Out of the Frying Pan?
by Kirby Ferris
© Copyright Jews For The Preservation of Firearms Ownership (JPFO) 2011
Rumors are surfacing regarding the U.S. Department of Justice’s plans to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE). The blood soaked debacle of BATFE’s "Operation Fast and Furious", the blatantly felonious scheme of running guns to murderous Mexican drug cartels, may have put the nail in the coffin for what is almost certainly America’s most sordid federal agency.
Since our founding in 1989, Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership has relentlessly called for the abolition of the BATFE (see: "The Gang" link here). Every warning JPFO could give about the dangers of "gun control", short of the final act of genocide, was embodied by the despicable behavior of the "jack booted thugs", the "bucket heads", the "gun goons".
Normally, JPFO would be cheering the possibility of disbanding the BATFE from the roof tops. But we now face a particularly disturbing question: "If not the BATFE … then who?"
Some federal agency is going to take over the "stewardship" of the millions and millions of gun owner registration documents that the BATFE now cuddles with the slobbering fetishism of Gollum in "The Lord of the Rings". You can hear the goose stepping drones right now as they scroll through their computerized databases: "Ahhh … my precious. My precious!"
Do any of you really think that the draconian expansion of "gun control" would lessen under the more efficient FBI or the other agency whispered (according to one report) to be in line for the BATFE’s present authority, the DEA?
Is the DEA less corrupt than the BATFE? There is so much free floating drug cash available in the symbiotic dance called the "War on Drugs" – can palms remain ungreased? Additionally, as revelations unfold, it is becoming clear that DEA was also involved in "Fast and Furious" up to its eyeballs.
Okay, so what about the FBI being put in charge of "gun control" in America?
Let’s not forget who put the icing on the cake at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and Waco, Texas. It was the bungling BATFE that got the show rolling with both these atrocities. But it was the FBI that was called in as the "closer". An FBI sniper put a bullet through Randy Weaver’s wife’s head. It was FBI tanks and/or tear gas canisters that preceeded the inferno and murderous incineration of a church in Waco. And it was the FBI’s NICS checks that cleared felons as straw purchasers in "Fast and Furious", so they were complicit at best.
No friends, these aren’t the squeaky clean "G Men" of decades past. Also remember that the FBI upper crustlings are certainly not advocates of an armed citizenry in America. See: FBI Director Mueller’s statements regarding Heller. Mueller is a classic example of the type of authoritarian power tripper that rises to leadership roles in police hierarchies (see: "Seven Varieties of Gun Control Advocate")
Add to this the vast and still unknown (as in classified) powers granted the FBI by the so-called "Patriot Act", and you have the makings of a much more sinister "Big Brother" than the cabal of lying, back biting stooges presently in charge over at BATFE.
JPFO’s stance has been, and will remain, the repeal of ALL "gun control" in America. We stand on the principle that the tail must not be allowed to wag the dog. To quote our late founder Aaron Zelman:
"Anyone who is lawfully adjudicated unfit to carry a firearm should not be on the street in the first place. They should be in prison or in a mental institution. We’ve thrown the baby (our personal liberties) out with the bathwater, making us helpless to protect ourselves from armed criminals and lunatics. And who promotes this delusional illogic the most fervently? Politicians and the law enforcement hierarchy."
However, dealing with things as they presently are, JPFO, along with other pro-gun rights organizations in America, is now facing an unpleasant dilemma: the actual preservation of the BATFE (albeit radically reformed) could be the least of the available evils!
Mind you, JPFO has made no policy decision on this, but we are acutely aware that a stance will demanded of us sooner rather than later.
Pertinent questions must be asked:
1. Does Congress have the pro-Second Amendment votes to confirm a hard core constitutionalist as the permanent head of BATFE? This of course implies an individual in the Oval Office who would have the moral clarity to nominate such a possible BATFE Director. It will never happen with Obama, unless some incredible political force can be brought to bear. Example: "You give us our chosen nominee for BATFE Director and we’ll let Eric Holder resign without going to jail … and thereby pointing his finger at you, Mr. President."
2. Will every single guilty BATFE employee, from the acting Director down to the lowliest field grunt, be criminally prosecuted for aiding and abetting in the bloodshed that has resulted from "Fast and Furious"? Not just fired, but arrested and tried in courts of law.
3. Will BATFE’s entire operating manual be completely overhauled and radical positive changes instituted regarding FFL dealers and the treatment of American citizens?
4. Will the BATFE’s use of its immense gun ownership database be ruthlessly monitored by an independent third party – or better, destroyed? Will the BATFE’s sharing of gun ownership data with foreign nations be stopped immediately?
With the disgusting revelations of "Fast and Furious" pouring forth it is now not impossible to envision a complete "gutting" of the agency and a ground-up rebuild along constitutional principles. (Setting aside, of course, the minor detail that any "gun control" law is an infringement upon our unalienable right to self defense as guaranteed by the Second Amendment.)
In JPFO’s opinion (and the opinion of other pro-gun organizations), the NRA has in the past been far too weak-handed with the BATFE. With loud calls for an independent prosecutor in "Fast and Furious", and demands for Attorney General Eric Holder’s resignation, Wayne LaPierre and Company seem to be seeing things more correctly these days. Will the NRA apply the ruthless political pressure it is capable of applying to politicians and demand a top-to-bottom "purification" of the BATFE?
The coming months may present a golden window of opportunity for Second Amendment advocates and American freedom. Let’s stay on target.
Frequent JPFO contributor and strategist, Kirby Ferris, collaborated intensively with Aaron Zelman over the last two years of Aaron’s life. Ferris is currently the Operations Manager of JPFO.
See all of Kirby Ferris’ articles.
© Copyright Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership 2011.
