CONSEQUENCES
Currently, the Left is increasingly calling for the use of force rather than negotiation. In a recent post in The Gulch, I illustrated how the forfeiture law led to violence regarding the Branch Davidian cult in Waco. The leader, David Koresh regularly left the compound and could have been arrested in the conventional manner,but by that time, the rhetoric had become quite heated. Following the federal assault, members were found to have been armed but only half as heavily as as the Texas population in general. It is also true that before the assault claims of child abuse were found to be baseless.It is speculation that the government hoped to use the Davidians as a test case to apply asset-forfeiture
laws to religious groups
The Davidians were peculiar and in some cases, their beliefs were downright repulsive. But, I fail to see why their beliefs were all that was required to justify targeting them.This type of criminal behavior by government agencies are spawned by the incitement to the use of force .in the form of paramilitary assaults against private citizens is not fiction, but a reality.
Another real-life event, that of Randy and Vicky Weaver with son Sammy moved to an isolated twenty acre property in Idaho to escape the rat race and to practice a loosely held belief in white separatism. As separatists they believe that all races should live apart. Similar beliefs are held by by some black religious cults as well. Though it is my belief that that people of such narrow views are woefully ignorant, the Constitution gives them the right to live separately if they so desire and obey the law.,
The ATF and FBI mistakenly concluded (for reasons still unclear) that Mr. Weaver was improperly informed, yet when he was not in court at the designated time, the court ordered him to be arrested and the federal agents laid siege to the Weaver property. He was wrongly indicted as a White supremacist and in August of 1992 federal agents armed with M16machine guns shot and returned fire killing 14 year old Sammy Weaver. In July of 1993an Idaho jury found Mr. Weaver innocent of murder of a U.S. Marshall. It found that you cannot kill a person just because you wear a badge.
laws to religious groups
The Davidians were peculiar and in some cases, their beliefs were downright repulsive. But, I fail to see why their beliefs were all that was required to justify targeting them.This type of criminal behavior by government agencies are spawned by the incitement to the use of force .in the form of paramilitary assaults against private citizens is not fiction, but a reality.
Another real-life event, that of Randy and Vicky Weaver with son Sammy moved to an isolated twenty acre property in Idaho to escape the rat race and to practice a loosely held belief in white separatism. As separatists they believe that all races should live apart. Similar beliefs are held by by some black religious cults as well. Though it is my belief that that people of such narrow views are woefully ignorant, the Constitution gives them the right to live separately if they so desire and obey the law.,
The ATF and FBI mistakenly concluded (for reasons still unclear) that Mr. Weaver was improperly informed, yet when he was not in court at the designated time, the court ordered him to be arrested and the federal agents laid siege to the Weaver property. He was wrongly indicted as a White supremacist and in August of 1992 federal agents armed with M16machine guns shot and returned fire killing 14 year old Sammy Weaver. In July of 1993an Idaho jury found Mr. Weaver innocent of murder of a U.S. Marshall. It found that you cannot kill a person just because you wear a badge.
