Mainer charged with illegally selling guns says he did it to supplement Social Security

[Wendell]

A 71-year-old Lisbon man appeared remotely Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland on five counts of selling guns without a federal firearms license. Wendell Millett, who winters in St. Petersburg, Florida, was released on bail. Millett was not asked Wednesday to enter pleas to the charges because he has not yet been indicted by a federal grand jury. Grand jury sessions have been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Millett had a license from February 1989 to September 1994 but let it lapse, according to court documents. He came to the attention of the Tampa division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives that determined Millett had purchased 72 guns in 19 separate transactions between Dec. 15, 2010, and March 4, 2019. He allegedly bought 52 firearms from licensed dealers in Maine between May 7 and Nov. 3, 2019. Last year, undercover ATF agents purchased five firearms from Millett in Maine between August and November in response to ads posted online, according to the complaint. A sixth undercover purchase allegedly was made in December after Millett had been warned that he could be charged if he continued to sell guns for profit without a federal firearms license. If convicted, Millett faces up to five years in federal prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

Mainer charged with illegally selling guns says he did it to supplement Social Security

A 71-year-old Lisbon man appeared remotely Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland on five counts of selling guns without a federal firearms license.

bangordailynews.com

 

[oldguy68]

But yet we have pot shops here in MA that are allowed to be open against federal law and the DEA does nothing!
The irony is hilarious.
As long as the states make part of the profit.
These federally illegal to operate industries are allowed to remain open with immunity from state and federal prosecution.

Good job from our biggest federal department of fudds!
How many firearms did the ATF loose in the Fast and Furious scandal?

This department of corruption needs to be shut down for what it is.
A department against the peoples rights.
It serves as a political strong hand against the people it is supposed to protect from harm.

Cause an unserialized part that your department determined was completely legal is now a machine gun in itself.
Because those in power told you to reclassify it, even thought it goes against the very criteria that you had set forth since the organization's founding.
They have always been the anti-2a department of federal cucks and always will be!

 

[Lank]

Not guilty

 

[NannerClips]

I thought you could do private sales in ME without a FFL or NICS check? What am I missing?

 

[CrackPot]

I thought you could do private sales in ME without a FFL or NICS check? What am I missing?

Buying and selling for profit requires an FFL in any state.

 

[NannerClips]

Buying and selling for profit requires an FFL in any state.

How do you prove that was someone's intent? Seems odd. I know a bunch of people that are always buying, selling and trading through AL, never any issues. (In NH)

 

[oldguy68]

Define profit?

 

[Jason Flare]

Define profit?

I think it could be argued that it might not be profitable since he’s facing a $250,000.00 fine after all.

 

[NannerClips]

Yeah. This seems very odd. So I buy a gun. Bring it to the range, hate it. Sell it and actually manage to make money on it. That's not okay? But it's okay if I don't make money on it? I mean, I guess but again how would that info even be obtained and/or proved? There's some piece they're leaving out. A 'tip off' or somebody running their mouth.

 

[Zappa]

A sixth undercover purchase allegedly was made in December after Millett had been warned that he could be charged if he continued to sell guns for profit without a federal firearms license

Who gave him that warning ???

 

[CrackPot]

How do you prove that was someone's intent? Seems odd. I know a bunch of people that are always buying, selling and trading through AL, never any issues. (In NH)

You make a case to a jury and they decide. Not saying I agree with it. They can also nail you for a federal felony on question 11.a of the 4473.

The language above your signature on the 4473 reads



So if he is buying from dealers he has been warned and has signed his name acknowledging that warning.

You can change your mind, but not credibly 52 times in 6 months.

Again, not agreeing with the statue, but he done f*cked up

 

[Asaltweapon]

Buying and selling for profit requires an FFL in any state.

Cause Anderson Lowers being sold for 250 each in Mass isn’t making a profit.

 

[Onecrazyoldman]

Whatever happened to the Grandfather Clause???

 

[Prepper]

Define profit?

Exactly. I'm not trying to make a profit. If there is more market demand when I sell the gun then when I buy it, then the price will be higher. Not my fault. I just didn't want the gun anymore, and as luck would have it, people want to pay more for it.

And I thought 5 guns was well under the amount you could personally sell before drawing attention to yourself. (Yes, I guess he sold more before that sale of 5, but that is not what he got busted for.)

 

[KBCraig]

Buying and selling for profit requires an FFL in any state.

This is not true, despite this article (and many others) making that claim.

You need an FFL to engage in the business of selling firearms. The ATF offers a not-very-helpful pseudo-definition of that, as being someone who engages in regularly buying and selling firearms with the intention to making a living. "Profit" is not an essential element, and plenty of 01 FFLs have zero profits to show, especially home-based dealers who have the FFL to get dealer pricing for themselves and friends.

 

[clampett]

Not guilty

What do you mean by that?

 

[Nick Leduc]

I think the real amazing thing here is that he was buying firearms, paying retail and still flipping them for profit......???

 

[Dennis in MA]

Whatever happened to the Grandfather Clause???

Died. Complications of C19.


I had a fun conversation many years ago with an ATF agent about what constitutes a business intent. He said it was very situation-specific. I asked in relation to my C&R and selling guns I owned under the lic. Plus at the time there was someone selling off a ton of old pocket guns - I think on this forum. Something like 800 of them. For some stupid low price.

ATF said selling all that I already owned (5-10) wasn't a business intent. If I bought the 800 and sold them, expect a visit to discuss a potential violation. Everything in the middle needed it's own scrutiny.

I would say 52 or 75 guns in a year is business intent, profit or not.

 

[Boris]

Died. Complications of C19.


I had a fun conversation many years ago with an ATF agent about what constitutes a business intent. He said it was very situation-specific. I asked in relation to my C&R and selling guns I owned under the lic. Plus at the time there was someone selling off a ton of old pocket guns - I think on this forum. Something like 800 of them. For some stupid low price.

ATF said selling all that I already owned (5-10) wasn't a business intent. If I bought the 800 and sold them, expect a visit to discuss a potential violation. Everything in the middle needed it's own scrutiny.

I would say 52 or 75 guns in a year is business intent, profit or not.

but if you are not making a profit it's a "hobby" according to IRS ... so having a profitable hobby is not OK by ATF but not-profitable, bad from IRS.

 

[Dennis in MA]

That is 100% not true. Plenty of companies don't make profits. And they are businesses. Ongoing concerns.

What you are confusing is the hobby rule when it comes to deducting losses. What the IRS says is that if you've got a small business that consistently loses money, you don't have a small business. You have a hobby. It's to stop people from creating fictitious businesses to show business losses year-after-year on their taxes. But you can totally lose money in a small or large business. But if you keep losing money for years upon years upon years (outside of Uber and Tesla - LOL), you're gonna get declared a hobby because you are trying to cheat the IRS.

In fact, people have fought the IRS on hobby-rule cases and won. They proved they had legitimate business interests and were just bad at business. And courts sided with them.


And ATF has a completely different standard that has no bearing on what the IRS says.

 

[NannerClips]

Still a piece missing. In a private transaction all off paper, it would still require someone saying something to someone.

 

[Dennis in MA]

Yeah. The couple of ATF agents that bought 5-8 guns from him and some surveillance in FL to find out how many guns he bought down there. He used dealers in FL so 4473 was easy to obtain.

I bet they were trolling Old Uncle Fester's or whatever that paper is in Maine that you sell stuff. One guy has multiple ads with multiple guns. Raises an ATF red flag. Find out he's a former dealer. It isn't that hard. Even a government man could do that research and find out this wasn't kosher.

 

[alan226]

Yeah. The couple of ATF agents that bought 5-8 guns from him and some surveillance in FL to find out how many guns he bought down there. He used dealers in FL so 4473 was easy to obtain.

I bet they were trolling Old Uncle Fester's or whatever that paper is in Maine that you sell stuff. One guy has multiple ads with multiple guns. Raises an ATF red flag. Find out he's a former dealer. It isn't that hard. Even a government man could do that research and find out this wasn't kosher.

I'm going to guess he sold multiples of the same guns, which would throw out any possibility of buying a gun and selling it if you don't like it...

 

[Cabin Fever]

A 71-year-old Lisbon man appeared remotely Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland on five counts of selling guns without a federal firearms license. Wendell Millett...

 

[Zappa]

That is 100% not true. Plenty of companies don't make profits. And they are businesses. Ongoing concerns.
<<< >>>
if you keep losing money for years upon years upon years (outside of Uber and Tesla - LOL), you're gonna get declared a hobby because you are trying to cheat the IRS.

Does that make the US Postal Service a hobby ???

 

[RadiCS]

They must be so proud trying to send a 71 year old to jail.. This crap needs to stop.