Tattoo Shop Feels Fallout From Las Cruces ATF Sting

A Las Cruces tattoo shop feels the fallout from last week's Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms sting announced last week.

The owner said business has fallen sharply after several agencies announced that 34 guns and drugs were confiscated in a storefront operation under the guise of a tattoo shop.

It's only been days since the detention of 30 people accused of selling guns or drugs to the ATF in a nine-month sting.

“There are just a lot of questions about whether we're selling guns or not. When that question comes to effect they also ask about drugs. We don't do that. We have nothing to do with any of those,” said Duke Ludwig, owner of The Tattoo Company.

Customers of The Tattoo Company are voicing concerns that they are nervous about the kind of activity that goes on behind tattoo shop doors.

“We dropped probably about 30 percent. We took a pretty good hit,” Ludwig said.

The ATF unveiled part of its collection of firearms last Thursday to show what some customers were willing to get off their hands. Ludwig said it makes the whole industry look bad.

“What they're saying is tattoo shops in general are an industry that is full of criminals. It doesn't bother them to do that to people who are actually legitimate people,” Ludwig said.

He said innocent people felt they were in harm's way. A school was near the fake business and he said kids attending that school could have gotten hurt.

“Those parents would have liked to have known. It could have been a really bad thing. Things could have gotten out of hand and people could have gotten hurt or killed.” said Ludwig.

The ATF said they did have rapid response teams if something were to have gotten out of control.