Red's Trading Post: Chapter 54 of the Saga

In brutally brief: Red's Trading post is a licensed gun dealer. In the last couple of years sometime, a BATFE audit found a few highly technical problems in their gun-sales paperwork--stuff that both you and I and any other normal person would simply ignore.

Not BATFE. They decided to try to pull Red's firearms license.

The saga with Red's began when the ATF inspection in 2000 discovered various paperwork violations, Horsley said, just shortly after he arrived to take over the store, mistakes such as a customer failing to write down the county in which he lived.

In 2001, "they couldn't find any violations," he told WND. A few other minor problems were found later, including a failure to put up a poster.

"I wasn't alarmed because this agent … had told us we were one of the best small gun shops he'd ever seen," Horsley told WND.

Then early in 2006, "We get a letter that 'We're [ATF] revoking your license,'" Horsley said. "I just came unglued. I couldn't believe it."

Within the last month, BATFE returned to inspect MORE records, and an old guy started taking pictures of the inspection process, and of the (taxpayer-funded) rental cars they used. In addition, the proprietor of Red's blogged about their presence and their inspection.

And the poooooooor widdle BATFE supervisor went off crying to Mom about it.

The inspectors, however, suddenly left, and within days, the federal agency's version arrived in the U.S. District Court for the District of Idaho.

"[The federal agency] notifies the court than an inspection of Red's Trading Post … was initiated on July 17, 2007. The inspection was suspended due to the threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's," the court filing said.

The filing documented how some unidentified person had taken pictures of the inspectors at work.

"At about this time, Supervisor Young's assistant from the Spokane office contacted her and advised that Mr. Horsley had updated his internet blog (http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/) to include the information that ATF, and Supervisor Young personally, was at the store conducting an inspection," the filing said. So Young contacted others.

"The Director of Industry Operations, Richard Van Loan, agreed with Supervisor Young's assessment that the photographing of the rental car used by ATF personnel, coupled with the instantaneous posting on the internet of ATF's presence … posed a credible threat to their safety and was designed to harass and intimidate," the court filing said.

The court filing noted two other times when the inspectors had been photographed, including once by a news team.

It appears as though BATFE Supervisor Linda Young has a problem dealing with Horsley. Too bad that she is also acting like a typical 5-year-old child.

HT: Of Arms and the Law