Gun Laws & Legislation

Calif. gun store owner to feds: No, you can’t have my customer list

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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A gun store owner in California has a message for the feds: No, you can’t force me to turn over my customer list to you.

Fox 5 in San Diego reported that Dimitrios Karras, the Oceanside, Calif. owner of Ares Armor, said Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms department agents have threatened to raid his business if he doesn’t hand over a list of all customers who purchased an item for building an AR-15.

The ATF, according to Karras, wants the names of 5,000 customers who bought a certain 80 percent lower receiver, something the feds say is illegal. Gun stores that have sold these specific items have been told by the ATF to hand over a list of customers who have them.

“They said either give us these 5,000 names or we are coming in and taking pretty much anything – which is a huge privacy concern and something we are not willing to do,” Karras told Fox 5.

While Karras has complied with the ATF’s request to confiscate the receivers, according to the report, Karras is refusing to give them a list of his customers.

“They were going to search all of our facilities and confiscate our computer and pretty much shut our business down,” said Karras.

On his company’s website, he wrote: “Our customer’s privacy is of the utmost importance to us.”

Added Karras: “I am now in constant fear for the safety of my employees, my customers and myself.”

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