Eagle Sports Range, a gun store and shooting range in suburban Oak City near Chicago, says it offers the "best selection of products from the firearms and shooting sports industry" and provides training and education to "produce better shooters and a better, safer community."
This is the same Eagle Sports Range that in 2022 had its license revoked after the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) said it had "willfully violated" federal firearms rules, including by transferring a firearm to a prohibited person.
It's operational now under the same family's management and at the same address. How? All it did was get a new license.
A Newsweek analysis of the most recent data found that at least three gun dealers including those who run Eagle Sports Range had kept their stores open or opened new stores after their licenses had been revoked by the ATF.
This is not illegal, but gun law experts say it shows a glaring gap in federal regulation and enforcement.
The United States has one of the world's highest rates of firearms deaths outside a war zone. Concerns about gun safety came to the fore yet again this week following the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School in Wisconsin, in which a teacher and student died as well as the shooter, Natalie Rupnow.
According to latest available data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 48,830 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. in 2021, including nearly 21,000 homicides as well as more than 26,000 suicides.
Though the debate continues over gun control, experts told Newsweek that cases like that of Eagle Sports Range show that tougher regulations don't matter if they aren't enforced.
"The ATF has never had enough agents to enforce its rules and depending on what party controls the White House no real intention to enforce the rules, so it's no surprise," said David Rosenbloom, a professor of public health at the Boston University School of Public Health who studies gun violence.
How Eagle Sports Range Lost and Regained Its License
Eagle Sports Range is housed in a modern standalone building opposite a golf course and between a car dealership and a pancake restaurant in Oak Forest, a 30-minute drive from downtown Chicago—when there is no traffic. Oak Forest crime rates are much lower than in more central parts of the city.
In revoking Eagle Sports Range's license, with the report saying the decision was effective May 2022, the ATF reprimanded the store's owners for transferring a firearm to a prohibited person, failing to conduct checks and recording false information on forms. It was also fined $8,831.
On May 31, 2022, according to a City of Chicago claim filed on July 22, 2024, against several entities, including Eagle Sports Range, the store's managing partner transferred Eagle Sports Range's firearms inventory to a successor entity, called Range Plus LLC, also a defendant in the same claim.
Business incorporation data and license information lists the owner of Range Plus LLC as an individual who the complaint says is a relative of Eagle Sports Range's original managing partner. The incorporation data also says Eagle Sports Range was Range Plus LLC's previous name.
The claim said: "Within three days of Eagle Sports Range receiving its revocation notice, a 25-year-old relative of the owner filed articles of incorporation for a new company that would run the exact same gun store, at the exact same location, using the same inventory, while employing much of the same staff. The net result was that the law-breaking gun store that the ATF 'shut down' in 2022 continued operations, without apparently missing a single day of business."
The claim is against six parties, one of which is the gun brand Glock and two Chicago gun stores that sell Glocks, Eagle Sports Range and Midwest Sporting Goods. Through the suit, the City of Chicago seeks a court order requiring defendants to stop selling and marketing Glock pistols that can be easily converted to fully automatic fire with a device called an auto sear.
Eagle Sports Range, which has not broken the law by obtaining a new license, did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
The ATF denied that there was a loophole for gun dealers to get new licenses after previous ones had been revoked, though Kristina Mastropasqua, its chief spokesperson, would not comment on specific cases or inspections.
"ATF conducts thorough qualifications inspections for all Federal Firearms License applicants," she said. "When applying for a Federal Firearms License ('FFL'), applicants may be denied if they fail to comply with State or local law (such as zoning ordinances), if there is evidence of previous willful violations of the Gun Control Act, or if they do not provide accurate information on their application.
"There is no 'loophole' for FFL applicants who have previously had their federal firearms license revoked. Applicants that ATF determines previously held a license and were revoked are exceptionally scrutinized to ensure willful violators of the Gun Control Act are not issued a new license."
The Eagle Sports Range owners also opened a second store. An ATF application for a license called A to Z Armory LLC seen by Newsweek was filed by Eagle Sports Range's original managing partner in March 2021. The license application and a June 2021 ATF report of firearms inspection also names individuals named in a 2018 ATF report about Eagle Sports Range as organizers of the A to Z Armory LLC license. The report said the trading name of the federal firearms licensed business was Eagle Sports Range.
It's Not The Only One
Article II proudly advertises itself as "The gun range with a gun store inside!"
Like Eagle Sports Range, its owner had a license revoked only to continue in business.
Article II in Lombard, Illinois, is owned and operated by the previous owner of Article II Gun Shop (D/B/A Gun World) in Bensenville, Illinois, whose license was revoked by ATF in 2006, according to a 2014 firearms inspection report of another store independent from Article II but located in the same place. This individual is still listed as the Article II Lombard store's owner on its website.
Article II did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
Ron & Jo's Firearms & Sporting Supplies in O'Fallon, Illinois, which was formed in 1999, had its license revoked effective February 23, 2015, having previously committed nine violations of federal gun law, including failing to conduct background checks on a redacted number of occasions before transferring firearms, an ATF report shows, and failing to report the theft or loss of firearms from their inventory. These ATF records also show that two people held the license.
The decision to revoke the license was challenged in a hearing held on April 23, 2015, but the revocation was maintained, an ATF letter dated June 29, 2015, shows.
A similar store remained open. In April 2018, the ATF inspected a store with the same address, called Ron & Jo's Firearms & Sporting Supplies II, Inc. It found that it had two violations of regulations, failure to record firearms inventory information and sales reports. This was an inspection report and did not revoke the store's license. The report acknowledged the ATF was aware that the owners had set up a new store.
It said: "This is the first DE [disposition emphasis, a type of inspection the ATF makes on licensees they deem to be of high-risk of violating federal firearms laws or being exploited by criminals] inspection of this licensee since this license was under the name of Ron & Jo's Firearms & Sporting Supplies Inc. 3-37-00098 was revoked 772070-2014-0153 and the new FFL 3-37-04663 was issued."
The numbers refer to the license names of the original store which was revoked and the license of a new store which was granted by the ATF. One of the two license holders, a married couple, was told to attend a meeting to discuss future compliance to the regulations. Website information indicates that the store is still open to this day and annual reports show it moved to a different address in the same area in 2024 with the same listed president and director.
This individual was interviewed by local press in 2023, where he was described as the president of Ron & Jo's Firearms & sporting Supplies.
The store did not respond to Newsweek's request for comment.
What Happens If A Gun Store Gives Up Its License?
Stores can also voluntarily discontinue their licenses when it has been determined by the ATF that there has been a violation of federal law. In these instances, the ATF does not publish inspection reports—meaning it is not always clear why a dealer shuts up shop.
License holders in this category are gun stores that have received a letter or revocation from the ATF after it found willful gun law violations. This does not mean the store's license would have definitely been revoked, as stores can challenge an ATF decision through hearings.
Newsweek found five other gun stores across the United States of this ilk that had acquired new licenses after having voluntarily given them up.
Grant Reeher, a professor of political science at Syracuse University in New York, said that when gun dealers get new licenses, when they lose or expect to lose their old ones, they "seem to violate the spirit of the law."
"I'd think that the ATF would have records of these inspections, especially when the FFL fails, and perhaps follow-up visits and inspections can be built into its standard practice," Reeher told Newsweek.
What The ATF Can Do
Nevertheless, the ATF has previously challenged licensees who have attempted to open new businesses. On September 30, 2024, the United States Court of Appeals for the fifth circuit upheld the decision issued by the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, where the regulator denied Texas group Crusader Gun Group LLC's application for a FFL in 2022.
Crusader applied for an license in 2020 but the ATF found the individual listed as Crusader's president and the "responsible person" for its firearms business had been responsible for three other licenses that were no longer in business and has violated federal firearms laws including failing to report the theft or loss of more than 200 firearms and the possession of unlawful machineguns.
The ATF denied the application for the new FFL on these grounds and Crusader petitioned for judicial review. The court decided that the ATF's denial was lawful and the Court of Appeals upheld this decision.
In June 2021, President Joe Biden bolstered the ATF's powers by signing an executive order mandating the ATF to implement a zero-tolerance policy towards dealers who willfully break any of the most serious violations of the Gun Control Act.
The order also made public a list of dealers whose license the ATF revokes, and dealers that voluntarily discontinue their store's licenses following an inspection in which the ATF found gun law violations. Inspection and revocation reports had, until that point, been private.
In the fiscal year 2024, the ATF revoked 195 licenses and in 2023 they revoked 173, according to The Trace. It has not yet published detailed data for those years.
Some legislators are seeking to further strengthen the power of the ATF.
On March, 9, 2023, Illinois Democratic Representative Robin Kelly introduced the Federal Firearm Licensee Act to Congress to establish new requirements, including broadening the ATF's authority to investigate violations, increasing penalties for violations and denying licensee applications. The bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary but has not yet been considered. In November 2024, U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, also an Illinois Democrat, introduced similar legislation to the Senate.
On a state level, 27 states and the District of Columbia have laws regulating firearms dealers. There are 17 states that also require firearms dealers to have a state-issued license to sell firearms, according to Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.
Reeher added that the ATF could do more to catch previously unlicensed gun dealers.
"It's not like these are individual gun owners; they are dealers," he said. "That's in the spirit of 'red flag' laws [meaning laws that permit state courts to order the temporary seizure of firearms from people they believe could be dangerous] for individuals, which have become more popular and accepted in recent years."
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