Posted on 07/25/2007 9:37:27 AM PDT by kiriath_jearim
I've been sitting on some facts for a few days at the request of Ryan Horsley. BATFU had threatened him that he needed to cease all blogging and keep their agents and inspectors free from being photographed or observed, or they would go to the judge and file a complaint of harassment. Ryan was in a dilemma--he has been single-handedly bearing the burden of his defense against a fe(de)ral government with practically unlimited resources--yet if he continued to allow his persecutors to operate in the dark, that is where they would kill Red's.
The new complaint is calculated to be a death blow to Red's--both financially with additional legal expenses they cannot afford, and by giving the judge an excuse to side with thugs portraying themselves as victims.
Blogger doesn't give me the capability to present .pdf files, so I have converted the documents sent to the judge into jpegs:
"Exhibit A" is a print out of this entry from Red's Blog.
Note assumptions in the accusation--that BATFU now has authority to decide who is an "authorized journalist," that providing oversight of government activities and the identities of those responsible for abuse has "no legitimate purpose but to intimidate and harass," that the distinction between an inspector and an agent is not automatically understood by those outside the agency, and that the only opinion expressed that is cited for judicial cognizance comes from an anonymous comment poster--not from Ryan Horsley. In fact, there is no evidence that the comment in question was not made by a BATFU agent (oh, sorry, "inspector"?), employee, snitch or agent provocateur.
{SNIP}
This is clearly something Ryan had no control over, makes no specific threat, plus it expresses an opinion that, as much as they don't want to admit it, reflects a sentiment of the agency's creation. But presenting this is designed to prejudice the judge. That said, I too have deleted comments from this blog that I thought crossed a line that would erode the post's credibility or I simply thought was inappropriate.
I repeat my call for a rapid response team of "minuteman" volunteers to make themselves available via a phone tree to go to gun stores being audited, and audit/document/photograph the auditors. Don't let creatures of the shadows hide there--expose them to the light and make them live there--or cravenly slink back under the baseboards where they belong. You can also help by spreading the link to this post to fellow gun owners and letting them know what is going on. BATFU is relying on people remaining uninformed and apathetic.
Here’s Ryan Horsley’s blog from a couple of days ago:
http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/2007/07/recap-of-todays-visit-by-atf.html
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Recap of todays visit by the ATF
“Well here is todays recap, ATF Area Supervisor Linda Young came in today from Spokane, Washington (567.72 miles; 9 hour drive) along with Industry Operations Inspectors Calvin Pavey and Mike Gorewicz from Portland, Oregon (570.96 miles; 9 hour drive) at around 9:45am. They showed up in a rented newer model Chrysler with Ada County plates (they evidently flew in to Boise and rented a car. ) I appears that they are staying at Best America Suites, which I have to compliment them on their taste, that is a very nice hotel for this area.
They began to go through our books, searching intently for some errors. One of our supporters came in and began taking some photos of them. We had been recording the audit because of some of the statements that Linda Young had made in the past and because of the countless times the Inspectors have contradicted themselves or added their own interpretations to the policies.
Ms. Young at one point began to yell at me when I asked her for a clarification of something she had stated at an earlier audit which contradicted what she was looking for in this audit.
Ms. Young left the store at least 5 times to speak on her cell phone. It was most likely D.I.O. Richard Van Loan who she was speaking with. Young paced back and forth in front of our store, visibly upset and making extreme hand gestures. We watched and recorded as she paced in front of our windows which are adjacent to Shoshone St. (Highway 74) and more notably past our newest sign that states the Second Amendment.
Then at around 11:15am, Ms. Young went over to the Inspectors who were still going through our books and declared with the snap of her finger, “We’re Done!” Then then collected all of their belongings and returned our books and promptly left.
Across town one of our competitors received a visit from another ATF employee who came down from Boise.
The ATF is perhaps the single most unamerican government organization on the books.
!!!
I just couldn’t pass up the chance to say, hey BATFU, STFU.
The ATF is perhaps the single most unamerican government organization on the books.
Precisely
The Gang - How a Government Agency Uses The Law To Destroy Your Rights And Freedoms
Bang! The harassment continues.
Interesting footnote on the bottom of page 3. ATF claims the inspectors aren’t agents and don’t carry firearms?
I thought it was BATFE. What does the "U" stand for, or do I want to know?
Notice that BATFE insists on continuing call themselves ATF, implying that they are a TLA, like the FBI or DEA. But they are really a 5LA recently demoted from a 4LA. They hate that, so I insist on referring to them, correctly, as the BATFE. The agents and "leadership" are "BATFErs".
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