{"id":1764787,"date":"2022-12-06T06:03:14","date_gmt":"2022-12-06T11:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1764787"},"modified":"2022-12-06T12:49:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-06T17:49:28","slug":"state-attorneys-general-say-fedex-and-ups-help-feds-track-gun-sales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/state-attorneys-general-say-fedex-and-ups-help-feds-track-gun-sales\/","title":{"rendered":"State Attorneys General Say FedEx and UPS Help Feds Track Gun Sales"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fstate-attorneys-general-say-fedex-and-ups-help-feds-track-gun-sales%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1764787&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>New shipping policies seen as attempt to &#8216;bypass warrant requirements&#8217; and create gun registry<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, together with 17 other state attorneys general, has demanded that shipping companies <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/t-ups\">UPS<\/a> and FedEx explain their newly implemented policies to track and record Americans\u2019 firearms purchases, and disclose whether these policies have been coordinated with the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>In letters sent on Nov. 29 to FedEx CEO Raj Subramaniam and UPS CEO Carol B. Tom\u00e9, Knudsen and co-signers wrote that the shipping companies\u2019 policies \u201callow your company to track firearm sales with unprecedented specificity and bypass warrant requirements to share that information with federal agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat both of these companies are saying is that they\u2019re doing this so they can better cooperate with law enforcement,\u201d Knudsen told The Epoch Times. \u201cThat\u2019s all fine and well, until you find out that that\u2019s a violation of federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Based on reports from gun stores, Knudsen\u2019s letter states, FedEx and UPS are now requiring Federal Firearms License holders (FFLs) to provide details of each shipment to the shipping companies, including the contents and recipient, allowing them \u201cto create a database of American gun purchasers and determine exactly what items they purchased.<\/p>\n<p>Citing the new policies, the letter states: \u201cPerhaps most concerning, your policies allegedly allow FedEx [and UPS] to \u2018comply with \u2026 requests from applicable law enforcement or other governmental authorities\u2019 even when those requests are \u2018inconsistent or contrary to any applicable law, rule, regulation, or order.\u2019 In doing so you\u2014perhaps inadvertently\u2014give federal agencies a workaround to federal law, which has long prevented federal agencies from using gun sales to create gun registries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe ATF is hoping they\u2019re not going to have a warrant problem,\u201d Knudsen said. \u201cThey could just go get this information from UPS and FedEx.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>FedEx and UPS\u2019s new gun-tracking policies follow on the heels of efforts by Visa, Mastercard, and American Express to also monitor purchases from gun stores, with the intention of handing this information over to federal law enforcement. The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits the federal government from conducting searches of U.S. citizens without a warrant and \u201cprobable cause\u201d that a crime was committed. Increasingly, however, banks, credit card companies, and now shipping companies are conducting those searches on the government\u2019s behalf.<\/p>\n<p>The letter demands that the shipping companies respond within 30 days, clarifying their policies and explaining whether or not they acted in coordination with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), or any other government agency. It also asks them to clarify a reported \u201cgag order\u201d under which they directed gun shops not to disclose the terms of this policy to the public.<\/p>\n<h3>Is There Possibly Collusion?<\/h3>\n<p>The two attorneys general letters to UPS and FedEx were virtually identical because the policies the two shipping companies implemented appear to be strikingly similar, raising the additional issue of possible collusion between companies that hold an oligopolistic position in shipping. Collusion in restraint of trade has long been illegal under U.S. antitrust laws, including the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s either collusion, they\u2019re working together, or what I suspect is, it\u2019s probably originating out of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, or the Biden administration,\u201d Knudsen said. His letter recommends that the shipping companies \u201cconsider taking actions to limit potential liability moving forward, including the immediate cessation of any existing warrantless information sharing with federal agencies about gun shipments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If the shipping companies don\u2019t answer his questions within 30 days, Knudsen said, \u201cI\u2019ll probably start with an actual formal civil investigative demand where we\u2019ll ask for some some documentation. That\u2019s short of a subpoena and an actual lawsuit,\u201d he said, \u201cbut, ultimately, if they don\u2019t want to cooperate, a lawsuit is where we\u2019re going to end up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to the letter, FedEx issued a statement to The Epoch Times that \u201cFedEx is aware of the letter from the state attorneys general. We are committed to the lawful and safe movement of regulated items through our network.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UPS responded that it \u201chas not bypassed any laws to provide customer information to the Biden administration or federal agencies related to the shipment of firearms. UPS will only provide information about our customers or shipments when required to do so by law, such as in response to a subpoena or a warrant.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>UPS added that it \u201cwill respond to the letter sent by several state attorneys general to answer their questions and clarify misinformation. UPS will continue to abide by all applicable laws in providing service for firearm shipments.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe policies set forth by FedEx and UPS are troubling to say the least,\u201d Mark Oliva, public affairs director of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, told The Epoch Times. \u201cThey carry with them serious risk of privacy concerns for law-abiding gun owners and Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen is correct to be wary of how this information is to be used.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe know that pressure was applied to these common carriers by antigun Democratic senators and the result was these new policies,\u201d Oliva said. \u201cIt does seem rather coincidental that the Biden administration and certain elected officials that have been frustrated in instituting extreme gun control measures are suddenly and curiously seeing big businesses doing exactly what they are not allowed to do by law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When Knudsen was asked why the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which is tasked with protecting consumers against corporate collusion, is taking no action against what appears to be a coordinated effort by the shipping companies to target the firearms industry, he said, \u201cI think there\u2019s probably pressure from the White House to not do that, which is why you\u2019re seeing AGs in states like Montana that have joined me to push back on this. If the federal government is not going to do their job, we\u2019ll step in and make them do it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Knudsen said gun shops are being targeted not only by credit card and shipping companies but by insurers as well.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m aware of a number of FFL brick-and-mortar gun shops, and also some retailers that are just middlemen in Montana, that have been denied property-casualty insurance on their business property simply because they\u2019re in the firearms industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div class=\"author_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"one_author_block round\">\n<div class=\"top_row\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/author-kevin-stocklin\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Kevin-Stocklin.jpg\" alt=\"Kevin Stocklin\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Follow<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Kevin Stocklin is a writer, film producer, and former investment banker. He wrote and produced &#8220;We All Fall Down: The American Mortgage Crisis,&#8221; a 2008 documentary on the collapse of the U.S. mortgage finance system.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New shipping policies seen as attempt to &#8216;bypass warrant requirements&#8217; and create gun registryMontana Attorney General Austin Knudsen, together with 17 other state attorneys general, has demanded that shipping companies<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1725342,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1764787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1764787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1725342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1764787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1764787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1764787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}