How the ATF Manufactures Crime
After a bungled sting attracted the suspicion of the Milwaukee press earlier this year, reporters started to examine similar enterprises in the rest of the country. What they found astonished them. Among the tactics they discovered ATF agents employing were using mentally disabled Americans to help run unnecessary sting operations; establishing agency-run “fronts” in “safe zones” such as schools and churches; providing alcohol, drugs, and sexual invitations to minors; destroying property and then expecting the owners to pick up the tab; and hiring felons to sell guns to legal purchasers. Worse, perhaps, in a wide range of cases, undercover agents specifically instructed individuals to behave in a certain manner — and then arrested and imprisoned them for doing so. This is government at its worst. And it appears to be standard operating procedure.
When I was still in my teens, my older brother applied for a federal firearms license so he could still indulge in his hobby of buying and trading rifles legally under the then-new GCA ’68. He didn’t know he was signing up to be a public enemy, a dreaded “kitchen table dealer.” He wasn’t trying to subvert the law, he was trying to comply with it. And he played into the hands of a federal agency that would do anything, no matter how despicable, to make itself look like Elliot Ness and the Untouchables in news stories. I have never forgotten that, I have never forgiven it, and even so I never fail to be shocked when the brave boys of F-Troop do the same things over and over, raise the same damned stupid scandals – for decades – and keep right on getting away with it.
I just really, truly, purely and passionately hate the ATF.
Have you ever met any agency, Federal or State who carried guns and badges who’s main directive wasn’t to harass or intimidate? I haven’t