(Liberty Bell) – The top law official in the state of Montana is growing more and more concerned that two of the nation’s biggest shipping companies, UPS and FedEx, are working hand-in-hand with President Joe Biden and his administration to bypass laws that ban the federal government from creating a national database of American gun owners, according to a copy of a letter that was obtained by the people over at The Washington Free Beacon.
Well, we know the ultimate aim of the progressives in the Democratic Party is to find a way to gain more and more control over the Second Amendment through strict measures passed into law so that they can eventually eradicate it completely, leaving law-abiding citizens vulnerable not only to the whims of criminals, but also to the tyranny of big government. So a move like this seems to fit right in with the thinking of the modern-day liberal.
Writer Adam Kredo reports, “Republican Montana attorney general Austin Knudsen alleges that new shipping guidelines allow UPS and FedEx ‘to track firearm sales with unprecedented specificity and bypass warrant requirements to share that information with federal agencies.’ The letter, signed by Knudsen and 16 other state attorneys general, says the altered shipping guidelines force licensed firearm dealers into providing detailed information about purchasers who are receiving items through the mail. The letter does not have explicit proof that the shipping giants are sharing information with federal agencies but cites conversations between state officials and licensed firearm dealers who claim they were forced to comply with these regulations.”
By requiring gun dealers to provide this rather unprecedented volume of information concerning the clients who patronize their establishments, these shipping companies could potentially be giving “federal agencies a workaround to normal warrant requirements,” the letter goes on to say. This will enable them to “provide information at will or upon request to federal agencies—information detailing which Americans are buying what guns.” State officials are now asking the two shipping giants to give them information about any recent rule changes and disclose any role the federal government might be playing in the situation.
“Knudsen, in an interview with the Free Beacon, said he is concerned UPS and FedEx may be coordinating with the Biden administration to circumvent a ban on the creation of a federal gun owner database. Sources who spoke with Knudsen’s office, he said, indicated the Biden administration’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms ‘told [the companies] they have to do this.’ The ATF is already facing scrutiny at the state level and on Capitol Hill for storing nearly one billion records detailing Americans’ firearm purchases, the Free Beacon first reported in January. The alleged rule change by FedEx and UPS, Knudsen said, could be part of an effort by the government to track American firearm owners amid a nationwide uptick in gun crimes,” Kredo stated in the article.
“This to me looks like another back alley attempt to get around specific legislation and laws so ATF can say, ‘We’re not keeping track; it’s these companies keeping track,’” Knudsen remarked, going on to add that these guidelines might violate his state’s consumer protection laws. “We see this over and over again from this administration: When they can’t pass legislation, they turn around to their buddies in private business and try to get their agenda done that way.”
The attorney general is alleging that both UPS and FedEx require federally licensed gun dealers, also known as FFLs, “to create three separate shipping accounts: one for firearms, one for firearm parts, and one for all other firearm-related products. Under this three-tier system, gun sellers cannot mix and match shipments, which reveals to your company whether they are shipping a gun, gun part, or a gun-related item.”
Sellers are then required to retain any and all documents that are related to specific items that they shipped to make that information available to the shipping company upon request.
“These demands, in tandem, allow [UPS and FedEx] to create a database of American gun purchasers and determine exactly what items they purchased,” the letter says.
Kredo’s report also noted, “A FedEx spokeswoman disputed the characterization of their new guidelines. In September 2021, the spokeswoman said, the company implemented a ‘firearms shipping compliance program’ that requires licensed firearms dealers to ‘enter into a FedEx Firearms shipping Compliance Agreement.’ This agreement requires packages containing firearms be sent from a specifically designated account and directed only to those with a Federal Firearm License. The guidelines are meant to ensure the company adheres ‘to applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations.’ When asked if this information could be shared with the federal government, the spokeswoman said that ‘FedEx will comply with any legal obligation that it has to provide information to law enforcement or other appropriate government officials.'”
The state officials want UPS and FedEx to give them internal documents and communications concerning these alleged rule changes within the next 30 days, which includes information about whether they enacted “these policies with the goal of information sharing with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) or any other federal agency.” This would then include names of any federal official who might have had contact with the two shipping companies.
The letter recommends that both companies undertake efforts “to limit potential liability moving forward, including the immediate cessation of any existing warrantless information sharing with federal agencies about gun shipments.”
Knudsen then commented that preliminary reports he is getting from firearms dealers in the state give off the impression that UPS and FedEx are making up “their own private tracking system so that these two companies can keep track of what’s being shipped to whom.”
“Sure looks and smells to me like they’re trying to get around the Fourth Amendment,” he stated, which places a prohibition on unlawful searches and seizures.
“You’re giving away citizens’ private information on what kinds of products, what firearms they’re buying specifically,” Knudsen explained. “We know what they’re going to do with it: They’re going to hand it over to the ATF the first chance they get.”
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