Firearms Law Enforcement

The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

Firearms Law Enforcement
Violating one right always leads to violating other rights. In the course of enforcing gun control laws, police have committed other heinous crimes against humanity.

June 7, 1971: BATF shoots collector

BATF Shoots Collector
On June 7, 1971, ski-mask wearing BATF agents used a battering ram to break into the home of Kenyon Ballew. Based on an incorrect tip from a burglar, they were looking for grenades, which turned out to be legal empty grenade hulls.

Responding to his wife's screams, Ballew grabbed an antique blackpowder pistol, and was shot by BATF agents. He remains confined to a wheelchair.
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October 1980: Congress condemns BATF abuses

Congressional Hearing Blasts BATF
The criminal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) was investigated by Congress in hearings before the Subcommittee on Treasury, Post Office and General Appropriations of the Senate Appropriations Committee in July 1979 and April 1980, and before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 1980.

The final report called BATF's enforcement tactics "constitutionally, legally, and practically reprehensible" and said there is "little doubt that the Bureau has disregarded rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws of the United States."

In particular, the report found of the BATF:

"It has trampled upon the Second Amendment by chilling exercise of the right to keep and bear arms by law abiding citizens."
"It has offended the Fourth Amendment by unreasonably searching and seizing private property."
"It has ignored the Fifth Amendment by taking private property without just compensation and by entrapping honest citizens without regard for their right to due process of law."
"Approximately 75 percent of BATF gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge."
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January 1991(?): BATF harasses store owner

BATF Harasses Businessman for Maintaining Rights
The BATF revoked the Federal Firearms License (FFL) of a sporting goods store owner who refused to comply with an illegal request.

As reported by Neal Talbot in the March 1, 1991 Gun Week, Kirby Ferris was contacted by the BATF to schedule an inspection of his Marin County, California sporting goods store. A BATF agent said the BATF would inspect his records and check his list of customers "against the crime computer."

Ferris knew that the Form 4470s that firearms purchasers fill out is supposed to remain private except when a particular weapon has been used in a crime or a particular purchaser is a suspect.

When the BATF arrived to conduct the inspection, Ferris, along with four witnesses and a video camera, asked the BATF to sign a release holding Ferris blameless for the BATF's violation of the Privacy Act of 1974 (improper use of confidential information). The BATF refused to sign the release and left.

The BATF warned Ferris to submit to the warrantless search. Ferris wrote Harry Alder, the local head of the BATF, demanding that he "cease and desist" and pointing out the federal statutes making such a search illegal.

Alder responded by revoking Ferris' FFL and threatening him with up to $250,000 in fines and 5 years in prison. Ferris demanded an administrative review (part of due process) but was refused.

The warrantless inspection is part of the BATF's "Operation Forward Trace," which a federal judge has prohibited in his Ohio jurisdiction pending a final ruling in a court case involving the tactics.
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December 1991: BATF wrecks Tulsa home

BATF Wrecks Tulsa Home
On December 16, 1991, a joint task force of some sixty BATF agents and local law enforcement personnel, accompanied by two television crews, broke into the Tulsa, Oklahoma home of John Lawmaster.

Acting on a tip that Lawmaster had illegally converted a semi-automatic to full automatic, the BATF worked with Lawmaster's ex-wife to lure Lawmaster away from his home before the raid. With Lawmaster absent, BATF knocked down his front door with a battering ram. While some agents stood guard with weapons drawn, other agents broke open his gun safe, scattered his personal papers, spilled boxes of ammunition onto the floor, and broke into a small, locked box that contained precious coins. To look through some ceiling tiles, one agent stood on a table, breaking the table in the process.

Neighbors who asked what BATF was doing were threatened with arrest. The BATF left doors, tables, and safes broken and guns and ammunition unsecured on the floor, and a note: "Nothing found -- ATF." No charges were filed. The affadavit supporting the search warrant was sealed by the US Attorney's office.

When Lawmaster returned, utility company representatives arrived, and told him that they had been told to shut off all his utilities.
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April 1992: BATF leaves baby in bathtub

BATF Leaves Baby in Bathtub
On April 1, 1992, Malisa Knudson was bathing her 21-month-old daughter Kalee when she heard the sound of traffic coming up their remote mile-long road. As she came to the front door she saw several vehicles accompanying a Ryder moving van and an ambulance. About 30 agents piled out of the van and swarmed over her property. BATF handcuffs Malisa, and leaves the baby alone in the bath. For three hours the Knudson home was searched and Malisa was interrogated about the family's religious and political views.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

August 1992: BATF assault at Ruby Ridge

FBI Assault At Ruby Ridge
In 1992, the U.S. federal government conducted a military siege of a rural Idaho family, ultimately killing Randy Weaver's dog, son and wife. The government's behavior in the incident can only be described as sickening.

Federal agents set Randy Weaver up on weapons charges.
Attempting to infiltrate a white supremacist group, the BATF entrapped Weaver into selling them two shotguns. When he refused to cooperate with them, federal agents lied in order to get support for their retaliation.

The U.S. government murdered Randy Weaver's son and wife during a military siege of Ruby Ridge.
Four hundred armed federal agents conducted a siege of the Weavers' mountain home, first killing Randy Weaver's dog, then his son, then his wife.

Weaver was found innocent of all serious charges.
In a 1993 trial, Randy Weaver and his friend were found innocent of weapons and murder charges. Weaver was found guilty of not appearing in court on the original charges.

Later investigations criticized the federal agents.
The Justice Department's own report recommended criminal prosecution of federal agents; the surviving Weavers won $3.1 million in civil damages.

The U.S. Senate criticized federal law enforcement for their roles.
In September 1995, the Senate held hearings on the Ruby Ridge incident, and in December, released its report criticizing the FBI and other federal law enforcement agencies.
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I will post more on Ruby Ridge later for those of you who dont know about it, but that was a bunch of BS, and was one of the events that started my Anti-goverment veiws

February 1993: BATF terrorizes wrong victim

BATF Terrorizes Wrong Victim
On February 5, 1993, the BATF destroyed the home of Portland, Oregon resident Janice Hart and terrorized her children for several hours in a case of mistaken identity.

Acting on an informant's tip that Janice Hart was Janice Harrell, a wanted person, BATF agents broke down Hart's door (later nailing it shut), shoved dishes to the floor, ripped clothes from hangers, emptyed drawers.

When Hart returned home from grocery shopping, she found the agents ransacking her house. They told her to shut up and forced her two children and a neighborhood friend to remain in the car (Hart's parents later picked them up).

BATF agents interrogated Hart in her basement for over an hour.

"There's about eight of them down there and they're asking me over and over my name, my Social Security number, by birthdate. On and on, over and over. And I kept answering over and over. And I'm saying, What did I do? I don't have anything to hide."

Hart looked nothing like the BATF's picture of Harrell, and did not have the scars Harrell was known to have. When the BATF finally brought Hart to a Portland police station, the Portland police recognized from fingerprints that the BATF had the wrong person.

It took Hart and her ex-husband two days to clean the BATF's mess. Many damaged items had to be thrown out.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

February - April 1993: BATF massacre at Waco

Remember Waco
The federal government's military assault of a religious residence near Waco, Texas, was one of the most egregious abuses of power ever witnessed in the United States.

On February 28, 1993, the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) conducted a military assault of the living quarters of the Branch Davidians, a small Christian church once associated with the Seventh-Day Adventists. After a fifty-one-day siege, the Davidians' home burned, killing more than eighty men, women and children.

What happened?

BATF wanted to make an example of the Davidians.
BATF used some valid concerns to further their agenda of increasing their budget and disarming American citizens.

BATF used excessive force.
Instead of peacably serving a search warrant, the BATF lied in order to get military support, then attacked the Davidians with overwhelming firepower, leaving the Davidians no option but to defend themselves or be killed.

The FBI's siege confirmed Davidians' fears.
During the long siege, the FBI cut off utilities, blared recordings of rabbits being slaughtered, refused to allow family members to talk with the Davidians, and otherwise confirmed the Davidian's view that the federal government meant to kill them.

The federal government started the fire and made sure the Davidians died in it.
The FBI pumped an inflammable gas into a building lit with kerosene lanterns, then knocked down walls and blocked exits.

Government agencies covered up evidence of agents' wrongdoing.
The press were kept away from the scene; the building was immediately demolished; key evidence disappeared; several feet of topsoil was removed from the site.

Surviving Davidians were found innocent of murder.
Despite dirty tricks by the prosecution, a jury found that surviving Davidians acted in self-defense and were as such innocent of murder and conspiracy to murder. Six Davidians are appealing convictions on lesser charges.

The Waco tragedy stirred tremendous antigovernment sentiment.
Seeing federal agents abuse their authority with impunity, average Americans began to fear their government. Both the House and Senate held hearings on the Waco incident. Imprisoned Davidians appealed their sentences.

America is close to justice on the Waco incident.
In 1999, the tide began turn against the federal government, as long-suppressed evidence came to light. In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court threw out the lengthy prison sentences given to the Davidians, who will soon be resentenced.

Federal agencies should be required to use local police for actual enforcement.
To reduce the situations that made Waco likely, federal police should be prohibited from carrying weapons, instead being confined to an investigative role, and relying on local law enforcement for searches and arrests.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

January 1994: Groups criticize federal police

ACLU, NRA, Others Call for Investigation of Feds
Press Release: As Trials Of Waco Survivors Open In Texas, ACLU, NRA, Others Ask Clinton To Address Federal Police Abuse.

January 10, 1994

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union, the National Rifle Association, and other organizations from across the political spectrum today called on President Clinton to appoint a national commission to investigate serious allegations of abuse by federal law enforcement agencies and to recommend steps that must be taken to reduce constitutional and human rights violations by federal law enforcement personnel.

Led by the ACLU, the organizations delivered a letter to President Clinton in which they pointed out that federal law enforcement authorities now comprise close to 10 percent of the nations total police forces. Some 53 separate federal agencies -- from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms to the Immigration and Naturalization Service and from the U. S. Mint Police Force to the Bureau of Indian Affairs have the authority to carry firearms and make arrests, the organizations said, a figure that represents an enormous expansion in recent years in terms of both personnel and jurisdiction.

What is lacking, the ACLU and other organizations said in their letter, is systematic oversight and review of federal police practices. Such lapses, the organizations said, have lead to serious allegations of abuse, including the improper use of deadly force, use of unreliable informants without sufficient verification of their allegations and physical abuse.

The call for a national commission came as the survivors of the confrontation between the Branch Davidians and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, went on trial in San Antonio, Texas.

Independent experts have already questioned the federal law enforcement practices that led to the tragic deaths of so many men, women, and innocent children, said Laura Murphy Lee, the Director of the ACLUs Washington Office.

We, of course, recognize that the majority of federal officers strive, often under dangerous and demanding circumstances, to carry out their duties in a restrained, lawful, and professional manner, Murphy added. But at the same time, we know that the Waco confrontation was not an isolated incident.

In addition to the ACLU and the NRA, the other organizations issuing the call include the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms; the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation; the Drug Policy Foundation; the Independence Institute; the International Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement; National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; The National Legal Aid and defender Association, and the Second Amendment Foundation.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

April 1994: BATF attacks Ohio man

BATF Attacks Ohio Man
From a January 5, 1995 NRA Alert:

A national commission is too late to help Louie Katona from Bucyrus, Ohio.

The Katona family is a poster family for Middle America. Louie's wife is a devoted mother. Louie himself owns a real estate agency. He was a part-time police officer and a full-time community contributor. But he is also a gun collector.

Based on a trumped-up charge that he falsified certain BATF forms, BATF entered his home. During the raid, his wife, Kimberly, became understandably agitated and upset. An overzealous agent pushed his wife against a wall. Within hours, Kimberly, then several months pregnant, began bleeding. She soon miscarried.

Did BATF apologize to this family? No. Instead, BATF pressed criminal charges against Katona. This past April, a judge threw the charges out of court. The Katona family has civil action pending against ATF.

[This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA.]
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May 1994: BATF attacks the Lamplughs

BATF Lamplugh Incident
BATF Thugs Strike Again!
[The following article first appeared in The Gun Owner, Volume 13, Number 6, December 1994 and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the publisher, Gun Owners of America. Permission is granted to reproduce this article by any means, in any media, at any time or place so long as it remains complete and unedited and all attributions are intact. Reprint permission has also been granted by Gun Owners of America and the Lamplughs on these same terms.]

The lives of Harry and Theresa Lamplugh were turned upside down on the morning of May 25, 1994. Early that day, 15-to-20 armed men and women burst into their rural Pennsylvania home. Under the threat of violence, the Lamplughs cooperated completely with the intruders as they opened safes, locks and cabinets. In spite of their compliance, however, Harry and Theresa were treated with contempt. Throughout the ordeal, a fully automatic machine gun was intermittently thrust in both their faces. The Lamplughs watched in horror as the thugs literally trashed their home. Furniture was overturned or smashed and papers were scattered everywhere. Three pet cats were ruthlessly killed--one literally stomped to death. The gang ransacked their home for more than six hours. When they finally left, Harry and Theresa stood confused and angry in the midst of their demolished home.

The brutal and inhumane events that you have just read about are not fiction. They were taken from the testimony of Harry and Theresa Lamplugh. Only the intruders were not some violent street gang members or foreign terrorists; they were agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Why would two federal agencies send a small battalion of agents to terrorize this couple in the supposed safety of their home? What terrible crime did Harry and Theresa Lamplugh commit that prompted this brutal six-and-a half hour ordeal? Shockingly, there are no good answers to these questions.

Harry Lamplugh, however, is in the politically incorrect business of promoting gun shows. His organization, Borderline Gun Collectors Association, happens to be the largest gun show promoter in the Northeast. As anyone who has ever attended a gun show knows, there are more than firearms and accessories on display. A gun show is also a place where people of common interests meet to express their political views and share opinions. Not surprisingly, criticism of the BATF runs deep at such a forum. And it is no secret that the BATF spends considerable time and effort infiltrating these shows.

Since gun show infiltration is a massive undertaking that yields relatively small returns, the BATF has now honed in on a primary source, Harry Lamplugh. On May 23, 1994, the agencies obtained a search warrant authorizing both the BATF and the IRS to "search" the Lamplugh home. Included in the list of items to be seized were any firearms, ammunition, holsters, cleaning kits, gun cases and firearms accessories. The Lamplughs' attorney points out that the warrant failed to name even one specific item. "Such warrants are vague, overbroad and therefore unconstitutional," he said.

The agents also seized complete financial and business records of the Borderline Gun Collectors Association from 1988 to the present. This included all computer records and any other documents related to the sale and purchase of firearms. Obviously, the BATF was on some sort of "fishing expedition." But the most amazing aspect of the warrant is what was not on it. There was no reference to any crime by any person. The BATF appears to hold not only the Second Amendment in disdain, but the Fourth as well.

On Wednesday, May 25, 1994, the search warrant was executed. At about eight in the morning, Harry answered a knock on the front door and was instantly surrounded by agents. His wife was in the bathroom at the time. He had been sitting at the kitchen table in a pair of pajama bottoms, having his morning coffee. "Unto this day I don't know exactly how many there were, but they had my house secured in seconds," Harry said.

According to Lamplugh, there were a total of six cars full of agents. They were not dressed in any uniform, and only two had the identifying ATF vests on. All firearms were drawn. An M-P5 machine gun was stuck in Harry's face. They did not announce who they were or why they were there, and no search warrants were displayed. "When I asked if they had a search warrant, their first reply was 'shut the fuck up mother fucker; do you want more trouble than you already have?', with the machine gun stuck in my face." Harry said. "They then proceeded to tear my house apart."

The Lamplughs were not permitted to dress all day. "We couldn't even go to the bathroom without an armed guard, as if we were prisoners in our own home," says Mrs. Lamplugh. Then, like a slap in the face, the agents stopped everything to eat lunch. "They gave no thought to what we were going through. Some agents went out for pizza, and they had a little party. It was like a room full of kindergartners with no chaperon. They threw half-emptied soda cans, pizza and pizza boxes everywhere. To some people, maybe it sounds like we're complaining about a small thing, but this is our home and they trashed it."

The agents' reckless conduct at the "pizza party" characterized their behavior throughout the raid. "Because I have cancer, I usually have about 20 bottles of prescription drugs on top of my bureau. For some unknown reason, they thought it necessary to open the bottles and scatter the contents all over the floor. Consequently, two of our cats got into the medication and died horrible deaths."

The agents continued their aimless search. "Where's the machine gun" one of the agents asked. Finally, an indication they were looking for something in particular. "At first I didn't know what he meant," Harry said. "Then I recalled that I once owned a Vietnam commemorative Thompson, inlaid in 22 karat gold, but that was a semi-automatic. One of the agents then responded, 'That must be what they're talking about.'" The agents were apparently looking for something that wasn't even there, or illegal to possess."

However, they were very thorough in sifting through what was there. But for what reason did the agents take marriage and birth certificates, school records, insurance information, vehicle registrations and titles? Harry points out that "they were so thorough that for about two weeks we would have had a hard time proving who we were. They took all of our contacts with newspapers (Over 600), all friends and family phone numbers, and even my medical records." There were 61 firearms and assorted ammo seized in the raid, valued at over $15,000. The agents took about 70,000 names and addresses of exhibitors and also gun show contracts through the year 2000. A stack of mail was opened, read and also confiscated.

Finally, at about three o'clock, the wrecking crew finished their destruction. In one final unconscionable act, female agent Donna Slusser deliberately stomped to death a cherished Manx kitten, and kicked it under a tree.

The affidavit in support of the warrant was made by BATF special agent Scott Endy. For reasons unknown to the Lamplughs, the affidavits were sealed by a local federal judge. An Assistant United States Attorney was asked by the Lamplughs' attorney to unseal the document, but he has steadfastly refused to do so.

The persecution Harry and Theresa have endured has been extremely harsh. At no time was this peaceful couple informed of any violation of the law, and to this day no charges have been brought against the Lamplughs. Yet, the BATF has refused to return any property, even medical records and other personal documents and possessions.

The actions of the men and women who entered the Lamplughs' home must not be ignored or forgotten. The Lamplughs are victims, not suspects, in this matter, and this is but one of the many examples of the BATF's abuse of its power through the years. This government brutality must be stopped.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

July 1994: BATF attacks St. Louis woman

BATF Attacks St. Louis Woman
From a January 5, 1995 NRA Alert:

At four o'clock in the morning of July 13, 1994, dressed in their Ninja-style outfits, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stormed into the bedroom of Monique Montgomery, aged 21, at her St. Louis, Missouri home. The BATF says it was looking for drugs in the home of the St. Louis woman, but it found none. The BATF says it was looking for illegal guns, but it found none. Instead -- after a investigation that was six weeks in the making -- it found a woman -- alone and deep asleep -- in her bedroom.

According to press accounts, two agents hit that bedroom with guns drawn, shields up and high intensity lights glaring. The agents claimed that they knocked and announced themselves ... before breaking down the woman's door. Hearing such a commotion and being startled as anyone would with such a bizarre scene at four in the morning, Miss Montgomery did what most reasonable Americans would do. She armed herself with a firearm she lawfully owned for personal protection.

The agents claim to have, quote, repeatedly identified themselves and told her to drop her weapon, unquote. But this is the same BATF which set the time for the raid at four in the morning -- to maximize the victim's disorientation. So the victim had no choice but to be disorientated and confused. And, according to the BATF, the agent, quoting again, didn't have any other choice, unquote, -- but to shoot her.

And shoot her he did. Four times.

Long before Ms. Montgomery was released from the hospital after being shot in the chest and hip, the agent who shot her was back on the job.

[This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA.]
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

January 1995: NRA criticizes BATF

NRA Criticizes BATF
Remarks by Joseph Phillips, Director of Federal Affairs, NRA Institute for Legislative Action, at a January 5, 1995 press conference in Washington, D.C.

When the National Rifle Association of America and other constitutional rights organizations first joined together to urge that President Clinton establish a national commission to investigate abuse of power on the part of federal law enforcement agencies, the date was January 1993.

It is now January 1995.

The need for a national commission on government violence is now two years too late for too many victims, and President Clinton is still not listening.

There is often disagreement between NRA and the American Civil Liberties Union, another leading coalition member, on a host of issues ranging from the Second Amendment to criminal justice reform. But on the issue of government violence, there is agreement. Federal government power is being aimed at honest citizens, the liberties of those citizens are being abused and the lives of those citizens are being threatened.

I will give you just two examples of why this commission is too many years too late.

At four o'clock in the morning of July 13, 1994, dressed in their Ninja-style outfits, agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stormed into the bedroom of Monique Montgomery, aged 21. The BATF says it was looking for drugs in the home of the St. Louis woman, but it found none. The BATF says it was looking for illegal guns, but it found none. Instead -- after a investigation that was six weeks in the making -- it found a woman -- alone and deep asleep -- in her bedroom.

According to press accounts, two agents hit that bedroom with guns drawn, shields up and high intensity lights glaring. The agents claimed that they knocked and announced themselves ... before breaking down the woman's door. Hearing such a commotion and being startled as anyone would with such a bizarre scene at four in the morning, Miss Montgomery did what most reasonable Americans would do. She armed herself with a firearm she lawfully owned for personal protection.

The agents claim to have, quote, repeatedly identified themselves and told her to drop her weapon, unquote. But this is the same BATF which set the time for the raid at four in the morning -- to maximize the victim's disorientation. So the victim had no choice but to be disorientated and confused. And, according to the BATF, the agent, quoting again, didn't have any other choice, unquote, -- but to shoot her.

And shoot her he did. Four times.

Long before Ms. Montgomery was released from the hospital after being shot in the chest and hip, the agent who shot her was back on the job.

And now, quoting from a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial, ATF officials may have perfectly good explanations. But in the wake of the Branch Davidian raid in Waco, Texas, ... citizens have reason to ask two more questions: Did the agents handle this raid the right way? Has the ATF learned any lessons in patience? Unquote.

The BATF must learn a lesson, not just in patience, but in constitutional rights. Federal law enforcement -- like state and local law enforcement -- exists to preserve and protect our liberties as well as our lives. The 3.5 Million members of the National Rifle Association grow increasingly concerned about the cavalier attitude of many elements of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The signs of abuse of power are unmistakable. It is time for Americans to read the signs and demand an accounting.

But just as a national commission is too late to help Monique Montgomery, it is also too late for Louie Katona from Bucyrus, Ohio.

The Katona family is a poster family for Middle America. Louie's wife is a devoted mother. Louie himself owns a real estate agency. He was a part-time police officer and a full-time community contributor. But he is also a gun collector.

Based on a trumped-up charge that he falsified certain BATF forms, BATF entered his home. During the raid, his wife, Kimberly, became understandably agitated and upset. An overzealous agent pushed his wife against a wall. Within hours, Kimberly, then several months pregnant, began bleeding. She soon miscarried.

Did BATF apologize to this family? No. Instead, BATF pressed criminal charges against Katona. This past April, a judge threw the charges out of court. The Katona family has civil action pending against ATF.

The reasons for the Constitution are many, but one primary reason is to limit raw government power that we have seen nearly destroy the Katona family and nearly kill Monique Montgomery.

It is time to readjust the scales of power in this country. Those scales must always weigh in favor of the people's rights, not the government's power. For Monique Montgomery and the Louie Katona family, the scales of power nearly crushed them out. We must right that wrong.

For too many Americans, a national commission on government violence is too many years too late. Let us not keep Americans -- or their constitutional rights -- waiting any longer. NRA joins ACLU, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, the Independence Institute and others in urging President Clinton -- one more time -- to right the scales of justice.

Thank you.

[This information is presented as a service to the Internet community by the NRA/ILA.]
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

March 1995: Ohio police assault eccentric gun owner

The Lekan Incident
John Lekan was an eccentric. Eccentrics can easily get on the wrong side of government officials.

Lekan, 54, lived with his wife Beverly, 49, and their son John Jr., 9, in Brunswick, Ohio. Lekan, a veteran, was disabled; his wife suffers from Multiple Sclerosis.

A Medina County Human Services Department health aide apparently did not care for Lekan's habit of carrying a loaded firearm at home for self-defense. The health aide told Mrs. Lekan that the police would be accompanying her on her next visit.

This is the first point at which government officials crossed the line of individual rights. Being eccentric is not a crime. Carrying a firearm at home is not a crime and in fact is protected by the Constitution, the supreme law of the land. Neither eccentricity nor gun ownership is enough to warrant police action.

At 3 p.m. Friday, March 31, 1995, two Brunswick police officers arrived at the Lekan home. Officer Sam Puzella knocked on the door. When Lekan refused to let them in, Puzella kicked in the door.

This is the second point at which government officials violated Lekan's rights. At this point, there was no suspicion that anyone was in immediate danger, nor was there a search or arrest warrant enabling the officers to enter the property.

When the door was kicked in, Lekan's eccentricity turned violent. Lekan shot Puzella in the chest. The police retreated. Puzella was airlifted to a hospital. At 8:30 p.m., police attempted to rush the Lekan home. Lekan shot two more police.

At this point the police began a siege of Lekan's home. The neighborhood was evacuated; gas, electric, telephone, water service and street lights were shut off; cameras were installed to see into the interior of the home; four SWAT teams, 300 law enforcement personnel, 200 fire fighters and two Armored Personnel Carriers (APC's) converged at the site.

Police began pumping water at a rate of 1,000 gallons per minute into Lekan's basement to try to flood him out.

At 11 a.m. Saturday, April 1, APC's broke through the garage door, east wall and backyard patio doors of the Lekan home, inserting tear gas. Reports indicate that at this point Lekan and his son died of single gunshot wounds to the head, ruled a murder-suicide by Medina County coroner Dr. Neil Grabenstetter.

At 10:15 a.m. Sunday, April 2, police fired more tear gas through broken windows, entered the house through a window, found Mrs. Lekan and brought her out the house. SWAT team members entered the Lekan home, and four hours later emerged with the bodies of Lekan and his son.

The bodies were found in the bathroom with a gas mask, two acetylene oxygen tanks, a 10-gauge shotgun, a .27 caliber rifle and ammunition for both weapons.
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March 1995: BATF faces discrimination suit

BATF Accused of Racism
The BATF is in trouble again. The March 8, 1995 USA Today reported that "a group of black agents has sued the 4,200-employee agency, charging widespread discrimination." Donnie Carter, special agent in charge of ATF's Houston office, said there is "institutional racism" inside BATF.

"The suit charges ATF officials have routinely ignored racial abuses while funneling blacks into low-paying, but dangerous street assignments with little career potential. The black agents' legal documents cite numerous racial problems, including how: White agents in Oklahoma City in 1991 plastered their walls with a Confederate flag, a 'State of Oklahoma Nigger Hunting License', and a Ku Klux Klan business card. Black agents at the ATF office in Chicago in 1991 went to the photocopier and found a picture of civil rights activist Jesse Jackson with the words 'jungle bunny' scrawled on it."
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

April 1995: BATF loses guns

BATF Hypocrisy
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is quick to respond when private citizens don't follow myriad federal gun regulations to the letter, keeping track of extensive weapons collections.

However, when the BATF came up short 152 firearms in one inventory, they simply erased the weapons from their computer records without investigation, as reported by Chris Collins of Gannett News Service.
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The_Ancient · May 1, 2002

June 1995: BATF sieges empty house

BATF Sieges Empty House
Ragnar Danneskjold in a message forwarded to Libernet, reported that the BATF mistakenly conducted a 12-hour siege of an empty house.

Around 6pm Friday, June 23, 1995, the BATF attempted to serve a search warrant at a residence in Parma, Ohio (not far from Cleveland). The man who answered their knock, a 23-year-old who lived with his parents, slammed the door in their face. Of course, what else could the BATF do but call in the tanks.

The ATF (now with the Parma SWAT teams) turned off all power in the area and made the television crews turn off their lights. Local commentators speculated that the young man was holding his parents hostage with a large stockpile of illegal weapons.

Danneskjold reported that Ted Henry of ABC affiliate WEWS Channel 5 said, "well he must have quite a stockpile of weapons for the ATF to serve a search warrant."

Over sixty officers from the BATF, Parma police and other local communities' police sieged the house all night. Bullhorns, a hostage negotiation phone, optics and such were all tried, to no avail.

Unbeknownst to the BATF, the man had already slipped out the back door.

Around 6:30am the next morning, a BATF "dynamic entry team" entered the house. The man's parents, who it seems were not even in the house much less being held hostage, gave the BATF the keys to the front door.

The BATF found neither the man nor any "large stockpile of illegal weapons." The BATF is not commenting any further on the incident, although they did say that they were only executing a search warrant, not an arrest warrant. Further, the agents that had the door slammed in their face did not have the warrant with them.
Click to expand...

Their are a Few more and they date to the current but I am tire of pasting,

I think you get the idea

This is Number 20 on my list "why we need the right to bear arms" to protect our selves from our own goverment

Mr Bentwrench · May 2, 2002

I had a FFL for about 10 yrs up until the laws got too strict with the passage of the Brady Bill. Since then, I have had contact with ATF with mixed results. Sometimes they are quite informative and forthcoming. Other times, they either know nothing or are heavy handed. I can say that their gun tracing hotline works very well and can run down about any gun in less than 24 hrs.

My complaint is not as much with the ATF specifically but with Federal enforcement (non police) agencies in general from Fish & Wildlife to the IRS. I've saw Fish & Wildlife treat a young teenage couple like they were arab terrorist for discreetly toking a joint on the bank well away from the boat ramp. I've had IRS special agents come into my CPA firm and when asked for their identification, one had the nerve to just pull his polyester sportcoat back and show his holstered gun. Yeah, like that is the way a professional agency enforcement officer is to identify himself to you. I want the badge, the ID card AND the warrant before you take another step.

BTW, I have had my house tossed twice by Metro Narcotics (courtsey of my son but with a warrent). I must say that although they came in strong and deep, once reasonablness was shown, sanity returned. The first question was "Do you have and guns in the house?" Well, hell yeah! All over. What irked me last time was when the search quickly came up empty, the oficers continued to go through my stored guns and just left them all out. Took me a day to wipe, clean and properly re-store then all.

PS: As for the searches, the cops had incomplete information and about 48 hrs old but basically did already know all the players and what was going down. Pretty much sacred my son straight.

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