Houston Chron - BATFE door to door search

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by jdh

Medium sized town in the panhandle, home town boy, family friends of the chief, always assigned to a single man unit (mainly because no one wanted to work with him), could do no wrong.

IOW, an anamoly...NOT the norm. So why use an exception in an attempt to prove a rule?

I average 35-40k miles a year with an "NRA Life" decal on my vehicle - have done so for 30+ years. Have NEVER encountered such as you describe - to the opposite, I've had some very POSITIVE encounters w/LEO's because of the sticker.

[Texas1911]

Everyone chill out.

[deadday]

Just discovered this forum while googling for more info on the recent ATF activities...I found this thread and thought I'd register and share my experience...always looking to find some shooting buddies in my area...I was visited this morning by 2 ATF agents, one was from the Houston office, the other from Ohio....I suppose it's fitting to say that the madness is only just begining?

-drew

[DCortez]

Originally Posted by deadday

I suppose it's fitting to say that the madness is only just begining?

The pendulum is moving in the dems direction at the moment. Hold your breath til 2010 and 2012 and hope we don't lose more rights.

[deadday]

Originally Posted by DCortez

The pendulum is moving in the dems direction at the moment. Hold your breath til 2010 and 2012 and hope we don't lose more rights.

..we've got to make it that far D.....the BATF is already violating several tenats of the FOPA and Tiarht Amendment with this latest round of BS... (I didn't notice in the TOS, is foul language allowed or frowned upon? If frowned upon, can I type the word and expect the filter to ** it out for me, or do I need to be careful?)

The situation this morning left me very unsettled, really upset my wife, and had me trying to convince my landlord that I am not a criminal...

[DCortez]

Originally Posted by deadday

The situation this morning left me very unsettled, really upset my wife, and had me trying to convince my landlord that I am not a criminal...

There have been several comments on the increased activity. Driving around Houston, you'll see billboards about not buying guns for other people. Overall, it's just a slice of the power grab that is happening on many fronts. Banks, cars, insurance (aig), health care, etc..

Change you can believe in. You can thank your local Obama supporter

[TexasRedneck]

Originally Posted by deadday

.I was visited this morning by 2 ATF agents, one was from the Houston office, the other from Ohio....I suppose it's fitting to say that the madness is only just begining?

What was the nature of the visit? Warrant? Specific interest? Need more info here......

[DirtyD]

We had A BATFE guy int he shop doing our audit last week. I took the opportunity to ask him about these recent events and got what I feel was a reasnable explaination. FFL holders are supposed to get audited at least once a year, and currently they are two years behind schedule. What we are seeing is something very similar to the troop surge in Iraq, they are simply trying to catch up. The visits to people are largely a result of the "transplant" agents who are very rapidly pissing the local guys off. They (the foreigners) to not understand Texas Gun Owners, and are regularlygetting slapped down by the localsupervisory agents and told, and I quote, "You are not in New York/Conneticut?/New Jersey etc., This is not how we conduct business here, audit the frms and go home..." Most of these door knockers are overzealous yankees. This being said does not diminish the the fact that it is happening, however it does put, for me at least, things in perspective. Nothing is happening that is new, it is just happening more frequently for a temporary period thanks to the publicity generated by the left wing media. Our local offices and agents pose no threat to us, and actually are more on our side than you think. We also spoke at length about the existence and future of the BATFE, and I have come to believe they are a necessary organization, if they did not exist then regulation of firearms laws would fall under the Federal Bumbling Idiots. Talk about a nightmare scenario...Feel free to flame away and tell me how I have drank the kool-aid and am no longer a RTKBA supporter, but I think we all need to step back and examine the panic that we are causing a little more closely. I am not saying that I agree, just that things are being blown out of reasonable proportion.

[TexasRedneck]

Exactly the reason I asked for more specifics on the earlier-related "visit" - it seems that we don't have all the facts at hand at this time.

[deadday]

Originally Posted by TexasRedneck

What was the nature of the visit? Warrant? Specific interest? Need more info here......

They wanted to see the pistols that I purchased last week..