ATF, Everytown hound American gunmaker out of business

The ATF recently revoked Jimenez Arms' FFL.

How cheap is too cheap when it comes to a self-defense firearm? That should be a decision left to the gun buyer — not the ATF and certainly not any anti-gun group.

I knew a woman who relied upon a Jimenez Arms .25 to defend her hearth and home. She was identified as “Jane Doe” in a lawsuit the NRA filed against the Wilmington (Delaware) Public Housing Authority where she lived.

The housing authority banned its residents from owning firearms. Anyone caught with a gun was immediately evicted. There were no excuses or second chances. Ms. Doe earned extra money as a seamstress. Her prize possessions were two expensive Bernina sewing machines. She did not want them stolen by her neighbors and pawned for drug money, which is why she bought the Jimenez .25 and a dozen rounds on the street.

Crime was rampant in the Wilmington Housing Authority. Most of the elderly residents like Ms. Doe told me they felt trapped in their homes by crime. Drug dealers were making deals right outside her front door. I wrote a series of stories about the residents’ plight, which led to the NRA lawsuit. Thankfully, after years of litigation, the NRA won the lawsuit, and the housing authority was forced to allow its residents to exercise their Second Amendment rights.

Back to Ms. Doe — would she have preferred to have a Glock, a Sig-Sauer or a shotgun to defend her precious sewing machines? Sure, but a Jimenez was all she could afford on a fixed income. That taught me a valuable lesson: A firearm we may consider too cheap for practical use may be a lifesaver for someone else, even a Jimenez .25.

The ATF recently revoked Jimenez Arms firearms license. Everytown had been colluding with the ATF for years and had even sued the agency to force them into action. Bloomberg’s group once bought the gunmaker’s entire inventory at a bankruptcy auction and had all of the guns and gun parts destroyed. As you can imagine, the gun banners were jubilant when ATF finally revoked Jimenez’s FFL.

“I think this is an undisputed important step toward shutting down a manufacturer that flouted federal law and facilitated gun trafficking,” John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president told USA Today. “It shouldn’t have taken three lawsuits to get ATF to do its job. I can only hope this marks a beginning of a new era at ATF where it starts to serve as a watchdog of the American people rather than a lapdog to the gun industry.”

Some may not mourn the loss of Jimenez Arms. I will, because even though their inexpensive pistols were not something I would carry, they were lifesavers for many others, including one very special elderly Black seamstress. For Ms. Doe, her cheap .25 was the epitome of the Second Amendment.