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Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP lawmakers confront ATF agents who descend on GA gun store

March 28, 2023 | | Print Article

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene, R-Ga., posted a video on Twitter of her and a group of Republican colleagues confronting federal agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) at a Smyrna, Ga., gun store.

It’s not entirely clear why the ATF was at the gun store in such force, but Adventure Outdoors General Manager Eric Wallace told 11Alive he called his congressman, U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, R-Ga. when an unprecedented number of agents showed up to inspect the shop — 16 in all.

Loudermilk, Greene, and two other GOP lawmakers from Georgia, U.S. Reps. Mike Collins and Rich McCormick, would show up soon thereafter.

“Today, the ATF showed up with 16 agents, most from out-of-state from cities like LA and San Francisco, to ‘inspect’ Adventure Outdoors in Smyrna, GA,” Greene said in a tweet. “This visit was unprecedented. The sheer amount of agents from the bluest parts of the country is unusual and unnecessary to conduct a routine audit.”

“This is a prime example of Joe Biden and the Democrats weaponizing federal agencies to silence and intimidate their political opponents. I fear this is just the beginning and they are directly targeting our Second Amendment and our right to protect and defend our families,” she continued. “I’m proud to have joined my colleagues to do our job and conduct Congressional Oversight on this highly suspect ‘inspection.'”

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) shared the video and vowed to “investigate” the meaning of the raid inspection that took place the same day a transgender shooter attacked a Nashville charter school, killing three children and three adults.

“Adventure Outdoors is one of the largest and most respected businesses in our state — and this appears to be an egregious overreach by Joe Biden’s ATF. We will be working to investigate this situation to protect this business and Georgians’ 2A rights,” Jones tweeted.

An interesting side note that cannot be ignored is that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is scheduled to make an appearance at the store on Thursday for a book-signing event.

Wallace told 11Alive the ATF agents are expected back on Tuesday and added, “I wish I was spending more time preparing for the [DeSantis] event but this ATF audit is taking priority.”

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story from Twitter:

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