Timothy Durkin is facing years in prison for not having a federal firearms license (FFL) even though he never sold a gun.
During the COVID pandemic, gun stores were selling out of firearms. Gun stores make a small margin on the sale of guns, but compensate for it in the volume of sales. With inventory drying up in 2021, small gun stores faced supply shortages, resulting in insufficient volume to offset their small margins. Mr. Durkin owned Durkin Tactical, a company that sold gun parts online.
The site did not sell any serialized firearms; however, Durkin had a good working relationship with Anderson Manufacturing.
Anderson Manufacturing (now owned by Ruger) was a leading producer of AR-15s.
These firearms were some of the most popular guns that Americans were looking to buy during the COVID pandemic. Mr. Durkin used his connection with Anderson Manufacturing to broker deals between Kansas gun retailers and the AR-15 manufacturer. For his efforts, the gun stores would pay him, and then he would pass the money onto Anderson after taking a finder’s fee. The guns would ship between Anderson Manufacturing and the gun dealers. Both parties had FFLs. The gun stores that received the AR-15s would sell the firearms to their customers through traditional means. At no time did Durkin or Durkin Tactical possess the guns in question.
In 2022, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) issued Durkin a cease-and-desist letter, ordering him to cease brokering deals between Anderson Manufacturing and gun stores. At that point in time, the supply chain had recovered, and Durkin had stopped brokering deals between Anderson Manufacturing and Kansas gun shops. Durkin would not hear from the ATF for another two years.
Then, in 2024, the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) filed charges against Durkin for being “engaged in the business of selling firearms” without an FFL. The man was shocked because he had never sold a gun. He just made the introduction between the manufacturer and the gun stores for a small fee. The ATF, in its court filings, claims that a person needs an FFL to broker gun deals. The federal statute does mention the need for an FFL to broker deals for the export of firearms, but it never mentions the need for an FFL to broker deals between two domestic FFLs.
When President Donald Trump came into office, he promised to end then-President Joe Biden’s war on the right to keep and bear arms. He issued an executive order demanding that the DOJ review all gun cases for those that might violate an American’s Second Amendment rights. Many believe that the DOJ would drop the charges against Durkin because the guns were transferred from an FFL to another FFL, and Durkin never received any of the firearms. Those hopes were dashed when the DOJ decided to continue the prosecution even under Trump’s leadership.
The DOJ is believed to be friendlier to the Second Amendment than the previous administration’s DOJ, but with this case and others, such as demanding the membership roles from the Firearms Policy Coalition (FPC) and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF), many wonder if the DOJ’s pro-Second Amendment stance is just lip service.
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About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
Does this mean Gun Broker, Guns America, Guns &Ammo magazine, The American Rifleman magazine, etc. will soon be facing similar charges?
I don’t care what the law states. If someone makes a deal as a middleman for anything but never touches the actual product, they are only guilty of being what the USA considers to be a top businessperson. All businesses that are successful exercise this mode of operation and those that can’t strive to do so. How many businesses exist that take the product from producers and store it only to resell it? Even that business would like to move it from the producer to the seller and avoid the cost of storage facilities, transportation and loss of product due… Read more »
This is what tyranny and treason look like. Whoever is/was behind this at DOJ and ATF should be fired and prosecuted under charges of tyranny and treason. Same thing goes for any infractions of the bill or rights. Everyone at doj and atf has to swear an oath to the people, the nation and the CONSTITUTION and to go against it is TREASON. ONLY THEN will this illegal and unconstitutional cr@p end. If this doesn’t happen through the courts don’t be surprised when Joe and Jane Citizen are compelled to do so themselves. A thorough reading of the declaration of… Read more »
None of us who currently are – or formerly have – dealt w/firearms on ANY level ( pieces, parts, mfg.. sales, transfers, licensed dealers, or private ] service-related, [ IE; Gunsmiths, etc., etc. ] are surprised by ANYTHING the ATF / DOJ does REGARDLESS of current Administration.
This would be the perfect case for Bondi to show that she is heads up and on our side because the case has not concluded yet. Make the attorney go onto court and drop the charges in the interest of justice. If he won’t then he can be fired for cause!
Yep! The BIG mistake we made was allowing our elected (mis)representatives to create the 1934 National Firearms Act, modeled after Nazi Germany’s law, in the first place! The second mistake was letting the courts define the 2A as a Civil Right instead of it facilitating the Natural Human Right of self-defense. All governments throughout history have have tended to become tyrannical and, in spite of the best efforts of our founders who were some of the most brilliant men who ever lived to secure our liberties and freedom through limited government, they couldn’t protect us from electing idiots to govern… Read more »
there are a bunch of people in doj that need to be fired bondi should be doing just that case is dropped cant be reopened people that have not done that on their own gone period
So are we seeing different DOJs in red/blue states? They fight some things in some states and prosecute others things in other states.
Bondi must go, she is incompetent at best, think Durkin, Adamiak, defending the NFA even though it is now Clearly Unconstitutional. The most 2A friendly administration in history? I don’t think so. Being a staunch Trump supporter, I feel betrayed.
This is absurd. The political capital and energy, the goodwill of the voting block THAT GOT HIM ELECTED is being squandered by DJT. Somebody needs to reach over snd smack his hearing aid with a spoon and wake him up. Our window of opportunity here is closing.