[Billthedrill]

The version of the story I heard held that the shotguns' barrel length was, in fact, over 18 inches and legal. Failing to entrap Weaver on that, the ATF resorted to a lesser-known restriction on total length, under which the shotguns did fall.

Unmentioned in all this is that the Feds were trying to turn Weaver into an agent who would infiltrate the Aryan Nations, one of the white supremacist organizations that the media were claiming pervaded northern Idaho. Weaver was not, actually one of them - he differentiated between separatism and supremacy, a distinction which may not mean much to the SPLC but meant a great deal to the Aryan Nations.

And so an attempt at legal blackmail turned into a case of legalized murder on the part of the federal government. Weaver was, in the end, awarded a multi-million dollar settlement, cold comfort for a dead wife and son and time spent in prison.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I always wondered why he would have cut the barrels too short.

Now I know the answer is that he didn't.

The Branch Davidians were raided over a tax issue. You need to purchase a $200 tax stamp to install an autosear in a semi-auto firearm.

The Feds murdered 86 people over a $200 tax.