Well folks, the entire state of Missouri can finally sleep soundly tonight. That eerie shadow looming over the Show-Me State has been vanquished. Was it fentanyl flooding our borders? Violent crime in the streets of St. Louis? Armed gangs waving illegal Glocks with full-auto switches? Nope. The feds have cracked down on something far more dangerous: two small-town senior citizens selling a few guns without federal permission.
You read that right. Last week, the ATF proudly declared victory over… an 81-year-old man from California, Missouri and a 75-year-old from Poplar Bluff. Not cartel bosses. Not international arms traffickers. Just two old guys who maybe sold a few too many rifles without kissing the ring of Uncle Sam’s almighty FFL process. And they didn’t just slap cuffs on them—they issued a press release about it. Yes, they were that proud.
Let’s dig into the government’s version of events.
According to the ATF’s own self-congratulatory statement, Mr. Aubrey Foxworthy, age 81, has been indicted for selling firearms in Morgan and Moniteau counties from June 2023 through September 2024. Shocking stuff—almost sounds like he was running guns for a cartel. Except he wasn’t. He’s just an old man who didn’t bother with the red tape of an FFL.
Foxworthy’s crime spree also included possession of a rifle with a barrel less than 16 inches long. That’s right—he had a gun that was shorter than the government prefers. There’s no indication it was used in a crime, no victims, no violence—just a barrel that offended the ATF’s delicate sensibilities. Oh, and that particular gun wasn’t “registered” in the sacred National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record. Because what’s a free country without a central list of who owns what?
Joining Foxworthy in this “epic” takedown is 75-year-old Philip Leroy Rains, accused of selling a few guns in Morgan County over the course of a year. Again, no mention of criminal activity beyond failing to ask Daddy Government for a license.
Now here’s where it gets even more insulting.
Each man is looking at five years in federal prison and up to $250,000 in fines. And if that doesn’t sound insane enough, Mr. Foxworthy is facing an additional ten years for that “scary” short-barreled rifle. That’s right—he could leave federal prison in 2040 at the tender age of 96, assuming he survives a decade in a concrete cell funded by your tax dollars.
But wait, there’s more!
As if locking up Grandpa wasn’t enough, the ATF is also after his entire gun collection—all 197 of them. Yep. According to the indictment, they’re coming for everything in his safe: Rugers, Colts, Remingtons, Winchesters, Henrys, you name it. This guy was a red-blooded American gun owner through and through. But not anymore. Now he’s a “criminal” in the eyes of Joe Biden’s alphabet boys.
They even want his ammo—over 16,000 rounds, which is about a weekend’s worth of plinking for most of us, but somehow constitutes an arsenal of doom in D.C.’s imagination.
Now here’s where the government’s logic really falls apart. Among the 197 guns, four were identified as “machineguns”—but in classic ATF fashion, they couldn’t even list the make, model, or caliber. So they just labeled them “machineguns” anyway. This has happened before. When the ATF can’t figure out what a gun is, they just call it a machinegun and let the courts sort it out. In other words, guilty until proven innocent. Except when you’re 81, there may not be enough time left on Earth to prove anything.
And don’t even get me started on the part where they want to steal—yes, steal—a pre-1896 Winchester Model 94. That’s an antique. A piece of American history. But instead of letting a man enjoy his twilight years with a relic of the Wild West, the ATF wants to throw it in an evidence locker—or worse, sell it at auction and let it disappear into a bureaucrat’s private collection.
Calls to Foxworthy’s defense attorney haven’t been returned, probably because even he can’t believe this is real life.
So what are the takeaways here?
If you’ve ever been to a flea market, gun show, or county fair, you’ve seen it. That old man with a couple of rifles on the tailgate of his truck or laid out on a table, maybe telling stories while trying to make a few bucks. That’s not crime. That’s America. That’s freedom. But not anymore.
Thanks to Joe Biden’s “engaged in the business” rule—if you sell even one firearm for profit, congratulations, you’re now a criminal unless you have a federal license. It doesn’t matter if it’s online, at a gun show, or out of your garage. The ATF wants to know who you are, where you live, what you sold, and who bought it.
You want to know what real crime looks like? It’s not some 81-year-old with a stack of Rugers in a gun safe. It’s a federal agency stripping American citizens of their rights, raiding homes, and threatening prison time over harmless technicalities. It’s calling an old cowboy a “gun trafficker” while ignoring the chaos on our streets. It’s treating the Constitution like a suggestion.
Frankly, Attorney General Pam Bondi or anyone with half a spine ought to take a hard look at every case the ATF has cooked up during this administration. Because this one? This one’s a disgrace.
I hope they drop the charges. I hope Foxworthy gets his guns back—especially that Winchester. Because if the ATF doesn’t back off, the only real crime will be theirs.
