And people get pissed when I tell them I don't feel for the BATF @$$holes that got shot up in Waco. No knock and announce, just break in stormtrooper tactics.
Typical.
"And people get pissed when I tell them I don't feel for the BATF @$$holes that got shot up in Waco. No knock and announce, just break in stormtrooper tactics. "
"jackbooted thugs" - Wayne LaPierre
You recall that a postal worker had tipped the Davidians that the cops were coming. BATFE knew the cat was out of the bag, and the element of surprise, critical in making a dangerous arrest, had been lost.
Two BATFE supervisors kept this information to themselves, and sent the raiders, who believed surprise was still on their side, in to make the arrests. Armed resistance was ready and waiting, and every spot they intended to utilize as entry points was defended by people with firearms.
You remember the BATFE guys who went up on the roof? They were machine-gunned through the wall, dead and wounded, lying on the rooftop.
They climbed on the roof and were ambushed. Those guys didn't have a chance to knock (not that they would have anyway).
The Davidians fired first, and they intended to, and you think BATFE should have knocked? What an asinine statement.
Waco isn't the subject here, however. The major problem with BATFE is that their jurisdiction is so narrow (alcohol moonshining, tobacco smuggling, and federal firearms violations), that they don't have enough to do, frankly.
The agents hang around police departments, waiting for the police to make an arrest where a gun is found. That's the extent of their investigation, aside from record checks, and it's not very exciting. They also hang around with DEA, because there's always action, DEA needs the help, and the drug/gun circumstance is a heavy federal violation.
And they try to set up undercover sting operations now and then to attract illicit gun owners/dealers and develop prosecutable cases. Ruby Ridge started with just such a BATFE sting.
This gun show invasion is but another idea somebody in BATFE, with too much time on his hands and wanting some meritorious recognition, probably, came up with. And the outcome of it all was no arrests and their promise to never do that again. At least no one got killed.
Any federal law enforcement agency has to justify its budget, and reason for existence, by showing how effective it has been.
That's easy (relatively) for the FBI, DEA, Customs and Secret Service, because of the high volume of cases they handle. BATFE does not have the "luxury" of a high volume caseload, but still has to show statistical accomplishment, which mainly comes from the PD and DEA associations.
You may not know this, but BATFE has, in the recent past, been considered for elimination, with their personnel absorbed by other federal agencies. This is because BATFE has difficulties showing worthwhile statistical accomplishment.
If they had found an angle at the gunshow, they might have made thirty arrests.....wow, lots of stats!
Here's a contrast: BATFE, with too many resources and no jurisdiction/caseload to keep them busy; Border Patrol, with not enough resources to handle its jurisdictional responsibilities.
BATFE is kind of the runt of the federal LE litter. It seems that every time they attempt something above their routine, they are spectacularly unsuccessful. They have blundered into a deserved reputation....FUBAR.
FWIW, of the three BATF agents killed in the initial assault in Waco, all were former Clinton bodyguards during the primary elections. Bubba got them their new jobs as rewards. There used to be a memorial speach posted at the Treasury Dept that Bubba gave in their memory.