Gun control advocates are directing their efforts toward a lawsuit involving Chicago after they scored a win Wednesday when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced it would revoke the license of a Nevada-based gun manufacturer targeted in another lawsuit.
In what the organization Everytown for Gun Safety calls a "first-of-its-kind victory," the ATF issued a notice of license revocation to J.A. Industries, the successor company of now-bankrupt Jimenez Arms, for illegal trafficking of cheap guns.
Wednesday's win could pave the way for not only stricter application processes but for other lawsuits that Everytown is engaged in, like one filed against Indiana-based gun dealer Westforth Sports over the alleged sale of hundreds of illegal firearms that have been trafficked into Chicago.
In 2020, Kansas City, Missouri, filed a lawsuit against Jimenez Arms alleging the manufacturer contributed to gun trafficking in the city. But shortly after the suit was filed, Jimenez declared bankruptcy and obtained a new federal firearms license in the same city.
In response, Everytown Law, the litigation arm of the Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund, filed a lawsuit, along with the state of Illinois and the city of Kansas City, against the ATF for granting J.A. Industries the firearms license. The suit accused the company's owner of misleading the ATF in licensing applications and sought a court order reversing the federal regulator's initial decision to issue the reorganized company a license.
Data from a five-year period, from 2016 to 2020, shows that the AFT denied only 0.1 percent of the applications received.