John Ross for Director of BATFE in the Trump Administration

[Dog Soldier]

You mean someone like Joseph M. "Joe" Arpaio, Sheriff of Maricopa County, AZ ??!!

I see where Sheriff Joe lost in his bid for reelection. He is 85 years old. The Left was chasing him like a pack of Cur Hounds.

 

[DoubleMag]

Perhaps Mr. Ross could ask a light question;
Sir, if you become Director of this agency will you still be able to post anything here and on other Pro2A forums? I'm keying in on a yes although said posts would (obviously) be watered somewhat. I'm hedging a ''yes'' due to the fact that the new POTUS does so much tweet stuff.

Thanks!

 

[buck460XVR]

=============================

The experience and attitude I would bring to BATFE would focus on four areas, all consistent with your philosophy of “Make America Great Again”:

1. Restore an environment in which the weapons invented by America’s individual small arms designers were the best in the world, with the attendant benefit to the U.S. Military;

2. Nurture an environment of innovation in all disciplines regulated by BATFE;

3. Preserve and advance the current and historic knowledge and techniques that are slowly being lost here in America;

4. Increase legal commerce (and the attendant tax revenue) in ways consistent with your strong pro-business platform.

Many of these goals can be attained with policy shifts within the BATFE which I would initiate, and would not require Congress to pass new legislation.

================================

Reread those four points and put on your thinking cap.
JR

Yep read and reread them several times. No where is there a focus on enforcement, which is what I thought the BATFE main purpose was. Kinda like local LEAs. While they educate, inform and perform certain PR duties, their primary function, still is enforcement. Also while you push a heavy firearm agenda, I see little or no direction in the other areas under the multi-faceted jurisdiction of the BATFE, mainly the AT and E.

 

[PromptCritical]

Disbanding the BATFE is a fools errand. Not going to happen. There are still congressionally passed laws on the books that would have to be congressionally repealed. The closes would be to roll the Bureau into a division of the FBI.

However, there is a lot of bureaucratic crap the ATF does that someone in charge can totally change within the confines of the law. Things such as
1. Tech branch's very restrictive opinions of things. Forward grips on pistol = AOW is stupid. End this "arm brace and it's not an SBR until you shoulder it" idiocy.
2. Get rid of "once a machine gun, always a machine gun" and get with the CMP to bring in those M14's and M2 carbines either as semi-auto conversions or parts kits.
3. Give me back my Akins Accelerator spring.
4. Fix the apparent disaster of the NFRTR.
5. End the "barrel ban".

Etc...

Basically, there are a lot of gray areas on the laws that the ATF is allowed latitude in interpreting. Simply establish more permissible standards throughout. Unless the law specifically says it needs to be a certain way, it doesn't need to be done that way. Also, the head of a regulatory body has communications channels right to the top and can thus influence policy.

Finally, here's a good one: Make a run around Hughes by establishing a process whereby individuals can obtain post-86 MGs "under the authority of the ATF". Sure, it may not exactly match the intent of Hughes, but it would be legal, and you're going to want that tax revenue that's going to hopefully go away when the HPA passes making suppressors Title I.

Mr. Ross, I hope Trump somehow hears about your offer and gives you a call.

 

[BigFatKen]

I only found this thread because I am re-reading UC again. I am a much more mature book reader now. I was reading the part where Irwin Mann meets his sister in Missourri, is loved as not merely a brother-in-Law by Max Collins but as a beloved son. His sister has not been so happy since her wedding. After the author brings us up in this emotional high, he writes of the next day...

Pedro is given of the bitter pill of the birth of his baby daughter. This event is made extra bad by the previous day's events.

Young Henry Bowman's free-market solution to the bonus-army's pension was too simple for any member if the real Congress to think of in the thirties.

A decade ago I wished Henry Bowman a happy birthday Jan 10.

 

[Solomonson]

Folks, spread this as far and wide as you can if you think this would be a good thing for America.

Go to this thread and look for about the 10th post, from 12:26 AM January 2, 2017:

https://theconservativetreehouse.co...en-discussion/comment-page-1/#comment-3413152

John Ross

In all sincerity Mr. Ross, what experience do you have leading any operation with nearly 5K employees? What skill-set do you bring to the table?

It seems like the best thing for the BATFE would be to prune it down to its essential core, distribute the surviving pieces to the FBI or other federal agencies and then just close its doors.

 

[captain awesome]

Can't really read it right now. Is he good or bad?

John Ross would be the best thing that has ever happened in regard to the batf if he was put in charge. I will support this in any way I can.


PS, i absolutely Love that JR 500 mag I bought from you John, still waiting for that signed copy of Unintended Consequenses!

 

[ilbob]

It would be really hard to get 51 senate votes for someone who not more than a handful of senators have even heard of.

 

[Solomonson]

It would be really hard to get 51 senate votes for someone who not more than a handful of senators have even heard of.

Particularly one who has written (novel or not) about murdering different high-level members of all three branches of the US Government. One who added heaps of just plain odd and kinky sex verbiage to a book which did nothing except perhaps raise questions about the author's own sexual proclivities.

 

[barnbwt]

The Deputy Director gonna be William Luther Pierce?

ilbob, I think you probably underestimate the number of politicos that know who the man is (McVeigh made a big dang deal about it while awaiting trial for the OKC bombing). Anyone politically active & aware of all the militia stuff in the 90's was briefed on this stuff, so that's basically all your congress-fossils still kicking around. Anyone with Google will know soon enough as well.

 

[BigFatKen]

In all sincerity Mr. Ross, what experience do you have leading any operation with nearly 5K employees? What skill-set do you bring to the table?
It seems like the best thing for the BATFE would be to prune it down to its essential core, distribute the surviving pieces to the FBI or other federal agencies and then just close its doors.

In the book, author Ross has a young man who is held back in second grade, failing math as a perfect man to enter public service. The trading money for favors is a good part of what is the government problem in book. This is my observation in real life too.
*************************************************************************************************

Mr. Ross posted his creds in his letter to the president. William Luther Pierce is dead. I do not get the joke.

 

[barnbwt]

Pierce wrote the Turner Diaries, which regardless of its content vs. Unintended Consequences has an only slightly more notorious reputation at large; that is the joke.

 

[BigFatKen]

Thank you. I am not sure I will read the book now that I am aware of it.

 

[barnbwt]

Neither of those stories is particularly "shocking" nowadays, since gun nuts are all considered violent paranoid racists by the gun grabbers anyway, and 'apocalyptic' literature is a huge genre, but back in the 90's & earlier the ideas of modern violent revolution or race wars were quite outrageous to most people who were convinced all the evil dragons had been slain for good with the fall of the Soviet Union. The 'sum of all fears' scenarios are also quite familiar to gun owners at this point as well (which, if rather unrealistic, did at least help shape a moral argument against disarmament for many folks). The militia-novels served their purpose back in the day of promoting the early hard-line/unapolgetic pro-gun stance, but are no longer the 'cautionary tale' they once were purported to be, and aren't particularly notable as 'great literature' apart from that they way 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 were. If anything, the subsequent developments in the non-fiction world after Unintended Consequences begs a modern sequel (which hopefully incorporates some literary lessons learned, in addition to the rather radical historical & technological departure from the original story we've enjoyed the last two decades)

TCB

 

[Holmes375]

Neither of those stories is particularly "shocking" nowadays, since gun nuts are all considered violent paranoid racists by the gun grabbers anyway, and 'apocalyptic' literature is a huge genre, but back in the 90's & earlier the ideas of modern violent revolution or race wars were quite outrageous to most people who were convinced all the evil dragons had been slain for good with the fall of the Soviet Union. The 'sum of all fears' scenarios are also quite familiar to gun owners at this point as well (which, if rather unrealistic, did at least help shape a moral argument against disarmament for many folks). The militia-novels served their purpose back in the day of promoting the early hard-line/unapolgetic pro-gun stance, but are no longer the 'cautionary tale' they once were purported to be, and aren't particularly notable as 'great literature' apart from that they way 1984 or Fahrenheit 451 were. If anything, the subsequent developments in the non-fiction world after Unintended Consequences begs a modern sequel (which hopefully incorporates some literary lessons learned, in addition to the rather radical historical & technological departure from the original story we've enjoyed the last two decades)

TCB

Very good, sir.

 

[ScrapMetalSlug]

I read Mr. Ross's book about 10 years ago, after hearing about it quite a bit on this forum. Unfortunately, I never got it back after loaning it to a friend. Overall, I enjoyed reading the book. I would keep in mind, UC written in 1996 was in a much different world in regards to gun rights today. The federal assault weapons ban had recently be enacted, concealed carry was banned in most parts of the country, and there were no internet gun forums to access a nearly unlimited wealth of knowledge on RKBA and anything firearms related.

RKBA has made significant progress in the past 20 or so years with the AWB sun setting and ccw being common in most of the country. After 8 years of Barrack Obama, no significant anti-gun laws were able to be passed. The AR-15 has gone mainstream. However, I have a hard time believing that John Ross would be nominated as head of the BATFE.

 

[Solomonson]

I think an updated UC or a sequel would be worthwhile. There are a lot of interesting facts in it and there are plenty more that are worthy of an update. This time though the books needs to go through a formal editing process! That would have made a huge change to begin with. It would also be nice to cut all the kinky sex that didn't add to the plot development. That way the book would find a far wider audience.

 

[Solomonson]

...I have a hard time believing that John Ross would be nominated as head of the BATFE.

I very much agree. Writing a book, conducting concealed carry classes and being a personal financial planner do not form the skill-set necessary to run a 5K person bureaucracy in Washington.

 

[barnbwt]

The federal assault weapons ban had recently be enacted, concealed carry was banned in most parts of the country, and there were no internet gun forums to access a nearly unlimited wealth of knowledge on RKBA and anything firearms related.

I didn't enter into the gun nut brotherhood until '10 or thereabouts, but my understanding is that in the early days of the net in the 90's, American gun owners were largely isolated, blind, and hunkered down in the face of an unstoppable juggernaut of united & well-funded opposition. Think Dale Gribble (also a dated reference, but not as bad )

As the net became easier to navigate, more gun owners came to realize just how many like-minded persons were out there, and came to fully realize their political power. To be honest, it's shocking that in the days prior to this realization that the NRA was still a fairly formidable political force. Almost as shocking is that they don't seem a whole lot more effective today despite an informed & fairly united membership that is like an order of magnitude larger than the opposition

TCB

 

[Lycidas Janwor]

Umm, I think I'll pass.

Anyone who is going to lead a Federal Law Enforcement Agency needs to have the respect of the rank-and-file agents in the field and their implicit consent to be led in order to do the job effecitvely. I can't imagine that respect and consent being given to someone whose fictionalized account of the agency portrays them as active enemies of the American people. I would prefer the ATF job go to someone who the rank-and-file will respect and thus fully support in making whatever changes may need to be made.

Are these the same rank and file people who participated in the Fast and Furious fiasco? Or are these the same rank and file agents that lit up Waco, TX in a text book case of how to do EVERYTHING WRONG!

Yes, Mr. Ross, you have my support, that is, if you go in and fire everyone in that agency. Then close it down, lock up the building and throw away the key.

 

[barnbwt]

The Waco debacle was the FBI's doing; ATF just called them all over to party (not defending their likely frame job of the weirdo Koresh)

 

[salt&battery]

The Waco debacle was the FBI's doing; ATF just called them all over to party (not defending their likely frame job of the weirdo Koresh)

Waco started out as a disaster because the BATF stormed the building and mostly shot each other after practicing on a mock compound set up like Waco. so if you are a "weirdo" the govt can kill almost 100 people that are there including many kids?

 

[Robert]

Well, that's the end of this one. Rehashing Waco would not serve any positive purpose and would be fairly off topic for THR.