Please contact our Office with questions regarding federal firearms or explosives licensing issues, and to discuss working with you on an Of Counsel basis, or directly with your client in ATF administrative proceedings.
Mr. Elliott represented ATF at the administrative firearms license proceeding in Willingham Sports, Inc., which was appealed to and affirmed by the Federal Alabama Southern District Court, and subsequently affirmed by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Willingham Sports, Inc., v. ATF, 348 F. Supp. 2d 1299 (S.D. Ala. 2004), aff'd, 415 F.3d 1274 (11th Cir. 2005) (per curiam).
The Eleventh Circuit later upheld ATF's action in Luna Tech, Inc., an explosives license proceeding, citing Willingham as support for applying the Gun Control Act's civil evidentiary standard for willfulness to civil administrative explosives actions. Luna Tech, Inc. v. ATF, 183 Fed. Appx. 863 (11th Cir. 2005) (not designated for publication).
The Willingham decisions serve as excellent primers on the civil administrative definition of and evidentiary standard for willfulness in Gun Control Act (GCA) license proceedings. While the Eleventh Circuit's decision is now controlling precedent within the Court's jurisdiction, these cases contain citations to controlling decisions in other federal jurisdictions.
Although the Luna Tech decision is unpublished and is not binding precedent, it is unique because it expressly applies the GCA evidentiary standard for willfulness to an explosives license case by direct citation. The Court cited to a non-GCA case for the definition of willfulness; however, the Luna Tech decision seems to indicate a trend toward applying GCA willfulness definitions and evidentiary standards to explosives proceedings.
This web site is designed for general information only. The information presented here is not legal advice and does not create a lawyer/client relationship.
