The Jack-Booted Thug(s) of the Week (Decade?)

...are the originators of jack-booted thuggery in this country, the BATFE, or Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, ATF for short.

The Keep and Bear Arms website alerted me to the story of how this out of control government agency is bringing its full oppressive weight to bear on Red's Trading Post, a small, family-owned gunshop in business for 70 years in Twin Falls, Idaho, in an open attempt to railroad it out of business for no good reason.

A routine ATF check of the store's paperwork in 2004 found some minor clerical errors. How minor? Given that the error rate was less than half of 1% for more than ten thousand firearms sold between 1996 and 2004, and that no firearms were missing or unaccounted for, and the ATF even admits that the errors were not made willfully, pretty darn minor, in my opinion. We're talking about spelling errors, failing to put up a poster, and other piddling matters. The biggest error found? Customers had put "Y" and "N" on the purchase forms instead of "YES" and "NO". Pretty nitpicky, if you ask me. I'd like to see any business sell ten thousand items and not have a single error on any of the paperwork involved.

Because of this overwhelming mountain of serious felonious errors, the ATF is seeking to revoke the firearms license of Red's Trading Post permanently. The shop appealed and was denied, so now they have filed suit in Federal court in order to plead their case.

(Actually, they are in a lot better shape than another local shop and competitor of Red's that was similarly treated by the ATF gang. That shop wasn't even allowed to appeal until they were in the middle of a "going out of business" sale. There's nothing like a government agency ignoring its own procedures whenever it feels like it in order to "fix" an outcome.)

As one can imagine, the ATF is not very happy with Red's for daring to put up a struggle to save their business. So what do they do in response? After a history of sending one inspector to examine 5 years of paperwork, they now send two inspectors and a supervisor to examine two weeks of paperwork, in an obvious attempt to nitpick and microscopically analyze every single sheet of paper for the smallest uncrossed T, as well as present an intimidating show of "authority".

Here's where things really start to get interesting.

During the above visit, Ryan Horsley, the manager of Red's, documented exactly who showed up to tear through his records, and posted the names on the shop's blog. Additionally, a longtime customer of Red's showed up with a camera and took pictures of the inspectors going about their job. Those pictures also ended up online. These actions were taken, according to Horsley, in order to independently document the actions of the agents during the audit, in order to counter any false government claims that may possibly be made, as he maintains that such claims had been made in the past.

(Just for the record, the officials present were Area Supervisor Linda Young, along with Inspectors Calvin Pavey and Mike Gorewicz. You guys aren't secret agents, you know. You're public employees doing government work in a business open to the public. I'm sure if the tables were turned, and the ATF was the one photographing patrons in the store, they would argue that the public has no expectation of privacy in a place of public business. Well, that holds true for you, then. Touche.)

Well, all hell then breaks loose. A few days later, the ATF goes crying to the court that is overseeing the lawsuit, complaining that:

"The inspection was suspended due to the threat to the inspectors' safety created by Ryan Horsley, the Manager of Red's," the court filing said.

The filing documented how some unidentified person had taken pictures of the inspectors at work.

"At about this time, Supervisor Young's assistant from the Spokane office contacted her and advised that Mr. Horsley had updated his internet blog (http://redstradingpost.blogspot.com/) to include the information that ATF, and Supervisor Young personally, was at the store conducting an inspection," the filing said. So Young contacted others.

"The Director of Industry Operations, Richard Van Loan, agreed with Supervisor Young's assessment that the photographing of the rental car used by ATF personnel, coupled with the instantaneous posting on the internet of ATF's presence … posed a credible threat to their safety and was designed to harass and intimidate," the court filing said.

No, it was designed to inform and update interested parties as to exactly how their tax dollars were being spent, and how specific public employees were performing their jobs. Remember, the shop was open for business at the time, and the agents were there in their capacity as public servants. Should the shop be in trouble if they updated their blog to announce that the mailman had arrived to drop off some packages?

"BATFU had threatened him that he needed to cease all blogging and keep their agents and inspectors free from being photographed or observed, or they would go to the judge and file a complaint of harassment," Codrea wrote"

Sunshine is anathema to bugs. They like to scurry away to where it's dark and they can't be seen.

Recently, the U.S. Attorney and the ATF agreed to drop their complaint and not file this frivolous claim of harassment if Horsley would agree to the following conditions:

No more video recordings of the ATF
No more audio recordings of the ATF
No more pictures of the ATF
No more information being posted about the inspectors
No more publicity
No more blogging
No more letting supporters know when the audits/investigations are being conducted
No allowing supporters to come in contact with the ATF (ie, speak with, video tape, photograph, etc.)not publicize, blog about, and photograph the agents while they were at work.

Horsley reluctantly agreed and started to hold up his end of the bargain, in order to not be hit with yet more legal woes, along with the concomitant lawyer fees, which are threatening to bankrupt his shop.

True to form, though, the U.S. Attorney, Deborah Ferguson, and the ATF have now reneged on their agreement and filed the claim of harassment anyway. In addition, the ATF is now apprarently embarking on a campaign to do some harassing and intimidating of their own. Horsley reports that just yesterday the Department of Justice (who the ATF is under) had visited his blog 33 times by 9:30 a.m., and that DOJ is also paying visits to other bloggers and writers who are publicizing the story, in an obvious attempt to scare them into shutting up. Bloggers such as this fellow, for instance.

Oh, and lest you think only the peasantry gets this treatment from the Feds, the ATF apparently feels that they don't have to respond to local law enforcement queries about their actions, either:

"The Twin Falls County Sheriff is also upset because the ATF did not ask for his approval of conducting audits and investigations within his jurisdiction.The sheriff tried calling the ATF numerous times -- but so far he has not received a response."

Don't feel singled out, Sheriff. It's par for the course for these guys, par for the course.

Since I don't like seeing people denied their First and Second Amendment rights, I'm going to do all I can to spread this story far and wide. I hope that others do the same.