ATF sends inspectors to group of 80 gun sellers in single building in Massachusetts

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms announced this week that it was sending dozens of agents to inspect a conglomeration of gun sellers who operate out of a single building in Littleton, Massachusetts to check they are all in compliance with federal requirements.

The gun vendors all operate out of a building on the 400 block of Great Road in Littleton. The Mill’s website describes the store as “not just your average gun store” and boasts it can help buyers find or build any firearm they may need, as long as it is legal to own. The opening of The Mill was met with debate from local parents and residents who complained the firearms retailer was located too close to schools. 

The Boston Globe reported the ATF raided The Mill on Wednesday and had opened reviews on all 80 of the vendors who sell out of the retail establishment. The ATF was explicit in its announcement of the raid that “These inspections should not be confused with a criminal investigation,” and that the inspections are meant to ensure sellers “comply with the federal laws and regulations put in place to prevent the diversion of firearms from lawful commerce to illegal black markets that serve as sources of supply for guns used in crime.”

Last year in October, one of the 80 licensed firearms retailers who operate out of The Mill was hit with federal charges of selling guns to buyers who were purchasing the weapons for another person who is prohibited from buying guns, and those guns were later linked to crimes committed in the area.