1993: The Year of the BATF
by
Matt Giwer (c) 1994 (1/24)

      This week every one is looking for something to remember to characterize 1993. I would nominate the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the BATF. It was there actions that initiate the largest number of American deaths due to any law enforcement action in the history of the United States.
      So why would I not nominate this the year of the law ENFORCEMENT? It goes back to 1982 when the Reagan Administration attempted to disband the BATF after a Congressional investigation found them largely an agency dedicated to entrapment and prosecution based upon unlawful private interpretations of the law. The failure to disband the organization was because no other government agency would take the disgraced agents.
      Were I to nominate this the year of law enforcement I would be connecting all law enforcement officials with the BATF. Although Christmas has passed it is still the holiday season and such a connection would be doubly uncharitable.
      Why not the year of making the world safe from people with unusual religious beliefs? I know not of you but I have never been accosted in an airport by a Branch Davidian. Although some of the groups that have accosted me have led me to fantasize of leading a ninja clad assault team throwing grenades I have never been in a position to act out such fantasies.
      Perhaps it was the year of making the world safe from armed religious fanatics? I know not of you but my concerns for armed fanatics requires them to do something first. I can hardly call hard working, good neighbors a threat nor would I be interested in doing so.
      Perhaps it was the year to end child abuse. I could go along with that had not all charges of child abuse been dismissed before the BATF attack and also after the final FBI attack. It is good to be against child abuse but it is also desirable to have an example of child abuse to be against.
      Perhaps it was the year that ended armed camps among us. I do not know of you but I never felt threatened by a group of people living outside Waco, Texas any more than did the people of Waco. Why should they? The Branch Davidians had fewer guns than the average Texan. An armed society is indeed a polite society.
      That does leave us with the year of the BATF. 1993 was the year of public acceptance of the BATF as the public administrator of justice against those who are a bit eccentric. Not that eccentricity is against the law but rather that when eccentricty can be demonized.
      The proverbial crazy aunt in the attic may be a person the family does not wish to recognize but we are embarassed, we laugh, we do not shoot. Back in the days when the Latter Day Saints were new perhaps we did shoot them and run them out of town. These days we are more likely to put them on the list of local attractions in an attempt to attract tourists.
      However, it was 1993, the year of the BATF. We saw the start of the largest holocaust ever in a law enforcement action. We were treated to blow by blow coverage of what happens to people who join cults.
      I would be remiss if I failed to suggest what 1994 should be. It should be the year of justice. The year when the FBI ceases to be suckered into events created as it was in Waco. It should be the last year of the existence of the BATF.
      1994 should be the last year we have to concern ourselves with the threat of an armed gang of thugs running loose in this country hiding under the mask of law.