The hallmarks of big government, socialism, and general tyranny, are that SOOOO many people work for the government, and government is doing so many busybody things designed to increase government influence and/or make government look "productive," that the legions of government "workers" become a gigantic culture of low motivation mixed with very little
real work to do. Government is a living example of the adage
"idle hands are lucifer's workshop." Gun owners have watched for decades as the BATF has sought out any opportunity it can to make itself look important and necessary. They are the kings of entrapment, just ask Randy Weaver.
This statement from this thread is extremely naive, and one of those things that sounds like it should be true, but real world experience proves otherwise:
The goverment is too busy with serious stuff...
WildtoomanyfolksnotenoughagentsAlaska
That presupposes that government is noble and focuses on "serious stuff" (whatever that means) as opposed to the reality that government is only concerned with exercising and increasing it's power base.
The "too many folks not enough agents" line is amazing because it ignores hundreds of years of history. I don't know where to begin. The writer clearly has no clue how many people actually "work" for the federal government, let alone the BATF. The writer needs to take a refresher course on the East German government from not too many years past. Skilled police states DO NOT NEED millions of agents.
To answer the question of the thread, of course BATF keeps an eye on firearm forums. They don't have to leave the office to do it for one thing. Furthermore, it takes very little time. They're probably looking for trends and getting ideas for their next make work project. We found out several years ago that BATF also subscribes to Shotgun News because they called it a "subversive publication."
