Does anyone KNOW what the original charge against Weaver was? I mean, the specific description(s) of the 'illegal' shotgun(s) barrel length? I have read the Justice Dept report on the Ruby Ridge affair, but it doesn't go into that detail.
First arrest
Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) had been trying to infiltrate an Aryan Nation group based near the Weaver property at Hayden Lake, Idaho.
At the 1986 World Congress, a biker named Gus Magisono befriended Randy Weaver. In actuality, Magisono was undercover ATF informant Kenneth Faderley. Gus asked Randy to sell him some sawed-off shotguns. Initially, Randy refused, arguing that he could not afford to purchase the shotguns, but Magisono persisted. Magisono eventually agreed to provide the shotguns, along with instructions regarding the length he wanted. Magisono then purchased the guns back from Weaver, ensuring that Weaver had violated federal weapons laws. According to Magisono, the guns were sawed off 3/8th inch shorter than the legal minimum. Weaver denies cutting the barrels to below the legal length, insisting that Magisono further shortened the barrels to below the minimum legal overall length of 18 inches after purchase to create a violation. An Idaho jury later agreed that this was a form of entrapment.[3]
The ATF confronted Weaver eight months later in June 1990, offering to dismiss the minor[2] weapons charges in exchange for Randy's infiltration and information against the Aryan Nations.[3] Randy refused,[3] and subsequently notified the local Aryan Nations members of the offer and his refusal.
On Oct. 24, 1989, Weaver sold two shotguns whose barrels arguably measured 1/4 inch less than the 18 inch length determined arbitrarily by Congress to be legal. The H&R single-barrel 12-ga. and Remington pump were sold to a good friend who instructed Weaver to shorten the barrels. The "good friend" was an undercover informant working for the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (BATF), who later told reporters he was in it "mainly for the excitement."
Eight months after he sold the shotguns, Weaver was approached by two BATF agents with an offer--spy on the Aryan Nations, a white supremacist hate group head-quartered in northern Idaho, or go to jail. Weaver refused to become a government informer, and--six months later--he was indicted on the shotgun charge.
It was later determined to be entrapment because he initially refused but they kept after him to do it
Weaver was targeted because of his association with WhiteSupremestSeparatist groups
I really don't see the entrapment defense.
They're not on my top ten lists of government agencys that have honor
A) There are plenty of laws NOT being enforced (the 2A, for one.)But if congress creates laws, they need to be enforced, END OF STORY!!!
No, because he's already dealing drugs.So if I go to a drug dealer and offer to buy some crack, he can sell it to me because he didn't initiate the transaction?
Didn't think there were enough of those to make a list of ten!
DEA knows you are in some financial difficulty, so they have an undercover agent befriend you and talk you into selling drugs they provide you with.
nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law
,Throwing explitives and mal contents against the agency which has been tasked with enforcing laws created by the power invested in Congress is both unintelligent and inconsistent with the constitution you speak to be so in love with.