Published in a censored form in the 4/26/06 edition of Flagpole Magazine.

“April with the ATF”

I consider myself a child of the 1990’s. For me and many others of my generation, the month of April has developed a rather negative connotation. From Columbine to Oklahoma City to Waco to the L.A. riots, nearly all of the truly horrific events of the 1990’s happened in April. As I progressed through my adolescence, I watched all of these calamities unfold on television. In recent years, especially in April, I have become increasingly aware of the significance of these events and how much America DIDN’T learn from them.
It’s funny how there is always a reminder of the past decade’s unpleasantness at this time of the year. For this April, the reminder is what history will probably come to know as “The Ninja Incident.” Earlier this week, a UGA student attended a costume party at an on campus ministry. This school sanctioned event’s theme was pirates vs. ninjas. Well, it turns out that the Wesleyans weren’t the only privateers operating on campus that day. At the Georgia Center, ATF agents were training local law enforcement officers how to locate and confiscate illegal firearms.
The UGA student I spoke of, Jeremiah Ransom, left the party dressed in his ninja costume and started jogging back to his dorm. I’m sure you all know what happened next. The ATF agents spotted him, ran him down, drew their pistols on him, and wrestled him to the ground. The picture of the ATF Agent with his knee resting on Mr. Ransom’s neck tells the whole story. This student was unarmed and had committed no crime, yet he was still assaulted by Federal Agents. In their eyes, he was guilty until proven innocent.
When I read this bizarre news story, my mind immediately jumped back to those events in the 90’s, especially that infamous raid at Waco and the standoff at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. In some small way, this Ninja Incident teaches us those same lessons we missed a decade ago.

Lesson 1: The ATF has a skewed sense of jurisdiction.

Take a look at the warrant from the Waco raid. It talks more about child abuse and meth labs than it does about illegal firearms. The ATF had no right to serve a warrant on child abuse (a state offense) or drug manufacturing. There was basically no evidence of drug use, but the ATF made these allegations in their warrant so they could train for their military style raid at a nearby Army base. As a side note, using military resources in civilian law enforcement has been illegal since the end of Reconstruction.
What happened to Mr. Ransom is the same thing written on a smaller scale. Those agents should have called the UGA police instead of running down an innocent man and abusing him. What was he guilty of? It’s not illegal to wear a mask in public. If it were, you’d have to outlaw Halloween and Mardi Gras. The behavior of the agents was indicative of the fact that the ATF thinks it has a right to enforce state law whenever and wherever its agents happen to be. This is not what we pay them for.

Lesson 2: The ATF is obsessed with the use of force.


The raid that followed that bogus warrant left ten people in their graves and twenty or so others with serious wounds, all in the name of confiscating four illegal machine guns. Instead of arresting “cult leader” David Koresh when he was away from Mt. Carmel, they rolled out the snipers, the helicopters, and dozens of agents armed with machine guns and flash bang grenades. They came in with guns blazing, and it’s no wonder it ended up being the largest firefight in the history of American law enforcement. A year before, Koresh had offered to let the ATF come in and inspect his weapons. Instead of taking him up on his offer, they raided the home of nearly a hundred people (over thirty children) in the manner of an invading army. What happened that day was at the same time shameful and predictable.
In Mr. Ransom’s case, just like at Waco, the ATF meet a shaky suspicion with overwhelming force. The ‘fight first, think later’ mentality seems to rule all of their actions. Even a cursory look at the video of that raid will show you multiple occasions when agents misfire their weapons. It’s a good thing that didn’t happen when they drew down on a UGA student for no good reason. Mr. Ransom was not seriously injured in his encounter with the agents, but he was certainly assaulted without just cause, and I sincerely hope he sues them. At least he has some evidence on his side. Fire can’t consume that picture the way it did the bullet holes in the roof and door of the Mt. Carmel center that proved ATF agents fired on unseen targets, an act which is highly illegal.

Thomas Jefferson said that “force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.” What happened to Mr. Ransom, in its own small way, illustrates that America has not learned the lessons of so many previous Aprils. When we do learn, maybe we’ll stand up and tell the ATF and other federal agencies that if they aren’t going to respect the Constitution and do the job our tax dollars pay them to do; they should stay out of our communities. How do we stand up? Not by joining a militia or kicking off the revolution, but by electing local judges and law enforcement leaders who are committed to keeping federal agents, who are not elected by anyone, from bullying innocent people. We need people who can say to the ATF, “If you can’t behave yourselves, don’t come to Athens.” Until that time comes, I fear that future Aprils will only prove the truth of T.S. Eliot’s poetry.

-Raymond Wiley
Athens, GA