The firearms agency will now intensify its inspections of these suspect dealers, some of whom have not been checked in years.

The investigations could not occur at a worse time for the F.B.I. and the firearms agency.

In an effort to lift the sagging morale at the battered firearms agency, Administration officials said today that a merger was now much less likely.

He has strongly denied the reports and said they were part of a setup by a paramilitary group that is hostile to the firearms agency.

But a senior official with the firearms agency said there was no reason to believe that the dealer had committed any crime.

The group based its assertion on documents it obtained from the firearms agency under the Freedom of Information Act.

But possible reorganization plans for the firearms agency appear to have revived tensions.

What happened during the next hour involves a fusillade of cover-up charges that reached the highest levels of the firearms agency.

A spokesman for the firearms agency said that it receives 1,500 to 1,800 reports of multiple gun purchases each week, or up to 100,000 annually.

On Feb. 28, 1993, the firearms agency had no plan for a peaceful search of the compound premises.