An IRS investigation of a Great Falls gun dealer this week has outraged U.S. Rep. Matt Rosendale, who said federal agencies are being weaponized for harassment.
Wednesday, agents from both the IRS Criminal Investigation and Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms spent several hours searching records at Highwood Creek Outfitters, a Great Falls gun shop and indoor firing range.
ATF deferred all questions about the search to the IRS, which confirmed the search but would only say that “IRS Criminal Investigation was on site as part of their official business.”
“I’m incredibly disturbed by initial reports that the IRS and ATF closed Highwood Creek Outfitters without any warning today,” Rosendale said in press release. “This is yet another example of the Biden Administration weaponizing federal agencies to target and harass hardworking Americans. We cannot allow Biden to continue expanding these agencies to infringe on our liberties.”
People are also reading…
The Republican congressman said he sees a pattern of sudden gun shop closures, likening the Highwood search to an ATF inspection in March of Adventure Outdoors, a Georgia store which bills itself as “The Actual Largest Gun Store in the World.” The Georgia search not only featured more than dozen ATF agents, but also Republican members of Congress dressed for business. In a video that went viral, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene stands in the store parking lot questioning an ATF spokesperson, who called it a routine search.
The Highwood search began at 7:30 a.m., more than two hours before the store usually opens, said owner Tom VanHoose. IRS agents served a warrant that specifically said they were looking for financial records. The search lasted more than six hours. The agents took no guns, but VanHoose said records taken, in his opinion were beyond the warrant’s scope.
“They took records that have no financial data in them. Those were related to gun transfers and that’s bullshit,” VanHoose said. “The agents were very professional. They didn’t trash the place like other alphabet agencies might have. They were professional, but why they were doing it isn’t.”
Highwood is no Adventure Outdoors, but it does sport an eight-lane shooting range with a max distance of 25 yards. VanHoose said he carries the “scary guns,” the AR-15 semiautomatics, once banned for a decade, is targeted again by new legislation drafted in response to the proliferation of mass shootings. Highwood also sells silencers, something VanHoose’s big box competitors don’t.
The state Department of Revenue audited the business earlier this year, VanHoose said. He characterized the issue as a few things needing to be classified correctly. He doesn’t think the IRS search is related.
Rather, VanHoose suspects the IRS search is related to two other incidents involving federal agencies. More than a year ago, a man appeared opposite the parking lot from the gun shop. VanHoose said the man was taking pictures with a telephoto lens. The shop owner said he called deputies who identified the man as an FBI agent.
“Six months later, we get interrogated by Homeland Security. ‘Where were you on January 6?’ I’m like ‘guys, you know every move we make. No one here was anywhere near the Capitol on January 6.’”
A spokesman for IRS Criminal Investigation said the agency would reach out when more information became available.