UPDATE 3/16: Apparently the temporary restraining order obtained by Ares Armor was revised to include a clause to “not restrain lawful criminal proceedings”. So, I guess the ATF considers breaking into a business and stealing its computers and records is a “lawful criminal proceeding”. I guess the people who bought the lowers in question can expect some kind of contact from the ATF. Fun times.

We’ve always said that a restraining order is just a piece of paper. Usually we’re referring to defensive gun uses when we say that. However, in this case we have the government violating a restraining order issued by… the government.

As we reported earlier this week, the ATF has demanded that Ares Armor, along with some other vendors, turn over their customer records in relation to an 80% lower that may have actually been a firearm under law. Ares agreed to stop selling the product in question as well as turn over their stock to the ATF, however they refused to provide their customer records.

Fearing a raid by the ATF after the refusal, Ares sought a restraining in order against the ATF in court. They were granted a restraining order, and both sides were supposed to show up in court next week. However, the ATF didn’t like that one bit. So, what did they do? Oh, just violated the crap out of that restraining order and raided Ares anyway.

The following messages were posted to Jeremy Tuma’s Instagram account. Tuma is the Chief Operating Officer of Ares Armor.

Based on that last message, it sounds like computers were confiscated. You can bet that the ATF will be holding on to those for a good while as they pour over the company’s private records about their customers and operations.

Ares Armor sells what are referred to as 80% lowers. They are AR-15 lower receivers that still require a fair amount of machining before they are considered firearms under current laws. This means whoever finishes the machining on the lower is the manufacturer. As long as the person making it never attempts to transfer it to another person, this is completely legal (I am not a lawyer, please contact your lawyer with questions regarding gun manufacture and ownership. Check all state and local laws).

You know things are bad when one branch of the government won’t honor a legal document issued by another branch of government.