From  ucivax!sage.cc.purdue.edu!syserror
From: syserror@sage.cc.purdue.edu (Artificial Intelligence)
To:   David.Rice@ofa123.fidonet.org
Date: Mon, 3 May 93 11:02:58 -0500

In article <252841813@ofa123.fidonet.org> you write:
>   Now that I'm "thinking" about the subject, does anyone know WHY
>the BATF attacked the Branch Davidians? The media was told that
>Jesus Christ had an illegal weapon, but this hardly seems like a
>good excuse. --- Maximus 2.01wb

OK.  The FBI and BATF claimed the Davidians had illegal, automatic
weapons. This claim was rather ridiculous, since the Davidians were
weapons dealers, and several had type 3 firearms licenses, which
allow legal ownership of even fully-automatic weaponry.  The
Davidians likely did not actually have automatic weapons, since in
the dozens of news reports I saw, heard, and read, none mentioned
fully-automatic fire.  I'm sure the media, eager to condemn the
Davidians as they were, would have reported autofire had they heard
it. The supposed warrant the BATF had for the arrest of Koresh and
the search of his home wasn't.  A warrant has been unsealed after
the burning, but the warrant was issued _after_ the initial attack.
The original assault was completely illegal.  In the original
assault, the BATF surrounded the home and tried breaking in without
knocking and peacefully presenting a warrant.  I've heard that it
is legal for law-enforcement officers to perform a 'no-knock' warrant
serving when they feel they are in danger.  However, when they _have_
no warrant, the person in question had legal weapons, never threatened 
people, and could easily have been arrested peacefully on his trips to
town... Anyway, from reports I've seen and read, some BATF agents
trying to break into a second story window got trigger happy and
started the firefight.  Nothing the government did in the initial
assault had 'a good excuse.'