Motivational Poster #6

Janice Hart, based on an unreliable tip, was detained for over an hour, during which she was interrogated without having been Mirandized. She was denied contact with an attorney. ATF agents wrecked her house and had her arrested. Upon processing at the local police station, it was discovered that they had the wrong person. They were looking for a criminal named Janice Harrell. No reparations have been offered or made.

Donald Carlson was shot and paralyzed by ATF agents serving an unfounded (again: based on a questionable informant) warrant for 5000lbs of cocaine, which they claimed he had in his garage. In fact, ATF agents were conducting surveillance on his house and could see directly into his garage. No drugs were found. When agents broke into his house unannounced, he called 911 and grabbed a pistol to defend himself from a perceived home invasion. He was shot three times by DEA and Customs agents. One ATF agent fired 15 rounds in Mr. Carlson’s foyer, all of which missed.

Sina Brush: another no-knock warrant. This time, they were backed up by the National Guard. Again, unverifiable tips from paid informants were the basis for the warrant. Ms. Brush and her daughter were handcuffed wearing only their underwear and forced to watch as agents destroyed their house. Again, no drugs were found.

Harry and Theresa Lamplugh were forced to watch for six hours while ATF agents ransacked their home at gunpoint. Their cat was stomped to death in front of them by agent Donna Slusser. Thousands of dollars of property and documents were taken, and no compensation has been made. The warrant was sealed by a Federal judge. The Lamplughs were never charged with any crime.

Police officer Louis Katona was subject to an unfounded raid in December 1991. The ATF confiscated several legally-owned and registered guns, but not before slamming his wife into a wall hard enough to cause a miscarriage. None of their property has been returned.

Then there’s the annual “Good O’ Boys Roundup” in Tennessee, in which the all-white crowd of Federal Agents distributes “Nigger Hunting Licenses” emblazoned with a picture of Jesse Jackson.

Vicki Weaver and her son were killed by FBI agents and Marshals acting on the ATF’s behalf. The whole case stemmed from Randy Weaver’s failure to pay a $5 NFA tax stamp on a short-barreled shotgun. The shotgun had been modified at the behest of an undercover ATF agent under duress, and the original charge was later deemed by an Idaho jury to have been a case of entrapment.

Randy Weaver may have some suspect political ideas, but that is not a crime. Even if it were, it did not justify the actions taken. A jury agreed, and the government settled Mr. Weaver’s claim for $3.1 million without admitting any guilt on its part. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was prosecuted, but invoked the Supremacy Clause in his defense and has never been punished.

Horiuchi was also present at the 1993 Waco Siege, in which 79 people were burned to death on an ATF-sponsored raid. Waco was not about religious paranoia, which is not illegal. Nor was it about child abuse; those allegations were not made until the siege was three days in and obviously bound to end badly.

It was again about an NFA tax-stamp that had been allegedly unpaid. A warrant was issued on the shaky testimony of “defectors” from the cult that illegally modified rifles were kept on the compound.

Even government officials agreed that the raid was a mess. The military were involved, steamrolling over Posse Comitatus and firing flammable CS gas into a structure occupied by people who weren’t even part of the investigation. 15 years later, the survivors are still fighting for restitution, and the government has yet to acknowledge their guilt in the matter.

I encourage you to do further reading on this. It is all true.