 4473 forms on paper for the life of the business, Van Hoose said.
“The IRS has no reason to have those records. They’re not financial records,” Van Hoose told The Epoch Times.
“Nobody else can look at that information. They don’t see the light of day unless something criminal happens with the firearm. That’s the only time we must disclose who owns that firearm.”
Under Surveillance
Van Hoose said two years ago, an FBI agent began surveilling his gun store, taking photographs outside, although he didn’t know who it was then.
“We thought somebody was casing our shop to rob it,” he said.
Van Hoose called local police, who instructed the agent to show his identification or “go downtown.”
“Nobody knew this guy,” said Van Hoose, who found out later his business was on a Department of Homeland Security domestic terrorism watchlist.
“We don’t know why,” he said. “The level of harassment just continues to grow.”
“We sell guns most of your box stores won’t sell. We have an indoor range. So, I guess because we sell the ‘scary’ guns from the liberal perspective, we got on the radar.”
“If you want a legal gun, we will procure it for you. We do everything legally. We record everything legally.”
By Allan Stein
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