The militia and patriot movements have fundamentally opposed the past and present activities of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, including the still-controversial tragedy in Waco, Texas.

On Feb. 28, 1993, the ATF attempted to raid the Branch Davidian compound for allegedly stockpiling weapons. Four ATF officers and six Branch Davidians were killed in a shootout, and after a 51-day standoff, the compound burned to the ground, killing 80 people inside.

The Southern Illinois Patriots League has referred to the raid as the Waco Incident, and has investigated it by reading and reviewing the ATF’s conduct through literature and videotapes.

Advertisement

Ken Potter, co-founder for the league, said Waco has turned into a high-profile incident and a rallying cry for the movement.

The hearings have basically turned into politics, he said. It’s not serving justice, but a justification of the behavior of the law enforcement.

Potter said that in the beginning, the media portrayed the Branch Davidians in Waco as a threat to U.S. citizens, but in reality, they were a religious group that wanted to be left alone.

Potter said the ATF raided the compound because they believed the group was stockpiling weapons. He said 292 firearms were recovered, which amounts to less than three guns per person since more than 100 people lived in the compound.

Glad Hall, co-founder and president of the league, said the method in which the ATF attempted to serve the search warrant was wrong.

Why go in with an army? he said. These were responsible people. They weren’t violent. You can’t assault someone on what you think they are doing.

Les Stanford, public information officer for the ATF, said there was a search warrant issued because of evidence of stockpiling weapons and because there were not any persons in the compound with a required class three license. A class three license allows for public ownership of fully automatic weapons in all states but three.

Advertisement*

Potter said there is a statute called posse comitatus that allows for use of military force on U.S. citizens only in the war on drugs. He said the ATF attempted the raid because of information about stockpiling weapons, not drugs.

Stanford said the ATF did have evidence of drugs, but it was not included in the search warrant.

There was some evidence of an amphetamine lab some time before, but our search warrant did not cite that, Stanford said. It cited stockpiling weapons.

The part that is most disturbing is using tanks against our own people, Potter said. They used chemical, psychological, every kind of warfare against these people. We don’t use the military against our own people.

Potter said the movement is not standing by compound leader David Koresh’s ideals, but by his right as a citizen to have firearms without government intervention.

Koresh is not an idol or martyr for the patriot movement, he said.

see ATF, page 6