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As a law enforcement officer in the state of Maryland then you should be even more incensed at agent Braga's shooting of the boy scout and the incompetence shown in that stop. what happened to normal felony stop procedure in that case. The boy was unarmed. Felony stop procedure was not followed in stopping the car. The agents approached and surrounded the car instaed of order the two subjects out of the car. The agent shot the young man in the face with a .223 carbine. What we have here is negligence resulting in a potentially but thankfully not fatal wound of an innocent person.

That sure sounds like a prima facia case of reckless endazngerment to me. further since agent Braga is obviously not either out of the area or not in a position where he no longer interacts with the public and from your implications not absolutely consumed by guilt for the injuries caused to this young man I would suggest that you might do well to reconsider your own view of the job.

Do you enforce all of Maryland's gun laws? Do you have any problem with doing so? Would you be willing to raid the house of an otherwise law abiding citizen to confiscate an "illegal handgun?"

When a law enforcement officer takes his or her oath they still swear to preserve protect and defend the Constitution of the United States od America do they not? How do you resolve the clear intent of the Second Ammendment preserving the Right to keep and bear arms with some of the laws of the state of Maryland that you are enforcing. Do you think about this?Do you participate in some of the gun owner harassment tactics the Maryland State Police have engaged in in the past? Do you think that ther state of Maryland has a right to have all citizens who are not in law enforcement disarmed? Does the State of Maryland have the right to make it a crime to own an AR-15? Would you arrest someone who possed an AR-15 merely for possessing it. Stipulated facts are as follows no other warrants, no criminal record but when asked did not turn it over for ballistic tests?

I am far more appalled that you do not know about the history of the Baltimore county raid since you are a law enforcement officer in the state of Maryland. As such you have a responsibility to know about past foul ups by law enforcement so you learn from the mistakes. Further, you should recognize that just because a shooting was ruled within policy and the officer not prosecuted it does not mean that it was a good operation.

Now you may think both I and Travis McGee are anti-police and absolutely nothing could be further from the truth. I think the best description would be very much pro-LEO but against those officers who think their job is crack down on trhe citizens. Being on the job requires a very great deal of a person and some people are not up to it.

Let's put this argument back into perspective, at least from my point of view. I am not defending SA Braga's actions during the car stop. That was a matter for the Anne Arundel County State's Attorney to either pursue or not. Just because criminal action was not taken against SA Braga dosen't mean that there was not any wrongdoing on his part. Mr. Shultz still has the option of suing Braga, the FBI and /or the Federal Government for the FBI's actions that night. If the negligence is there a jury will find it so and the truth will out. Simply because he continues to be able to function as a competent investigator dosen't mean he has not been affected or is not remorseful about the incident.

As far as enforcement of Maryland's gun laws are concerned, if they are on the books I do enforce them as I have taken an oath to do so. I do not make the laws in Maryland but again, I work with what is given to me. I have seized handguns from prohibited persons before...otherwise "law abiding" as you put it. (I suppose in your book everyone......including convicted felons, can be considered law abiding if you remove them from their past or present behavior). Engaging in "selective enforcement" is not in the oath I took. I have in the past, and will continue to do so in the future, complain/contact/write my elected representitives when I disagree about passed or pending legislation. If you don't like what's there make an effort to change it.

To answer your question, no, I have not "raided" the home of an illegal gun owner unless their past history (i.e. convictions for assault, attempted murder) warrant entry into a home with the use of force. I have in the past, knocked at the persons door, explained the situation to them, and given them the option of placing the firearm in the custody of a non-prohibited person, or selling it to a liscensed dealer. I am sure that there have been instances in the past where LEO's have used excessive force in these situations....but your painting of the ATF/FBI/MSP or any other LEO's with a broad brush is unwarranted and unjustified.

Please return to my original question to you. You again speak of a raid where the ATF killed someone in Towson. Please provide SOME factual basis for your claim....a name....a date....a decade even. It is beginng to sound like an urban legend to me. Good for you and those of your ilk here....more faceless grist for the rumor mill.

I don't believe that you are anti-LEO harpseal, I simply think that you buy into the whole "black Helicopter / UN / ATF / FBI / gun grabbing paranoia" that affects so many who post here. As for Mr. McGee I think he simply is here to sell a book.

How many arrests and /or enforcement operations has the ATF / MSP / FBI conducted in the past ten years? My guess would be approximately 10,000 per year. So in over 100,000 enfocement operations....statisticly there are going to be mistakes. I again do not wish to downplay the unfortunate shooting of Mr. Shultz. We are all human harpseal, prone to mistakes and bad judgement, and LEO's are no less so.

Mr. McGee:
Hmmm......I sense backpedaling. Lets map this out:

1.)First you state ALL of the FBI/ATF/SWAT/HRT/SRT members come DIRECTLY from Military Specops.

2.)You then state in another post a "Factoid" that it was approximately 75%. Where is your proof? Do you have any documentation to support your claims? What is a "Factoid"? It is obviously not a fact or you would have called it as such and backed it up with verifiable proof.

3.) By the way you now only mention the FBI. What happened to your claim about the ATF SRT's?

Let me draw a parallel.......I will state, without any proof whatsoever that:

1.)"The Moon is made of cheese"

Now, when challenged I will modify that statement, again without any proof (and based on some foggy personal recollection) that:

2.)"Well the dark side of the moon is made of apprximately 75% cheese" (This may constitute a "Factoid")

3.)I will, of course, fail to mention whatsoever the other side of the moon.

Do you research Mr. McGee.

Regards: OTA