spartacus

Dear Pioneer Glad you're here and sorry you feel the way you do. However, please understand that the vast majority of field agents are honest, hard-working law enforcement personnel who perform their duties with the utmost of integrity. There is no other federal agency that has SA's who will drop everything at home when their local police call needing assistance on a search warrant scene, officer involved shooting or dealing with the illness or death of a family member or partner. Further, you would be hard-pressed to find an 1811 in the outfit who agrees with the laws that Congress has written and further I doubt you will ever find one that has personally written or had any influence on a law currently on the books. As far as "GunRunner" and "Fast and Furious" are concerned - I've been around long enough to know that when a case is in legal proceedings and bound by 6e rules very little information is available to anyone outside that 6e list. Revealing that information would be illegal and unethical - and most agents are not willing to risk their integrity to answer questions they are not permitted to answer. Corruption is not limited to this outfit, or Federal law enforcement - there are "bad apples" in every department - fed, state and local. It sickens me at any level. I believe in the 2nd Amendment - but most people that quote that 2nd Amendment would find it difficult to cite what the other Amendments state - proof that people only learn about what helps their cause. ATF management leaves much to be desired, but they are no different than Chiefs of Police, Sheriff's and DPS Commissioners in at least 22-25 departments I am familiar with.

I am gravely disappointed in what the BATF has become. I am a retired city police detective and honestly believe my career was 100% ethical and professional. Over the course of my 30 year career, I had occasion to work with federal officers, including BATF, on several types of investigations. Once upon a time, I considered federal agents as "brothers" who held to the same ethical standards as do me and my colleagues. I honestly believe that the vast majority of agents are honest, hard working patriots. The agency however, seems to have become riddled with a cancer that is eating away the fundamental foundation of the agency. The upper management, and in some cases middle management as well, have become corrupted by the powerful political influences of Washington DC. They have allowed political considerations to overcome their sworn duty to protect and defend the Constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.

My disillusionment began with the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents. I was fortunate to be able to watch the congressional hearings into both incidents, and I was appalled at what I witnessed. At the beginning, I was for the agents and agency, considering them "brothers." I no longer have that naive belief. I witnessed perjury and falsification of evidence before my eyes, and came away from that experience saddened and disheartened. I witnessed behavior that shook the very foundations of my professional beliefs.

I am a life long gun owner, military and police firearms instructor, who was able to retire at the top of my game as a major crime detective. I took my oath of office seriously my entire life, and perhaps naively believed that everyone else does as well. The congretional hearings I witnessed prompted me to open my eyes to the political corruption that had infected a once honorable law enforcement agency. I became an advocate for our Second Amendment rights as a LIfe Member of the NRA and Second Amendment Foundation. I discovered CleanUpATF minutes ago and look forward to learning and helping in any way I can contribute.

After my retirement from active police work, I now work as a private contractor, providing executive protection to a high profile elected official in my area. My protectee is a card carrying, charter member of the anti-freedom, gun control culture. The reason I mention that is because from time to time, as I am now, I may visit this site on a city government owned computer.

This is my first posting and present this as an introduction. I firmly believe that BATF&E should be dismantled. I further believe that anyone, at any level, who participated in the outrageous behavior we are witnessing along our National border, should be called to account, tried and imprisoned. Legitimate federal crimes can be investigated by other federal agencies. Lord knows, there are plenty of them to go around.