deconcini ten years ago and today dennis deconcini in these and similar areas the bureau has violated not only the dictates of common sense but of u s c sec which was intended to prevent secret lawmaking by administrative bodies these practices amply documented in hearings before this sub committee leave little doubt that the bureau has disregarded rights guaranteed by the constitution and laws of the united states it has trampled upon the second amendment by chilling exercise of the right to keep and bear arms by law abiding citizens it has offended the fourth amendment by unreasonably search ing and seizing private property it has ignored the fifth amendment by taking private property without just compensation and by entrapping honest citizens with out regard for their right to due process of law the rebuttal presented to the subcommittee by the bureau was utterly unconvincing richard davis speaking on behalf of the treasury department asserted vaguely that the bureau s priorities were aimed at prosecuting willful violators particularly felons ille gally in possession and at confiscating only guns actually likely to be used in crime he also asserted that the bureau has recently made great strides toward achieving these priorities no documen tation was offered for either of these assertions in hearings before batf s appropriations subcommittee however expert evidence was submitted establishing that approximately percent of batf gun prosecutions were aimed at ordinary citizens who had neither criminal intent nor knowledge but were enticed by agents into unknowning technical violations exerpt from th congress d session committee print t h e r i g h t t o k e e p a n d b e a r a r m s report of the subcommittee on the constitution of the committee on the judiciary united states senate ninety seventh congress second session february printed for the use of the committee on the judiciary u s government printing office o washington letter to constituent april thank you for contacting me regarding the bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms atf which is the federal law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over firearms violations and regulations it has been my experience as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee on treasury postal service and general government which funds atf that atf is one of the most competent and highly professional law enforcement agencies in the federal government the agents of atf have proven their value again and again in successful legal operations to curb the unlawful possession and use of firearms especially in the area of drug related crimes it enforces the armed career criminal act which calls for mandatory minimum sentences for repeat felons using firearms to carry out an illegal activity the bureau has made itself a key component in preventing gang related violence also both by educating at risk youth to the dangers of gang membership as well a s by depriving known gangs from access to weapons the waco texas case involved the execution of search warrants by atf on the branch davidians for illegal firearms and explosives possession automatics semi automatics and machine guns in addition to bombs and other explosives in virtually every gun case atf is asked to trace weapons through its national firearms tracing center where they keep all dealer and federal firearms license information atf is the federal governments firearms expert and routinely works with state and local police to execute warrants atf working with state and local law enforcement in texas and the u s attorneys office felt it was necessary to execute these warrants in order to legally establish that a crime had been committed and conclude a long and thorough investigation of illegal gun and explosives held by members of the branch davidians in addition atf carefully selected a sunday morning knowing from their source inside that the men would be separated from the women and children and not in the area where it was known that the illegal weapons were stored as you may be aware by now vernon howell a k a david koresh spiritual leader of the branch davidians was tipped of the impending execution of the search warrants unfortunately atf lost the element of surprise and the cult was able to arm themselves and prepare for atfs entry into the compound once a hostage situation presented itself the atf asked the fbi to become involved since the fbi is skilled in hostage negotiations in addition and military tanks were brought in due to the serious nature of the situation and firepower of the branch davidians based on what i have learned about atf s role in the branch davidian raid i believe the agency acted responsibly i am however deeply saddened by the loss of lives of the law enforcement agents who attempted to enter the compound and the civilian members of the cult i fully expect the department of treasury to conduct a thorough evaluation with representatives from law enforcement outside the department to be headed by the assistant secretary for enforcement in addition atf will conduct its own review of the waco operation i look forward to reviewing the findings of the evaluators and hope this situation in waco will be brought to a quick and peaceful conclusion sincerely dennis deconcini chairman subcommittee on treasury postal service and general government april larry cipriani l v cipriani att com
