Posted on 04/03/2014 9:24:00 AM PDT by Nachum
Theres been a lot of discussion among members of the Armed Intelligentsia lately about how Connecticuts finest might proceed if they decide to confiscate unregistered guns from the states 100,000 or more newly-minted felons. The level of concern is evidenced by daily long comment threads, speculative posts by people who are not members of law enforcement, and even a couple of contributed opinions from the LEO community. The rational consensus seems to be that if the gun-grab order were given, cops would pinch a registration scofflaw at the grocery store, at work, on the road anyplace other than his or her home where a Ruby Ridge-style tragedy might ensue. Here I propose the alternativethat LEOs might not in fact be that rational if and when the time comes . . .
You may have read or at least heard about Malcolm Gladwells lookback at Waco in the New Yorker last week. Its part book review (siege survivor Clive Doyles memoir has just been published), part interview and part history. Gladwell reprises what most people now knowthat the Branch Davidians werent violent and almost certainly werent involved in the illegal gun trade or any other criminal enterprise. He also provides a brief and interesting history of the group, which was founded some 80 years before David Koresh came along.
Gladwells main theme, though, is the thought process and mentality of the law enforcement officials toward the end of the two-month siege. And that should give us all pause.
The F.B.I., to justify its decision to bring about a sudden and violent end to the siege, believed that the Branch Davidians were dangerously in the thrall of Koresh; it feared a catastrophic act like the mass suicide, in 1978, in Guyana, of the cult leader Jim Jones and his followers in the
(Excerpt) Read more at thetruthaboutguns.com ...
Davidians fired first through the wall of the building at ATF agents outside. The rest is history.
As written by the side that wasn't the victim of genocide.
Maybe, maybe not. End of discussion this topic has been beaten like Slick Willie’s Johnson.
Some folks will blame the ATF no matter what. Others will blame the Branch Davidians. I believe both sides screwed up. The ATF could have simply sent someone to peacefully knock, present the search warrant, and request compliance. The Branch Davidians could have submitted to the search warrant and/or surrendered after the first round of shooting.
There’s a Free Republic meme going around that ALL law enforcement are jack booted thugs. That’s not true, and I suspect a lot of it comes from the libertarians. I’m not saying there aren’t any jack booted thugs running around. There are. What I’m saying is there are good people in law enforcement, too.
Do I think we need to demilitarize the police? Oh, yeah. Do we need to crack down on the ATF and other federal agencies? Yes, definitely. Do we need to demonize and blame ALL law enforcement for the actions of some. No. We don’t.
Getting back to the point of this thread, I don’t know what I would do if I was a Connecticut gun owner. I believe in the rule of law, but what should I do when government itself becomes the lawbreaker (in this case, breaking the 2nd Amendment)? It’s a tough call, and I don’t blame gun owners who complied with the law or those who refused to comply. I wouldn’t raise a finger to help Connecticut confiscate anyone’s guns, but I don’t know if I would go so far as to disobey the law myself.
Like barack said...Don’t boo...organize.
I think Waco actually precludes them from doing another Waco, especially with the current cultural climate in the US. It could spark the Civil War everyone speculates about.
If both sides wanted to defuse the situation after the shooting started, they could have and probably would have. That means one or both sides didn’t want to end it. We’ll likely never know which.
That’s a damn lie! Yes i’m callin for proof of who fired first. And the FBI “narrative” ain’t gonna work either.
Yes, we do. None of the things you mention have as of yet been addressed in any meaningful way, and I suspect they never will unless forced. Further it is likely the number of good ones is far less than you believe.
Until such time as the good ones police their own we may as well treat them the same way they have been treating the citizens: No respect, guilty of something until proven otherwise, ignoring the laws themselves.
Us vs. them is their attitude, they have asked for this.
Probably a goodly number, but how do they react to the presence of the gestapo wannbes in their ranks? With silence. When every peasant shot and killed is a "good shoot"* how do you separate the thrill killers with a badge vs the honest cops?
*In the last ten years only two incidents resulted in criminal prosecution of police for killing citizens. One was the danziger bridge incident in New Orleans, and two the Kathryn Johnson incident in Atlanta. In neither case were the police prosecuted for murder, but things like violation of oath of office which calrries a much lesser sentence.
If you say so inspector gadget, were you there? I didn’t think so.
So you were there?
My first thought exactly. For what would the pinch them? For having purchased a firearm at some point in the past? That’s propable cause that they’re currently in possession of a prohibited firearm? Oh, please.
“I must have been dreaming when I saw the Branch Davidians shooting at the ATF agents”
I saw that too! Odd that the agents were hiding behind vehicles that miraculously had intact window glass in the fusillade of bullets from the compound.
And I will also add:
This did not happen in Waco, it happened in Mt. Carmel. David Koresh and the Mc Lellan County Sheriff knew each other and often saw each other in Town. (And IIRC that morning.) All the fedstupids had to do was go through the proper channels (County Sheriff) and there would have been a much better outcome in this mess (caused by the feds) ALL the Branch Dravidian's did was RETURN DEFENSIVE FIRE AFTER the feds started it.
There were NO ILLEGAL WEAPONS!!!
Last I knew the burned to a crisp “arsenal” was still in the Texas DPS vault in Austin and NO MEDIA/LAWYERS/PUBLIC were allowed access to the “evidence”
And even at that The Davidian's were a Class III Firearms Dealer- so Full Auto is NOT an issue here.
And before you pull out the "grenades" delivered by UPS they were INERT!!!
The Front Door had ALL INCOMING rounds in it and was conveniently burned in the final assault by the feds when they pumped CS Gas into the building (with a TANK!) and tossed in an Incendiary to torch the place to destroy evidence.
Shall I continue?
since you chose to wear your butt on your shoulders...let’s ax this....what were the dividians guilty of ?
BULL$H!T
The rest is history.
That part you got right.
Unlike Waco there will be many causalities on the government side also if this unconstitutional law continues.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.