From: Tim May <tcmay@got.net>
Date: Sun, 2 Nov 1997 01:42:50 +0800
To: cypherpunks@Algebra.COM
Subject: BATF as an internal army
In-Reply-To: <199711011630.LAA23465@mx01.together.net>
Message-ID: <v03102809b0810793884b@[207.167.93.63]>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain



At 9:30 AM -0700 11/1/97, Brian B. Riley wrote:

>   I looked at it with mixed emotions ... BATF is made up of guys and
>gals just like us, some good, some bad, some sheep. The problem with BATF
>is that their leadership sucked and the bad ones got their way. Just like
>years ago, when Philadelphia elected Frank Rizzo (former Police
>Commsisioner) mayor ... he wasn't a bad cop but ran a little rough shod
>over the Bill of Rights from time to time ... with him as Mayor, the
>Philadelphia PD went to hell in a handbasket because all his old cronies
>could get away with murder (often literally!)

The problem with the BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, for
you foreigners reading this) is that it is an agency designed solely to
fight contraband and smuggling.

Just as organized crime gained a major foothold in America by smuggling and
distributing booze (by this I mean the Kennedy Clan, of course, and some
random Sicilians), so too the BATF became a standing army to fight (or take
bribes from) their opponents.

If the government got out of the unconstitutional (I believe) business of
telling people what kind of stuff they could put in their mouths or bodies,
and got out of the business of trying to micromanage the types of Second
Amendment instruments they owned, their wouldn't be a need for the BATF,
would there?

The BATFis really an internal army, just like so many statist countries have.

This is why they're getting Blackhawk choppers, Bradley Fighting Vehicles,
fully automatic weapons, and access to SIGINT and COMINT resources. In
conjunction with the DEA, Customs, and other such agencies.

--Tim May

The Feds have shown their hand: they want a ban on domestic cryptography
---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:---------:----
Timothy C. May              | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES:   408-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA  | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
Higher Power: 2^2,976,221   | black markets, collapse of governments.
"National borders aren't even speed bumps on the information superhighway."