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By Mike Donoghue, Vermont News First
A Franklin County firearms dealer is facing rare state gun charges after an inspection by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives found multiple possible violations of Vermont gun sale laws, police said.
Matthew Williams, operator of Deep Woods Mafia firearms in Sheldon has been ordered to appear in Vermont Superior Court in St. Albans on Jan. 14 to enter a plea, state police said this week.
During a federal inspection at the retailer at 833 Machia Road, Williams was found in violation of state background and transfer regulations, State Trooper Adam Martin maintained.
Most gun crimes uncovered by local and state police in Vermont are federal violations and are sent on to the ATF to seek prosecution in U.S. District Court.
The Williams case is a rare flip-flop. Eight possible gun violations were uncovered by federal investigators, who alerted State Police Lt. Michael Filipek, the station commander for Franklin County, for consideration of criminal prosecution in Vermont courts, police said.
Williams, 44, told Vermont News First on Tuesday it was a simple mishap with his paperwork. He said the inspection was the first ATF audit of his logbooks since he opened his business in 2010. He said he was told the violations apparently go back several years.
Williams said he was unaware of any other licensed Vermont gun dealer ever facing similar charges. Williams said he was surprised his case became public because an ATF agent had told him it was a confidential process.
Vermont has limited gun laws and most pertain to fish and game violations, including carrying a loaded rifle or shotgun in a vehicle or firing too close to the road.
Martin said the ATF forwarded its findings on Nov. 4 from a regulatory inspection to the Vermont State Police.
Martin said the investigation continued and police confirmed there were several state violations when the ATF made its inspection.
Under Vermont law, a person shall not transfer a firearm to another person without a proper background check. The licensed dealer facilitating the transfer cannot sell a firearm unless a unique identification number is provided for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.
The criminal case was reviewed by the Franklin County State’s Attorney’s office and a decision was made to proceed with the prosecution, Martin said.
It was unclear how many counts the prosecution will file at the court arraignment. Each misdemeanor charge carries a potential one year prison term and a $500 fine, he said.
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One goal is to shut down as many firearm licensed dealers as possible. The A. T. F. may not show up for ten years as was my case when Clinton was president.
If this dealer did transactions without using the NICS system he opened himself up to prosecution, and now there is provision to use Vermont law as as well as long-existing federal law. If these were simple clerical errors, it was the executive actions enacted by Dementia Joe have brought that about, with zero tolerance policies put in place specifically to shut down as many legitimate gun dealers as possible. They have started with the smaller dealers to see what they can get away with. This all changes on January 20th when Trump will be “dictator for a day” rescinding Biden’s totalitarian firearm policies and Trump will shake down the BATFE and restore it to a more Constitutional order.
Most of the time the issues are inadvertent grammatical errors. But the government does not care. As Richard stated the purpose is to get rid of as many FFL’s as possible. Just like trying to turn every gun owner who sells a gun into an FFL.
Remember all Vermont firearm dealers and firearm owners, you live in a “deep blue ” state that is being run by very liberal legislators who hate your Vermont way of life, as the majority they will push all their liberal nonsense, so keep your eyes open in 2025.
Dealers, don’t forget to dot your I’s and cross your T’s for any reason to put you out of business !!
State Police Lt. Michael Filipek might be in violation of his sworn oath to uphold the constitution, which is a Title 18 serious felony. The Supreme Court has already ruled that you are only able to enforce gun laws that are analogous to laws that were around during the time the constitution was ratified. This ruling should strip Michael of his qualified immunity. Back the blue.
As far as I know there is no law against renting a firearm to someone for a period of time. Maybe he was renting it out in the interim. I’m assuming all of the purchasers eventually passed the check.
THE 2nd AMENDMENT DOES NOT GRANT US THE RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS. THE 2nd AMENDMENT PROHIBITS THE GOVERNMENT FROM INFRINGING ON OUR RIGHT TO KEEP AND BEAR ARMS – PERIOD! THEREFORE, ALL GUN CONTROL UNDER THE CONSTITUTION IS ILLEGAL!
Under the Bruen decision background checke are illegal and unconstitutional. There were no background checks prior to 1993.
The government is not delegated the authority by our Constitution to require the government’s permission to exercise any right affirmed to us under the Constitution. The government is not delegated the authority by our Constitution to compel us to waive our guaranteed 4th Amendment right to be secure from unwarranted interrogation, search, or seizure in the absence of probable cause of criminal conduct. Or compel us to waive our guaranteed 5th Amendment right to due process as a precondition to being allowed (or denied) the exercise of our right to keep and bear arms. This violation of our 4th and 5th Amendment rights happens every time that we are interrogated under penalty of perjury without probable cause that a crime has been committed when we fill out B.A.T.F.E form 4473 to purchase a firearm.
“All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void”.
Marbury vs Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137, 174, 176, (1803)
Last I knew, the state is not allowed access to ATF records. Is that still true???
ATFE, another bureaucratic entity that should be There are enough regulatory enforcement agencies that can cover anything that the ATFE is tasked with that renders this agency extraneous. Something that most people don’t know is that in Vermont, NICS checks are caried out by the FBI. So why do we need ATFE ? To run ill fated operations like “Fast and Furious”?
Oops, ATFE, another bureaucratic entity that should be axed !