Last week, a man from Aurora was sentenced to two and a half years in federal prison for his involvement in illegal firearm sales. The man tried to defend himself by attributing some of his actions to mistakes made by his employees and pressure from his wife. However, his defense was not enough to avoid the consequences of his actions.
A-TAC Gear Guns Uniforms, LLC’s owner, Timothy Taconi, 70, has been sentenced to 30 months in prison. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Denver Division conducted separate investigations, which revealed that Taconi had been unlawfully selling firearms, including unregistered parts and ghost guns, outside of Colorado without a license and frequently without background checks.
Three of Taconi’s firearms were found to have been sold to individuals with prior felony convictions, according to the ATF.
According to court documents and online public records, Taconi’s business was registered in Colorado back in 2015. The same year, he obtained a license from the ATF to sell firearms. A-TAC, his business, was run from the comfort of his home.
Back in 2018, Taconi was caught by ATF agents for selling firearms at a gun show in Wisconsin. The agents informed him about the regulations that only allow licensed firearms dealers to sell guns at shows within the state where their licensed premises are located.
Taconi admitted to the violation and affixed his signature to a warning letter. The letter was labeled “Warning Notice of Gun Show Operations in Violation of Federal Law.”
During the inspection of Taconi’s records at his business, which occurred four months after the warning was issued, ATF agents discovered that he had disregarded the warning. The inspection revealed that A-TAC had sold a total of fifty-six firearms to fifty-four different out-of-state residents at twenty-seven out-of-state gun shows. Shockingly, forty of these sales had occurred after Mr. Taconi had received his warning letter.
During 110 sales, Taconi neglected to conduct background checks as per the home inspection report. The ATF investigation revealed that three of these sales were made to convicted felons, who are prohibited from owning firearms. Shockingly, two of these sales to felons were made even after the Wisconsin warning was issued.
In 2019, Taconi’s license to sell firearms was revoked by the ATF. Two years later, a federal judge reviewed the case and upheld the revocation. Additionally, the judge supported a fine of $24,486 for three violations of background checks related to sales made to felons.
According to a summary written by the judge, Taconi addressed the hearing and attributed the absence of background checks to “miscommunications” among his staff. This was not the only instance where Taconi attempted to shift the blame onto others.
According to U.S. District Court Judge R. Brooke Jackson, the businessman came up with several justifications for his company’s breaches. He argued that he was uncertain whether the ATF agent who approached him at the Racine, Wisconsin gun show was a genuine agent or not. He also stated that his wife was pressuring him to carry out transactions in this manner and that she didn’t see the significance of adhering to specific firearms sales regulations.
During his testimony, Mr. Taconi expressed confusion regarding the need for performing background checks and even referred to it as an unnecessary expense.
It was evident that Taconi had disregarded the revocation of his firearms license, similar to how he had previously ignored the warning letter.
According to witness accounts, which included licensed gun dealers, Taconi was observed selling both guns and gun parts at various gun shows over a period of two and a half years. These shows were held in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and Colorado. Additionally, it was reported that Taconi would sometimes request that other dealers perform background checks on his behalf.
Additionally, there were unmarked weapons available for purchase, which means they were not registered.
In late 2022 and January 2023, ATF carried out four undercover purchases of guns and silencers from Taconi’s residence. Following this, a search warrant was obtained and executed in February 2023. During the search, agents seized 33 guns, 217 silencers, ammunition, and various gun parts from the home business.
ATF Assistant Special Agent in Charge Chris Ashbridge announced Taconi’s sentencing, stating that despite multiple warnings, Taconi intentionally and repeatedly chose to illegally sell firearms and manufacture ghost guns, which are also known as Privately Made Firearms, nationwide, with a particular focus along the US-Mexican border. Ashbridge further noted that Taconi’s actions significantly increased the risk of violent gun crime, putting families and communities in immense danger.
Taconi has been ordered to repay the $185,900 he received in emergency business relief funds from the federal government during the pandemic, alongside his sentence. It’s worth noting that Taconi’s business license was inactive at the time of receiving the funds. One of the loan applications (an EIDL) submitted by Taconi had fraudulent information. He listed A-TAC’s revenue for 2020 as $33 million and expenses as $11 million.