Uncle Sam’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (and Really Big Fires) is the $1 billion dollar-plus per year agency charged with arresting perps who violate federal gun laws. This website has long argued that the ATF and Sometimes E (and Really Big Fs) is unnecessary; they don’t do anything that other law enforcement agencies could, should and do do. And speaking of someone who’s landed in the doo-doo, an ATF press release reveals that “A 24-year-old felon from Red Lake was indicted today in federal court in St. Paul for allegedly possessing a .24 caliber rifle and a nine—millimeter pistol in July of 2010. The indictment charges Fabian Wayne English with two counts of being a felon in possession of a firearm.” Guess how many agencies were involved?
This case is the result of an investigation by the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and the Red Lake Tribal Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael A. Dees.
So just two. I think that’s a new record for the ATF. Then again, the U.S. Census reported Red Lake, Minnesota’s total population at 1,436. So how many agents were involved in the case, ’cause I reckon it would have been wicked hard to blend into the Red Lake community? Unknown.
So, how much did this indictment cost the U.S. taxpayer? Hard to tell. But the ATF presser points out that . . .
Note, this case is part of Project Safe Neighborhoods, an initiative launched by the U.S. Justice Department in 2001 to promote a multi-jurisdictional, comprehensive approach to reducing gun crime in America. PSN provides resources to strengthen law enforcement and crime prevention partnerships that are working to make our streets and communities safer.
I’m not quite sure, but this link seems to say that the “ATF component” of the Department of Justice’s PSN costs you, the taxpayer, $194,882,000 for fiscal 2009. I can almost hear the “if one child is saved” justification now . . .
So the ATF(and sometimes)E nabbed one whole felon in possession of firearms? A game warden I used to know was single-handedly more effective than this whole operation. He nabbed a dozen or so ex-cons each year by combing through the list of firearms-season hunting tags and looking for the names of known local felons. Then he’d find them at theirr elk camp and ask to take their picture with their trophy and their rifle in hand. Busted!
A whole lot cheaper, and a whole lot more effective, than the overblown drivel in this press release. It sounds like a new bad joke: “How many federal agents does it take to ________ (fill in the blank)?” Answer: “(Insert large number here, and why.)”
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