In Camden County, Missouri there was a raid at a local gun store by the ATF. A group of ATF agents wearing full tactical gear and bearing automatic firearms went into the Skelton Tactical gun store and confiscated every firearm in the building and took the license of Jim Skelton, the business owner, during the raid. The ATF also went to the building adjacent to Skelton Tactical and confiscated firearms from that business which was owned by Jim Skelton’s brother, Ike Skelton.
Local authorities were not made aware that this raid was going down and were only informed that it had happened after the fact. Local Sheriff Tony Helms commented on the matter.
From Lakeexpo:
“It makes me mad I was not notified,” Helms said. “ATF agents were in my office the day before, to discuss a separate issue and they did not tell me a thing,” Helms said. “They called me at 1 p.m., on Tuesday, and apologized for not telling me, saying they were not comfortable having too many people know about the raid before it happened. They were hitting several gun shops as part of an annual thing.”
“Before SAPA, (the Second Amendment Preservation Act, passed in June 2021) they would have notified me if they were going to be in my county,” Helms added.
The blame for the lack of transparency from the ATF is being pinned on SAPA or the Second Amendment Preservation Act. This legislation was put in place to stop government overreach in the state of Missouri and several other areas have also adopted similar legislation. What this legislation does is penalize local authorities for helping the government enforce laws the state deems unconstitutional.
One official from The Freedom Center came out to clarify some things about the law.
“SAPA only prohibits Missouri law enforcement from assisting in the enforcement of federal gun laws,” Roland said. “SAPA expressly allows state and local law enforcement agencies to receive assistance from federal agencies, when enforcing Missouri laws.”
“It may be local sheriffs are worried about asking for help in enforcing Missouri law for fear that it might be construed as assisting in the enforcement of federal law,” Roland said.
It is worth noting that a law enforcement agency is only liable for “knowing” violations of SAPA – if a violation is accidental or inadvertent, the law enforcement agency would not be penalized.
“Courts may interpret it differently than intended, but as it sits, SAPA does not need to be changed,” Roland said. “Many law enforcement agencies prefer a law that gives them more authority, and that enforces harsher penalties, than current Missouri law,” Roland said. “If this is the case, they need to make their case to the Missouri General Assembly in Jefferson City.”
