{"id":2024881,"date":"2023-09-07T16:38:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:38:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-gaetz-accuses-atf-of-retaliating-against-florida-congressional-whistleblower\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:38:31","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:38:31","slug":"matt-gaetz-accuses-atf-of-retaliating-against-florida-congressional-whistleblower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/matt-gaetz-accuses-atf-of-retaliating-against-florida-congressional-whistleblower\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Gaetz claims ATF retaliated against Florida whistleblower."},"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\">16<\/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%2Fmatt-gaetz-accuses-atf-of-retaliating-against-florida-congressional-whistleblower%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=2024881&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--><h2>Rep. Matt\u2062 Gaetz Accuses ATF of Retaliating Against Whistleblower<\/h2>\n<p>Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) has made serious allegations\u2063 against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, \u200bFirearms, and Explosives (ATF), claiming that they are retaliating against\u2062 a whistleblower who\u2063 testified before Congress. In\u2062 a letter addressed to ATF Director \u2062Steve Dettelbach,\u2064 Gaetz expressed his concerns and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/broward-county-school-board-member-admits-she-was-intimidated-into-covering-up-safety-failures-that-contributed-to-marjory-stoneman-douglas-massacre\/\" title=\"Broward County School Board Member Admits She Was \u2018Intimidated\u2019 Into Covering Up Safety Failures That Contributed To Marjory Stoneman Douglas Massacre\">demanded answers<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>Harassment of Chris Smith<\/h3>\n<p>Gaetz specifically mentioned Chris Smith, \u2062a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/new-dc-gun-dealer-sees-business-boom-after-overcoming-city-roadblocks\/\" title=\"New DC Gun Dealer Sees Business Boom After Overcoming City Roadblocks\u00a0\">federal firearms licensee<\/a> and one of Gaetz&#8217;s constituents,\u2062 who testified \u200dabout\u2062 ATF mistreatment during a congressional hearing in June. According to Gaetz, ATF agents have been aggressively targeting and harassing Smith ever since.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;After Chris&#8217; testimony at my Field Hearing on \u200dthe Weaponization of\u2063 the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,\u2063 ATF agents\u200d showed \u200dup at his business unprompted \u200cto inspect a manufacturer&#8217;s \u2063license he has held for only six months: Given Chris has not yet used the license, the agents had nothing to inspect and had no\u200b choice but to leave,&#8221; Gaetz wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Gaetz further \u200bpointed out \u200dthat\u200c the ATF had already audited Smith&#8217;s retail license within the past year. Since the ATF is prohibited\u2063 from auditing the same business twice in one year, Gaetz\u200d argued\u200d that the only reason for\u2062 the continued harassment was\u200d to\u2062 audit Smith&#8217;s new, unused manufacturer&#8217;s license.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;The local ATF \u200cagent admitted that he had no records Chris was using the license, but nevertheless received a \u2064direct order to audit Chris&#8217; new license,&#8221;\u200c Gaetz \u2064added, \u2064citing the Firearm Owners&#8217; Protection Act\u200b of 1986, which \u2063limits ATF inspections to once a year with reasonable cause or a warrant.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Additionally, \u2063Gaetz accused the ATF agents of &#8220;stalking&#8221; Smith\u2062 and his business, highlighting an incident involving Christian O&#8217;Brien, Smith&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/target-whose-stores-were-ravaged-in-blm-riots-will-spend-over-2-billion-with-black-owned-businesses\/\" title=\"Target, Whose Stores Were Ravaged In BLM Riots, Will Spend Over  Billion With Black-Owned Businesses\">store manager<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>&#8220;In addition to this violation\u200c of \u2063federal law,\u200c the \u200bATF showed up \u2062uninvited to the home \u2063of \u200dChristian O&#8217;Brien, Chris&#8217; store\u2064 manager, without making an \u2064appointment, as he does\u2063 not \u200bhave business hours,&#8221; Gaetz wrote. &#8220;Christian does not sell any firearms \u2062or perform any business on behalf of Gulf Coast Gun. Christian was\u2062 not home at the time, so the \u2063agents called him \u2064and told him: &#8216;Don&#8217;t worry, we know where you \u2062work.&#8217; This kind of stalking is unwarranted and creepy.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<h3>Seeking Answers<\/h3>\n<p>Concluding his letter, Gaetz\u200c demanded \u200dthat \u2064Director Dettelbach provide explanations \u200dfor the agents&#8217; behavior by answering a list of questions. Gaetz aims to uncover the reasoning \u200dbehind the alleged retaliation and harassment.<\/p>\n<p>It\u200c remains to \u2063be seen how the\u200d ATF will respond to these serious\u200b accusations\u200c made\u2062 by Rep. Matt Gaetz.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\">CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM\u2064 THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) alleged that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) retaliated against a whistleblower who testified before Congress. Gaetz wrote to ATF Director Steve Dettelbach, accusing the agency of targeting and harassing Chris Smith, a federal firearms licensee from Gulf Coast Gun, on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2024882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2024881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"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\/2024881","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=2024881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2024881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2024882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2024881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2024881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2024881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}