Newsgroups: alt.society.civil-liberty,alt.politics.usa.misc,talk.politics.misc,soc.rights.human From: [j k p] at [cs.HUT.FI] (Jyrki Kuoppala) Subject: BATF of USA Date: Wed, 21 Apr 1993 08:27:06 GMT > Well, when the nice federal officers come to my house to check out my > extensive weapons cache, I'll just be sure not to shoot at them. > "Tea, ladies and gentlemen?" Just maybe you won't be home. Then you can come home to something like this: "Well, it's been a rough month," begins Johnnie Lawmaster. "I just get laid off, and my divorce became final. But I just wasn't ready for what happened this particular Monday." That particular Monday was was December 16, the first day of the Bill of Rights' third century, the day when federal agents and local law enforcement officer broke into the house in Tulsa that always flew the U.S. flag. When Lawmaster drove into the driveway that bleak afternoon, one of his neighbors had some news. "'Ohmigod, John, you are in big trouble!' my neighbor tells me. 'Sixty police, federal agents and the bomb squad busted in you house, kicked down the door, cut locks off your gun safe.' I couldn't believe it. Then I walked inside. What a nightmare." It was no nightmare; it was horribly real life. Apparently acting on information the Lawmaster possessed an illegal firearm, some thirty agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) teamed up with state and Tulsa police authorities, search warrant in hand, to search for a "Colt, AR-15, .223 caliber machine gun, unknown serial number." The warrant, issued by U.S. Magistrate John Leo Wagner, also authorized agents to seize "any tools used in the alteration or modification of firearms, such as files or drills; documents, papers, books, records, and other tangible properties which identify occupants or owners of the property to be searched...." Reports vary, but according to neighbors, the joint task force operation aimed at the unemployed warehouseman from a nearby hospital involved some 60 agents and local law enforcement personnel against Lawmaster. They cordoned off the street; took station with weapons drawn in the back yard; used a battering ram to break through the front door; kicked in the back door; broke into his gun safe; threw personal papers around the house; spilled boxes of ammunition on the floor; broke into a small, locked box that contained precious coins; stood on a table to peer through the ceiling tiles, breaking the table in the process. Then, they left. The doors were closed but not latched, much less locked. The ammo and guns were left unsecured. "My front and back doors were pulled shut, but they were busted through and couldn't latch. Anybody could have waltzed in there and stolen everything I own. A child could have taken a gun. The guns, the safe -- everything was open and laying around. I keep all my magazines empty, but someone had loaded them. While I was looking around in amazement, the gas, electric and water companies show up to turn the power off. They said they were told to shut things down. Then I found the note. "Nothing Found - ATF." "They didn't make any attempt to notify me. I've lived in Tulsa all my life and never got more than a traffic ticket. How come they can't look that up, realize I've been law-abiding my whole life, then come to the door when I'm home? They didn't leave someone here to watch over my private property. They didn't even come by to explain what happened. They just raided my home, ransaked it, left it wide open and left." Lawmaster placed a phone call to the local BATF agent. "I asked, 'Are you gonna' arrest me?' and he said, 'No.' I asken him, "Who is going to repair and clean up my house?' And he said, "If you're going to talk to me, come down to my office.' "'I can't come down!' I said. 'My doors are broken!' If I had been on vacation and I didn't have friendly neighbors, I would have lost everything I own. Here I am a competent, responsible firearms owner, and the government leaves them open, unlocked, with ammo strewn around." Lawmaster said the agent advised him, "If you want your door to lock and your gun safe to lock, you're gonna' have to pay for it yourself." "'Oh, I'll come right down, alright,' I told him. 'I'll come down, but I'll bring my attorney.' And he said, 'Well, you bring your attorney, and we won't talk to you.'" So if you don't want your tea party to be held in awkward silence, make sure your lawyer isn't there, there's a good chap. > It's very sad all those people died, especially the kids, but that's going > to happen in a free society whenever psychologically needy people hook up > with a charismatic nutcase. What a repulsive outlook on society. "Followers of unusual religions may be killed by the government -- it simply can't be helped in a free society." You and I have two different concepts of "free." -- [c d t] at [rocket.sw.stratus.com] --If you believe that I speak for my company, OR [c d t] at [vos.stratus.com] write today for my special Investors' Packet...