VOLuntarilyConservative

Folks, I have read and been told many stories about the the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE), and it has become apparent to me that this administrative agency intentionally acts below the radar (as compared to high-profile FBI and NSA investigations) because they have a habit of circumventing the law.

I also believe that BATFE agents in general have 1) very active imaginations and 2) a brazen attitude that "the law be damned."

A friend of SayUncle is finding this out the hard way. In order, see here, here, and here.

Now I know nothing of this case, and maybe Scoot was making or possessed machine guns and this isn't a case of a bitter retaliatory ex-wife that the BATFE treated as if she spoke The Gospel. However, in my experience, people with knowledge of firearms laws tend to line-up in the following order:

1) NRA Office of the General Counsel
2) NRA Affiliated Attorneys
3) Gun Enthusiasts
4) U.S. Attorneys
5) BATFE Agents

Guys like Scoot and SayUncle have knowingly raised their profile through their Internet presence. They know they are subject to increased scrutiny, and they tend to act cautiously because of that.

If I am ever elected to Congress, one of my first acts would be to introduce a bill that completely defunds the BATFE. In my experience, they serve no purpose but to harass and handicap the civil liberties of Americans - certainly much more than any wiretap program that focuses on a foreign terrorist on the other end of the telephone line.

UPDATE: The list I provided is in no way a slap on U.S. Attorneys, by the way. In fact, it is a tribute of sorts. Those fine men and women have to prosecute cases in the panacea of the entire U.S. Code. That I consider them being more knowledgeable than the BATFE, which has a restricted subject-matter of concern, is actually quite a complement.