Waco: An Unnecessary Tragedy
As we write, federal agents are sifting through the smoldering remains of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas in the aftermath of what syndicated columnist Joseph Sobran described as a standoff between someone who believed he was the son of God, and a federal government that believes it is God.
On day 51 of the standoff, federal forces tore holes in the compound with armored vehicles and poured in tear gas in an effort to force the approximately 95 men, women, and children to give up. But in what federal authorities are guessing was mass suicide, cultists apparently responded to the federal assault by burning the huge compound down around themselves, killing all but nine survivors.
Analysis of a Fiasco
The incident began on February 28th when more than 100 agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) attempted to storm the 77-acre compound that served as home to self-proclaimed messiah David Koresh and his small band of followers. Four agents were killed and 16 wounded in the shoot-out, while six sect members (according to Koresh) died and an unknown number were injured. Supposedly, the raid was undertaken because the Davidians were storing illegal weapons, but BATF Director Stephen E. Higgins has said that there may have been nothing illegal about their owning the "scores if not hundreds" of weapons, but that it was suspected they were planning to convert some from semiauto-matic to automatic fire.
The BATF at first told reporters that the raid failed because the Davidians were tipped off. Subsequent reports indicate, however, that actions of the BATF itself and the other law enforcement agencies involved may have enabled the sect to ascertain what was happening and when. Television reporters showed up near the compound an hour before the assault team struck. Federal agents speaking anonymously told the New York Times that at least two of three helicopters used in the assault were hit by gunfire from the compound before the ground operation began, removing any doubt that the element of surprise had been lost, yet BATF personnel on the ground were not warned that shots had been fired at the helicopters.
On March 3rd, BATF Deputy Director Dan Hartnett claimed that a phone call received by Koresh 40 minutes prior to the attack may have alerted the sect, and that "they quickly began preparing to defend the compound after being alerted." But on March 13th, BATF spokesman Dan Conroy told reporters that even after there were indications that Koresh and his followers may have been tipped off, "there was no indication of any battle plan or people going, picking up arms or anything of that nature. So we proceeded ahead, based on that."
Much attention directed at the Koresh sect has focused on the supposed ease with which it acquired its arsenal of weapons, with accompanying calls for tougher gun controls. On March 3rd, BATF Director Higgins asserted through a spokesman that "most other countries have a lot stronger firearms laws than we do, which is too bad." Four days later, he told CBS News Face the Nation panelists that he now supports the Brady handgun waiting-period bill. Asked if this was a new position of the BATF, he responded: "That's correct. And we've never had four agents killed in a single day."
Assuming that the Davidians obtained some of their guns illegally, they did so despite the plethora of already-existing gun control laws. A Brady-type waiting period would not have precluded them from collecting their arsenal over many months or years. Neither would a one-gun-per-month restriction have affected them, since more than 130 persons were involved.
Dubious Record
The BATF is a Treasury Department entity whose early agents made a name chasing moonshiners and bootleggers during the 1920s. It began as a tax collecting agency, but now has law enforcement powers as well. Following passage of the 1968 Gun Control Act, the Alcohol and Tobacco Division of the IRS became the Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms Division (ATFD). On July 1, 1972, the division was elevated to full bureau status. The BATF has around 2,000 agents and a fiscal 1993 budget of about $350 million.
The Waco incident was merely one of many fiascos which have embroiled the BATF in controversy over the nature and constitutionality of its tactics. It has often been criticized for going after law-abiding citizens who are easier to target than real, hard-core criminals. For instance:
· On April 1, 1992, about 30 BATF agents raided the home of Del Knudson in Colville, Washington, while Knudson was at work. For three hours, the home was searched and Mrs. Knudson was interrogated about the family's religious and political views. The raid was based on the sworn affidavit of a family friend who alleged that the couple sought to overthrow the U.S. government, were white supremacists, and owned machine guns. When it was discovered that the BATF's informant was certifiably insane, the BATF dropped the case.
· Craig DeFeyter of Holland, Michigan returned from Vietnam with the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. He invested his life savings in a military surplus store, obtained a federal firearms license, and sold guns, fatigues, canteens, etc.
One day in 1985, he sold a Clayco AKS semiautomatic rifle to a friend, who in turn sold it to another party. Sometime later, another longtime friend asked DeFeyter if he knew of any used AKS rifles for sale. DeFeyter made some phone calls as a favor and learned that the gun he had sold earlier was for sale. He put his friend in touch with the owner and forgot about the matter. His friend bought the gun and later sold it to an undercover police officer. The BATF claimed that the weapon was now fully automatic.
In January 1987, DeFeyter was indicted by a grand jury for the illegal transfer of a machine gun! This despite the following facts, which the government did not dispute: The gun was semiautomatic when he sold it; it passed through four transfers before the undercover police officer received it; the alterations were internal and invisible from the outside; DeFeyter never touched the gun, nor took any money for it, after the initial sale; and he had no knowledge of the gun's condition after it left his hands. Incredibly, the district court in Kalamazoo ruled in August 1987 that such details were immaterial and that it was only necessary for the government to demonstrate that a crime had been committed by someone along the way. DeFeyter was found guilty, and became a convicted felon with legal bills exceeding $50,000.
In early 1989, an appeals court ruled unanimously that it was necessary for the government to prove that DeFeyter knew a crime was being committed. The U.S. attorney promptly dropped the charges.
· In 1988, Larry Chornomaz of Cicero, Illinois had his apartment door bashed in and the premises ransacked by BATF agents who, it turned out, were looking for someone else living somewhere else. According to Chornomaz, the agents "never showed a warrant, never showed a badge. They started tearing things up."
Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, wrote to the assistant secretary of the Treasury who oversaw BATF operations, asking if any disciplinary action would be taken against the offending agents. The reply which Pratt received declared, in part, that "this was a good-faith error made on the basis of information supplied by a 'reliable confidential informant.'" And after all, "Federal agents are human ... and mistakes are occasionally made."
· David Moorhead of New Hampshire returned from the Vietnam War a paraplegic after being wounded by eight bullets and a shrapnel grenade. The Veterans' Administration taught him to be a gunsmith so he could support himself at home, where he could rest when necessary.
Moorhead owned an M-14 rifle, the fire-selector mechanism of which had been severed by the government before the firearm was sold as surplus. The BATF, however, claimed that it was an illegal machine gun, and in 1976 five agents raided Moorhead's shop and hauled the disabled veteran away in handcuffs.
Moorhead went to trial on the felony machine gun charge, but the judge became so outraged as evidence was presented that at one point he said, "I think this is a travesty. I am upset. I am really upset." He finally told the jury: "I am going to do something that I haven't done since I have been a federal judge, or a state judge, for that matter. I am going to take the case away from the jury after the evidence is all closed. And I don't do this because I don't have any confidence in you, Madam Foreman and ladies and gentlemen, but I do it because I think the circumstances require it and the law requires it."
The indictment was dismissed and, for the record, the judge apologized to Moorhead. Though legally vindicated, Moorhead was compelled to sell his business and home to pay off legal bills and other debts. Asked if he planned to return to the gunsmithing business, he replied: "It's a sorry thing to say, but I'm too afraid of my own government."
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In a recent newspaper column about the Waco standoff, American Spectator editor-in-chief R. Emmett Tyrrell asserted that it "is absurd to think that the federal government has to set aside a special bureau to police booze, tobacco and guns" when we "already have federal, state and local police forces to oversee the misuse" of such items. The BATF, he contends, "could be closed down with no loss to the citizenry whatsoever."
David Moorhead and the many other victims of the BATF's excesses would no doubt agree. ·
— ROBERT W. LEE
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