When the Unthinkable Happens-Your FFL Gets Raided

Imagine this. You have finally scrimped and saved and sourced all of the parts for your dream firearm. Some of the parts have been custom milled. You have everything sent to an FFL you found on GunBroker (and who you have used in the past).

Then, the day before you are supposed to go pick up your guns, you get a panic email from your FFL informing you that he had just been raided by the DEA and BATFE, because, get this, his day job is working at a marijuana dispensary.

I got some real bad news for you man.
Tonight I was raided by a joint DEA / ATF task force in connection with my day job at the cannabis dispensary. They actually revoked my FFL and took every fire arm I was in possession of, which included your guns and receivers.
They are currently in federal custody while I await process of my charges, and they may at some future point be returned depending on how my charges go.
I guess at this point to make things right with you I should really reimburse you for your loss on this.
Extremely sorry,

During the raid, EVERYTHING was taken. Including your property. As evidence. Meaning, if you are extremely lucky, you may see them again, albeit after a few years, and tons of time and effort expended. Worst case, they become part of an “asset forfeiture” and you never see them again. Too bad, so sad, bye-bye.

This story turned out positive, in that the guy that got hosed in the deal did eventually get his stuff back (after about 2 years). There had been some fear that the rifles were on the block to be “disposed of” multiple times, but they were returned.

You can read the whole thread and find out how it ended up (the event happened a few years ago, but the post just resurfaced with new activity a few days ago).

The take away from this is that you need to be very diligent about where you send your stuff to. Be extra careful with home-based FFLs. And even then, things can happen–one of the posts on the thread (#49) discusses a problem with a legit SOT getting raided.

Doc Rader

Tom is a former Navy Corpsman that spent some time bumbling around the deserts of Iraq with a Marine Recon unit, kicking in tent flaps and harassing sheep. Before that, he was a paramedic somewhere in DFW, also doing some Executive Protection work between shifts. Now that those exciting days are behind him, he has embraced his inner “Warrior Hippie,” and assaults 14er in his sandals, and engages in rucking adventure challenges while consuming copious water. To fund these adventures, he writes all manner of content (having also held editor positions at several publications) and teaches wilderness medicine and off-road skills. He hopes that his posts will help you find the gear that will survive whatever you can throw at it (and the training to use it). Learn from his mistakes--he is known (in certain circles) for his curse...ahem, ability...to find the breaking point of anything. You can follow him at https://linktr.ee/docrader.