As the nation’s primary source for fire investigative knowledge, ATF remains committed to investigating those responsible for committing arsons in our communities and holding them responsible for their illegal actions. As a reminder, there is a mandatory minimum sentence of five years for arson. ATF takes these violent actions seriously and will work diligently to bring justice to the victims.
Jonathan McPherson
ATF Special Agent in Charge
August 27, 2020
74 People Facing Federal Charges for Crimes Committed During Portland Demonstrations
[If someone had told me 20 years ago that in 2020 our nation was in a crisis and I would be praising the action of the ATF I would have thought they were nuts. At that time the ATF had reached a new low with the incidents at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Since then they continued their despicable behavior with the “Fast and Furious” scandal and numerous other attacks on gun owners and manufactures. They have done nothing newsworthy of particular note worthy of praise in the intervening years .
At this time I must give them appropriate feedback when they have done something right. This is them doing their job under difficult circumstances and I appreciate it.—Joe]
Last I remember arson was a state crime also? To much deadwood in that system to be redeemable. Disband. And jail time for the smallest of infractions by it’s agents. Isn’t that the precedent they have inflicted on the public for their entire existence?
No matter the small amount of good perceived. That agency needs to be made an example of!
Being somewhat pessimistic about the current sincerity of the ATF based on past actions, I am waiting to see if there is more than pandering going on here. It is easy to say things that are expected in any given situation. It is quite another to demonstrate successful completion of a promise made. When significant jail sentences are handed down to those 74 in Portland and then others around the country, I’ll be convinced, at least in regards to this particular situation. They will still have a long way to go to convince me that they have turned over a new leaf regarding firearms.
ATF should be good at arson investigations, their “top men” cut their teeth burning out plenty of homes with people inside. There is no redemption for them nor the FBI, and Lon Horiuchi could not be reached for comment.
Echoing the others… just like the stopped clock that’s occasionally correct, it may be that the ATF occasionally does something right. So what? Its powers related to arson are redundant since that’s a state crime. And — with the possible exception of the “alcohol” part, if you stretch things far enough — none of its duties are sanctioned by the United States Constitution.
(All of this applies to the FBI as well, of course)
Words.
Actions would be better; but this is not an agency that has engendered any trust
I understand what all of you are saying. I even agree with most of it–in a just society. But we have to work with what is possible and probable. And there are short term versions as well as long term versions of possible and probable.
What you guys may not know is that the ATF and all large organizations, government or not, monitor social media. My company does and I’m on rotation to handle some of the alerts which come in from our automated sources. Ten or 15 years ago I even talked to one of the people at the ATF who spent time reading forums and blogs (it didn’t sound like they had automated systems or else they were responding to the automated alerts). Hence, by posting on the Internet you are probably giving them feedback on their activities.
We don’t live in a world where the ATF and/or FBI (a similar QOTD is coming out tomorrow morning on the FBI) is going to be disbanded, or even more appropriate, the ATF turned into a brand for a convenience store. What is possible and probable is that they reallocate scarce resources to pursue actual criminals instead of innocent gun owners and manufacturers. It’s not ideal, but it would be an improvement in our situation.
Long term the solution is to eliminate Federal agencies which duplicate what should be done at the state and local level. But that’s not going to happen in the next few months so let’s leverage those resources toward appropriate handling of the Marxist thugs.
To continue calling for the disbandment and insisting they are irredeemable for crimes committed 25+ years ago by people who no longer work there is probably counter productive. The people there now will likely consider “gun owners” as their enemy if that is all they hear.
I say, give them praise if they do something right and be a critic when they do something wrong. At least some people within the organizations will notice and it will tend to bias their reporting on our “community” as in an appropriate manner as their intelligence reports filter up to higher management.
If the arrests and charges don’t amount to anything and were just a show for political purposes then condemn them. But this is a decent first step in shutting down the political left’s street thugs.