Hey Black Mind ... with the site being down and all I never had a chance to respond. But while I respect your intelligent opinion, please accept the following in the spirit of respectful debate ...
I have to question the idea of a LEO who will accept the order to drive a battering-ram-type vehicle into the side of a building known to be occupied by children; ditto for firing CS gas inside said building.
We can do without that kind of LEO, whaddya say?
Sounds like something Michael Moore would say. Let's rephrase it:
"Do you want pilots who would drop a bomb somewhere there might conceivably be children? Soldiers who would fire a weapon into a Mosque where there might be innocents?"
The answer to all of the above questions is ... yes. I do.
The ATF agents had properly received warrants to do what they did -- warrants that are specifically allowed under our constitution. LEO's operating within the law cannot be made powerless just because Parents use their children as shields.
How many times did those murderous Waco families have an opportunity to save their children? How many times did they evaluate the situation, and keep their children close in hopes that the LEO's would be powerless?
After the building caught fire, the parents knew their situation was untenable. Did they put their children above their own wish to die? NO!
Did the psychos they were starting a revolution? Certainly they knew there were no huge protests by Americans outraged that the government dared to investigate them. Most Americans were outraged of their shooting of Federal LEO's, who had families of their own, just doing their job.
So ... with the building on fire they did nothing to save their children. Adults can make decisions to die a heroic death. But children have no such say.
Those children were murdered that day. And their murderers were the people who were supposed to protect them: Their parents.
And while the loss of children is always a tragedy, the fault lies not with the LEO's doing their duty, but with the parents who are responsible for their deaths.
We are a nation of laws. Laws that are necessary for our civilization. Just like the 2nd amendment is part of the consitution, so is the right of the government, with a proper warrant, to take action to defend the law. You have no right to shoot the people carrying those warrants out.
If the warrants are improperly issued then you can take your case to court and sue the hell out of the people doing it and get a lot of press coverage and become the hero. Maybe even reveal something/accomplish something worthwhile instead of just dying with your children.
See the difference there? If you fight improperly issued warrants in court in a well documented legal case you can be heros and go down in the history books as affecting change. If you open fire on LEO's, family men, discharging their duties, you just become a bunch of dead nuts.
I'm sorry the Waco children died. But as for the adults ... I just thank GOD that the leo's were able to dispose of them without losing more of their own number! They were murderers and killers of children and they are gone now and we don't miss them.
Should every whacko with enough money to buy a farm and guns and get a following be above the law? Sounds rather like Afghanistan with it's warlords, doesn't it? These people were intimidating all the locals, and groups like that have to be dealt with with whatever force is necessary to maintain order.
Now ... I know a lot of guys out there are ticked off at this, as they are sure the revolution is necessary.
Well ... maybe someday a revolution will be necessary. And someone will fire the first shot.
But if you find yourself in a shootout with the law, stop for a moment and take notice of what is happening. Will continuing to shoot accomplish anything? Are cities throughout the US rising up with screaming mobs at the government tyranny? Have many metropolitan police forces holed up in fear of walking the streets? Have rural police forces closed down their offices to join with their local populace in opposing the federal governemnt?
If the above is true, then you're probably fighting in a revolution. Continue on and good luck.
If the above is NOT clearly true ... you are NOT firing the first shots of a revolution, you are just murdering people and are about to die yourself. The only way you can hope to make a difference is surrender and argue your case nonviolently in court, where you become more than just a single headline about a gun nut shooting cops.
Timothy McVeigh thought he was starting a revolution. But he wasn't. He was just murdering innocents and children. I hope he got a chance to think about that when they put the needles in his arm.
