CAMDEN COUNTY, Mo. — A standoff appears to be developing between Camden County officials and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The ATF has asked county staff for information about local licensed firearms dealers, and the county is refusing to comply.
In a press conference on Friday, Presiding Commissioner Ike Skelton announced the county was submitting a response to the ATF's inquiries. A defiant tone was univocal among the commissioners at the press conference. After Skelton read the letter and spoke briefly, 1st District Commissioner James Gohagan said the only comment he wished to make was, "I think the only thing the ATF’s good at really is murdering innocent dogs, and we don’t want you in Camden County, and I think we’ve made that pretty clear."
The county's letter to the ATF's request was indignant:
Amy M. Borkowski
ATF Senior Industry Operations Investigator
...
Mrs. Borkowski,
On or about Tuesday, April 4, 2023, the four e-mails you sent to our Planning and Zoning Department requesting information about citizens of Camden County and their zoning and licensing status were forwarded to me for review.
Under the Anti-Commandeering Doctrine, Camden County was the first county in Missouri, and possibly the country, to pass an ordinance prohibiting any county employee from assisting your unconstitutional agency in violating the rights of our citizens, God given, constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. As well, Missouri passed the Second Amendment Preservation Act having a $50,000.00 penalty for assisting the federal government in the enforcement of unconstitutional firearms infringements.
Therefore, I construe any attempt to receive information about our citizens pertaining to firearms as an attempt to coerce our employees to break Missouri law.
You may consider this letter as a response to your probe.
The letter was signed by Commissioners Ike Skelton, James Gohagan, and Don Williams, as well as County Attorney Jeff Green, County Treasurer Kendra Hicks, and County Sheriff Tony Helms.
It's the latest development in an increasingly troubled relationship.
In November of 2021, the ATF raided a gun shop in Camden County. The raid was the result of a sting operation, the shop owner told Lake Expo at the time: undercover ATF agents had slyly purchased firearms in a way that opened the door for federal charges, he said.
After the raid, Camden County Sheriff Tony Helps said he was "mad" about it, noting the ATF hadn't told his office anything about their plans. He said the lack of communication was the result of the Second Amendment Protection Act (SAPA), which prohibits local law enforcement from enforcing unconstitutional federal gun laws. Versions of such a law exist at the county level (as referenced in the county's letter to the ATF) as well as at the state level. Last month, a U.S. District Judge ruled Missouri's SAPA law was unconstitutional, but Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey plans to appeal that decision. Skelton said he considers the state law in effect until the appeals process is complete, plus the county still has its own SAPA law intact.
For Skelton, the issue is personal. His brother Jim is the owner of Skelton Tactical and was later indicted on 15 federal charges and placed on probation as a result of the sting operation and subsequent raid. In the days following the raid, Ike Skelton — not a commissioner at that time — stated publicly on KEYK radio that he considered the sting and raid to have been "entrapment." Skelton said the ATF agent lied on one of the required federal forms when purchasing the guns and the federal government is using that lie to prosecute his brother.
A year and a half after that raid on Skelton Tactical gun store, the Camden County Commission is making clear it no longer trusts the ATF.
At the County Commission meeting on Thursday, April 6, Presiding Commissioner Ike Skelton said the Biden administration has weaponized the ATF. "I believe it is their intent to revoke as many licenses as possible to squeeze them down to the large sellers such as Bass Pro, Academy Sports, things of this nature, so they can keep a very close eye on who is and who is not selling firearms," Skelton said, adding, "I think they want to squeeze the small business person out the best possible way they can."
John Ham, spokesman for the ATF’s Kansas City field division, told the Kansas City Star that the agency’s inquiries were routine and just part of its checking whether those gun shops were in compliance with local zoning laws, before it renews existing licenses or issues new ones.
At Friday's press conference, Skelton said the information the ATF sought was all publicly available anyways, so he did not believe the county's refusal to cooperate with the ATF would result in any individuals losing their federal firearms licenses.
Skelton said the whole issue was contextualized by the state and county's SAPA law: the commissioners believe county staffers' cooperation with the ATF's request would actually be illegal. He noted staff from the Planning and Zoning department had been the ones who received the ATF request, and he commended them for bringing the request to the commission's attention.
Skelton also pointed to a resurgence in enforcement of federal firearms laws nationwide. "They’re all unconstitutional, including the licensing process," he said.
Williams agreed with Skelton that the ATF request felt like fishing for a reason to cause trouble for firearms dealers. "This is another means for the government to try to coerce people into behavior that they deem acceptable," he said, adding, "We saw this same kind of thing with Covid."
Williams continued, "We swim in a sea of laws and regulations and ordinances... I’m sure every one of us violate a dozen laws every day without knowing it… I don’t think it’s fair to place gun dealers under closer scrutiny than anyone else, especially when you factor in the concept that they’re selling guns, and guns… are a God-given constitutional right."
Press Conference Interview -- Video by Lake Expo
Camden County Missouri commissioners have told the ATF they won't help the agency break Missouri law.
--Article published by Kansas City Star, April 7, 2023--
Officials at Lake of the Ozarks won’t answer ATF questions about local gun businesses
by Kevin Hardy/The Kansas City Star
Leaders of the largest county at Missouri’s Lake of the Ozarks say they will not answer questions from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives about local gun businesses.
At Thursday’s county commission meeting, Presiding Commissioner Ike Skelton notified the public that the ATF had recently sent emails to county staffers asking whether four gun businesses were in compliance with local zoning and business licensing regulations.
Skelton said the county would not cooperate and read aloud from a letter he intended to send to the ATF on Camden County letterhead.
The commissioner said the ATF had been “weaponized” under the Biden administration and said he viewed the information request as part of a larger attempt to revoke federal firearm licenses.
“I believe it is their intent to revoke as many licenses as possible to squeeze them down to the large sellers such as Bass Pro, Academy Sports, things of this nature, so they can keep a very close eye on who is and who is not selling firearms,” Skelton said. “I think they want to squeeze the small business person out the best possible way they can.”
John Ham, spokesman for the ATF’s Kansas City field division, said the agency’s inquiries were routine: the law requires that the ATF check whether gun manufacturers and sellers are in compliance with local zoning and business regulations. The only time those questions are asked, he said, is when the agency is considering issuing new licenses or renewing existing ones.
“That’s what is prompting our inquiries — trying to put people into the firearms business,” Ham said. “It has nothing to do with taking people out of the firearms business.”
Reached on the phone Thursday afternoon, Skelton rejected that explanation.
“I do not trust the ATF at all,” he said. “I think they will use anything they can to revoke licenses.”
The presiding commissioner wouldn’t elaborate on exactly what information the ATF was seeking. He said more explanation would be provided at a Friday press conference in Camden County.
At the commission meeting, Skelton cited Missouri’s Second Amendment Preservation Act, which declared certain federal gun laws “invalid” if they don’t have a state-level equivalent. The law has sown confusion among Missouri law enforcement, who questioned how much they could cooperate with federal officials.
Following a legal challenge from the U.S. Justice Department, a federal judge overturned the law in March, finding it “unconstitutional in its entirety.” Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey plans to appeal that decision.
In early 2021, Camden County passed a local ordinance designating the county as a “Second Amendment Sanctuary County.” That ordinance states that all local, state and federal rules and laws regarding firearms are a violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. The ordinance allows county officials to refuse cooperation with state and federal firearm laws that they view as in violation of gun rights.
That ordinance is apparently referenced in Camden County’s letter to the ATF.
“Therefore I construe any attempt to receive information about our citizens pertaining to firearms as an attempt to coerce our employees to break Missouri law,” Skelton read aloud during Thursday morning’s meeting. “You may consider this letter as a response to your probe.”
At the morning meeting, commissioners asked Camden County Sheriff Tony Helms what he thought of the letter.
“You want me to sign?” he responded.
Ham, the ATF spokesman, said the agency had not yet seen the Camden County letter. But he said he’s never heard of this issue arising before in the Kansas City office, which oversees criminal enforcement and industrial regulation in Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and the southern half of Illinois. He said regulators across that region have approved 9,760 federal firearm licenses, which must be renewed every three years.
“This is the first time that it’s been brought to our attention,” he said. “So I’m not aware of any other government entities not wanting to provide this information.”
On the phone Thursday, the sheriff said federal law enforcement agencies had been “nothing but generous, kind and helpful” across his 30-year career at the lake. But he said the ATF has been an exception as of late.
“I don’t know what happened with the ATF, but they got heartburn over the Second Amendment Preservation Act and I haven’t seen an agent here since then,” Helms said.
He echoed concerns that the ATF has made politically motivated decisions under President Joe Biden’s leadership. But he also worried that the county’s refusal to answer the agency’s questions could ultimately harm the local gun businesses.
“I don’t want to jam these four businesses up,” he said. “If we wind up screwing them over and they wind up losing their licenses, I don’t want to be the cause of it.”
©2023 The Kansas City Star. Visit at kansascity.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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