{"id":383,"date":"2022-02-17T13:59:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-17T17:59:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/?p=383"},"modified":"2023-02-08T14:58:57","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T18:58:57","slug":"an-amish-farmers-600-guns-were-seized-its-unclear-if-he-broke-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/?p=383","title":{"rendered":"An Amish farmer\u2019s 600 guns were seized. It\u2019s unclear if he broke the law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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An Amish horse-drawn cart rides along Leacock road in Gordonville, Pennsylvania, on March 25, 2020. Federal agents are trying to determine whether one Lancaster County farmer\u2019s sizable gun collection was also his side hustle. (Jose F. Moreno\/The Philadelphia Inquirer\/TNS)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

February 17, 2022 Jason Nark – The Philadelphia Inquirer<\/a>
https:\/\/americanmilitarynews.com\/2022\/02\/an-amish-farmers-600-guns-were-seized-its-unclear-if-he-broke-the-law\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hand-painted signs in Amish country often advertise fresh eggs, shoofly pies or handmade quilts, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is trying to determine whether one Lancaster County farmer\u2019s sizable gun collection was also his side hustle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An ATF spokesman said agents seized evidence during an \u201cenforcement operation\u201d on Jan. 12 at the Cattail Foundry in Leacock Township, Lancaster County, but declined to comment further. Two sources familiar with the investigation said approximately 600 firearms were seized during the operation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday morning, farm owner Reuben King declined to comment on the matter at his home, but he did talk to Lancaster Online several weeks ago. King told the news outlet he was a dairy farmer, first and foremost, but admitted selling \u201csome\u201d firearms from his personal collection to fellow Amish and a few non-Amish too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sources said handguns were among the weapons taken by ATF. King told Lancaster Online he mostly sold long guns, for hunting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was not dealing in handguns, positively not,\u201d King said last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ATF said the investigation is ongoing but no charges have filed. King told the Inquirer he hadn\u2019t hired an attorney.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Amish, generally, do not pose for photographs and therefore, most don\u2019t get the photo IDs needed to purchase firearms from licensed gun shops. Hunting rifles and shotguns, known as \u201clong guns\u201d can be sold privately between two parties without a background check or photo ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joshua Prince, a Pennsylvania attorney who specializes in firearms law, said the ATF operation at King\u2019s farm could lead investigators into a murky area. It\u2019s not clear, he said, how many firearms an individual would have to sell in order for that person to be considered a firearms dealer. The ATF\u2019s own web site said licenses are required for individuals who \u201crepetitively buy and sell firearms with the principal motive of making a profit\u201d but not for the \u201coccasional sales of firearms from your personal collection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so vague and that\u2019s going to be the government\u2019s biggest hurdle,\u201d Prince said. \u201cIt could turn out that they just say, \u2018Listen, don\u2019t do this again.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Prince, who is not affiliated with King\u2019s case, sued the federal government in 2015 on behalf of an Amish man from Northumberland County, who felt he should have a religious exemption from the photo identification needed for a firearms purchase. Prince said he could not discuss the outcome of the case, but said any Amish person can produce all the documentation needed to get a photo identification in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s unconstitutional,\u201d Prince said of the photo requirement. \u201cThere is a way to prove our identity in the absence of pictures. We aren\u2019t born with photo ID.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, a Republican from Ohio, introduced a bill in December to allow the Amish to purchase guns without a photo ID.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Steve Nolt, an Elizabethtown College professor who has studied Amish society for decades, said the Amish aren\u2019t a monolith and that customs and adherence to certain beliefs, about photography and use of technology, vary by location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI would say there\u2019s a small number of Amish who get photo IDs,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At The Sportsman\u2019s Shop, a large firearms dealer and gun range nine miles north of King\u2019s home, a manager said plenty of Amish customers come in with photo ID, particularly during hunting season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe do sell a lot of new guns to the Amish,\u201d the manager, who asked not to be identified.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was no signage at King\u2019s farm Wednesday that suggested he sold firearms there. A non-Amish man wearing a shirt in support of the Second Amendment was driving around the property, also looking to speak to him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Amish families own a long gun, Nolt said, and their interest in hunting goes back centuries. That interest, however, has grown beyond sustenance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201dHunting has also become a recreational sport for them,\u201d he said. \u201cThey own hunting cabins up north. They take hunting trips.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nolt was surprised, however, at the sheer number of guns the ATF allegedly seized during the operation last month. He also said it\u2019s unusual for the Amish to use or own handguns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no real history of the Amish using guns for personal protection,\u201d he said. \u201cThere would be a bit of a taboo with handguns.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

February 17, 2022 Jason Nark – The Philadelphia Inquirerhttps:\/\/americanmilitarynews.com\/2022\/02\/an-amish-farmers-600-guns-were-seized-its-unclear-if-he-broke-the-law\/ Hand-painted signs in Amish country often advertise fresh eggs, shoofly pies or handmade quilts, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is trying to determine whether one Lancaster County farmer\u2019s sizable gun collection was also his side hustle. An ATF spokesman said agents seized […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[103],"class_list":["post-383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-amish"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=383"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":385,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383\/revisions\/385"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/amishinternet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}