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Children of an Amish farmer who sold thousands of guns despite not having the required federal firearms dealer license dropped their ownership claims to several dozen guns seized by the government.

The guns were among more than 600 rifles and shotguns that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents seized from Reuben King’s Leacock Township farm in January 2022 as part of its investigation into his unlicensed sales.

A federal jury convicted King in May 2023 of the only charge he faced — dealing in firearms without a license — and a federal judge sentenced him in January to three years of probation and fined him $35,000.

King is appealing.

In the meantime, 11 people filed claims for some of the seized guns. The government agreed that three people should get back their guns — each of them said King had one gun — because they proved ownership.

But the other eight people are King’s children. Earlier this year, a judge dismissed ownership claims by three of the children, who are minors.

As for the adults, they provided vague details about 46 guns they’d been seeking, prosecutors wrote in an Oct. 10 court filing ahead of an ownership hearing that had been scheduled for Tuesday.

During interviews with the ATF, King’s children “had difficulty identifying the firearms which they claimed to personally own. They further acknowledged that Reuben King had price tags on the guns that they claim to own,” prosecutors wrote.

Two children told investigators their father would remove the price tags when they used the guns, then put them back on.

“This is not indicative of ownership, but rather of Rueben King loaning a gun from his sale inventory to his children for hunting, much like a rental gun at a legitimate gun shop,” prosecutors wrote.

On Oct. 11, an attorney for King and his children withdrew the ownership petitions.

As for King’s appeal, a Sept. 29 filing by King’s attorneys mainly repeated arguments they made in the criminal case.

Those are that the law requiring a federal firearms license is unconstitutional because it is vague and that the government did not accommodate King’s religious beliefs.

The Amish contend their religious beliefs prevent them from posing for photographs, but the government requires licensed firearms dealers be photographed.

King’s attorneys also said having to forfeit all his guns was excessive.

https://lancasteronline.com/news/loc...43d6f097d.html