BATF - one gem

S

sbryce

New member
I've gleaned from this board and other places that BATF agents are, um, shall we say, distrusted? Is this correct? Or is it just their boss(es)? Or mostly their boss(es)?

Learned a story the other day that I liked.

A friend of mine--call her Leah--will be divorced from her adulterous husband soon. Said husband also has a case pending of domestic abuse. Leah knew a friend she met at church was a "Federal agent" and thought that meant FBI. Leah has just begun working with this guy's wife, and the two gals were together when Leah received an awful phone call from Leah's husband. If he couldn't do this or that with their child, he's file for sole custody, blah, blah, blah. Scared her into agreeing to something she shouldn't have agreed to. That got un-agreed later that day.

The part that might be interesting to y'all is this: My friend is rather afraid of guns, handguns particularly. Sometimes she's not even wanted to *hear* about our journey toward becoming gunowners over the past 9 months. Turns out her "Federal agent" friend is actually BATF. He really is a nice guy. He has TOLD her that she's taking the CCW class. He will have his instructor-friend include mace in the instruction. Mr. BATF has TOLD my friend that she's going to the range and going to learn to shoot. He said they'd deal with the actual ownership of the gun later.

Mr. BATF is a nice guy, but one you don't want to mess with. My scared-of-guns friend said, "Yes, sir!"

I'm hoping to finally take her to the range soon so she'll understand more from the class she'll take.

Oh, this couple also volunteered to be the contact-people between Leah and her husband, so she won't have to hear from him again. Nice folks!

So, whatever reputation BATF has earned in general, I like this one guy! :) -- Denise
 
Yeah...There are some prostitutes and hookers with hearts of gold. I'd imagine that, statistically a few SS/Gestapo were decent folks somewhere in their psyches. Probably a pedophile or two aren't so bad deep down, as well. ;)

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"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
 
Well, I took a Gunsite course awhile back, and the student standing next to me most of the day was BATF. He seemed to be a nice guy, and just wanted to put in his 20 years and retire. To be frank, I'm sure there are a lot of very decent people that work for the agency.

Unfortunately, they also seem to have a lot of bad apples. And, they are charged with enforcing many poorly conceived laws that many of us believe are unconstitutional, and ultimately, immoral. Their leadership has shown, shall we say, poor management skills in some notable past exercises.

Read 'Unintended Consequences'; study what happened at Waco and Ruby Ridge. Consider all sides in your review. I think you will be somewhat concerned yourself.

It doesn't take too many bad apples to spoil such a barrel. Especially when the 'good' apples keep their mouths shut, instead of setting things right. I think that is what really galls people - past 'excesses' have never been adequately resolved, and that, as they say, is the bottom line.
 
I'd like to see all those "good apples" go and get a job in the private sector.

It would make clean-up sooo much easier! :D

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John/az

"The middle of the road between the extremes of good and evil, is evil. When freedom is at stake, your silence is not golden, it's yellow..." RKBA!
 
I don't know guys, if all of the "good apples" where to quit all federal law enforcement jobs then I'm sure the situation would suck a lot worse than it does now.

I wonder how many stupid things have been prevented by a fed who was a person like us, here on this board.

Personally I think that we need more good people to get careers as feds, leos, lawyers, judges, and journalists. Federal agencies are organizations made up of people, the character of the organization is determined by the character of the individuals inside.

Before anybody flames me, I just want to say that, yes, the situation does suck. There are way too many abuses of power, but I think that if there where not any honorable ones left then there would be a lot more problems.
 
yeah, what Correia said.

I have to put up with a similar situation where I am currently living. The local police department consists mainly of heavy-handed rednecks. If it were not for the few non-redneck cops, things would suck alot more. It makes me want to move back to Hazzard County.
 
Correia, I agree with you 100%. We need good people, and the question is whether there is still room for them to make a difference.
 
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