In April of 2021, AmmoLand News discovered through a leak a secret government program that monitors firearms purchases using the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). Once the article was published, Gun Owners of America (GOA) filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to determine the extent of the program. Now, according to a Zero Hedge article, it has been discovered that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has been using the system to monitor Americans from California to see if they are violating state law with their gun purchases.
Information obtained during an FBI background check when buying a gun is supposed to be deleted after 24 hours, but when a NICS monitoring request is approved, the FBI doesn’t delete the information and passes it onto the ATF. The people the ATF is monitoring are not prohibited from owning firearms. In many cases, they are not even suspected of committing crimes. The ATF monitored people for their associations and the feeling that the target might commit a crime in the future. The NICS monitoring program was open to all ATF agents and departments that wanted to monitor someone. The subjects of the surveillance were never notified by either the ATF or FBI.
The ATF’s NICS Business and Liaison Unit would send batches of monitoring requests to an FBI’s NICS Alert Services (NAS) team member. That team member would enter the targets of the ATF investigations into the system for monitoring. The ATF would then get an alert from the FBI every time the subject of the surveillance purchases and transfers a firearm. The FBI calls the system “Sentinel.” Some activists compare the program to the ‘Pre-crime” system in the movie “Minority Report.”
The ATF would provide the FBI with the target’s name, date of birth, gender, race, social security number, FBI number, state record number, state of residence, and place of birth. The requesting special agent could choose a monitoring time frame of 30, 60, 90, or 180 days. The ATF must say what potential crime the person is expected to be involved in or connected to. The special agent must list why they believe the person should be monitored.
One of the reasons given for monitoring an individual’s gun purchase is that an ATF agent out of Chicago thought he might take the firearm back to California, where it is prohibited for being an “assault weapon.” The Bureau is responsible for enforcing federal law, but this unnamed ATF agent seems to be using his power to help the Golden State enforce its gun laws, which exceed the power of the ATF.
The reason for monitoring is listed as: “MFG/SELL/TRANS/ETC ASSAULT WPN (30600(A) PC), STATE OFFENSE CODE 52509, FELONY 2; ILL POSS ANY ASSAULT WEAPON (30605(A) PC), STATE OFFENSE CODE 52510. FELONY.”
BREAKING
ATF & FBI are spying on Californians’ out-of-state gun purchases to enforce CA’s unconstitutional “assault weapons” ban.
FOIA docs obtained by GOA expose how far the government will go to violate your rights. We’ll keep fighting to abolish this tyrannical system. pic.twitter.com/4WTh2k9VyE
— Gun Owners of America (@GunOwners) April 2, 2025
Other times the ATF monitored people who “might” buy a gun to riot. One instance highlighted the ATF monitoring a man that the Bureau feared might be buying guns to use during the riots of the summer of 2020. The target purchased a shotgun, which the ATF used as the reason for the monitoring of all his future firearm purchases. Using a lawful purchase to justify monitoring someone’s constitutionally protected activity is disturbing to many in the gun community.
The ATF also monitors people who spend more on guns than the Bureau thinks they should. The Bureau would monitor someone who spends beyond their means on firearms. Yet, people often spend beyond their means on other things, such as cars. The ATF doesn’t provide the percentage of a person’s income it considers to be excessive, but the fact is that many Americans live beyond their means and that is one of the reasons many struggle with debt. It might be more logical to assume that someone is not good with money before jumping to the conclusion that they are involved in something illicit.
Another gentleman was monitored because he “had a habit” of buying guns to tinker with them. When he was finished tinkering, he would sell them. This is a perfectly legal hobby, but the ATF believed that such activity required additional scrutiny. What the man did to warrant monitoring is something that a lot of the gun world could be targeted for. Many gun owners buy guns to shoot at the range and experiment with. Once they get their feel of the firearm they sell it and purchase a new one. Far from being the exception, this is common in the Second Amendment community. It might be time for Kash Patel to step in and end the practice of NICS monitoring because of situations like these.
Abuses of the system is rampant, but if the ATF is helping states enforce gun laws, it would be another overreach by an agency with a long history of overstepping its power. The NICS monitoring program is only supposed to be used for official ATF use. By doing the bidding of anti-gun states, the ATF is demonstrating that it can’t be trusted to use the program responsibly. It gives gun rights activists one more reason to push Congress to defund, defang, and eventually disband the ATF.
About John Crump
Mr. Crump is an NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. John has written about firearms, interviewed people from all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons, follow him on X at @crumpyss, or at www.crumpy.com.
