The conspiracy theory boom on the right in the 90s was a direct result of Janet Reno’s A.T.F. transforming itself from a taxation and regulation agency to the jack booted stormtroopers of libertarian myth. Cretin like Alex Jones came to prominences in an environment where the A.T.F. kicked in doors seemingly at random in all to often fruitless searches for law breakers. When not gladly setting cults of hippies alight on national TV they were explaining away gunning down of a family of conspiracy mongering Klanners to congress.

Reno’s Justice department and more specifically the heavy handed A.T.F. unleashed upon the public made fertile the soil from which the various conspiracy movements have grown and from which the right has only somewhat successfully distanced itself since the end of the Clinton years. That is why many of us may have overlooked the continuing pattern of abuse of American citizens by the A.T.F. that goes on to this very day.

Red’s Trading Post is a gunshop who is struggling to defend itself from the depredations of an out of control agency. The blog run by Red’s proprietor Ryan Horsely has become required reading for anyone researching the abuse of Americans by A.T.F. zealots, and it is from here that I found this outrageous story:

The BATFE raided firearms manufacturer Cavalry Arms for suspicion of fraud and money laundering, they also “took hundreds of guns from the scene, including AK-47s, assault weapons and high powered rifles.” Here are my 2 big questions:

1. When did the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives begin to start regulating fraud and money laundering?

2. Even if they did why would they need to seize their firearms?

One firearms manufacturer told me of a similar situation where the ATF seized firearms and computers for 15 months, finally when it was all said and done they sent them a nice little letter stating that they didn’t find anything and apologized for the inconvenience.

Yet another over reach by the A.T.F. who are now investigating crimes that have little, if anything, to do with their supposed area of expertise. The disturbing answer to Ryan’s question may well be that the paramilitarized A.T.F. is getting called out to serve high risk warrants because of all their “combat experience” during Reno’s tenure. That and they’ve proved themselves to be quite willing to trample Americans constitutional rights.

It gets worse however as David Codrea of The War on Guns exposes a complicit local media who are distracting the public from the oddly fascistic undertones of the A.T.F.’s partner ship with a glorified collection agency by skewering the satirical ad campaigns Calvary Arms produced in accordance with their First Amendment rights:

Me, I’m interested in learning more about this “public/private partnership,” the contractor partner in the raid, Forfeiture Support Associates. They, their relationship with the government and the people behind them deserve much closer scrutiny and should not be operating under the radar, as they will if we rely on “Authorized Journalists” to provide any kind of oversight.

They’re too busy being shocked, shocked at a Cavalry Arms Internet spoof and consulting the Council on American Islamic relations about a perceived attack on “Muslim Men…for the purpose of selling a semiautomatic rifle!”

Read the whole post which is replete with links giving a troublesome context to this assault combined assault by the media and A.T.F. on the First and Second amendment rights of Cavarly Arms.

Nikki at The Liberty Zone says word on the Web is that a disgruntled former employee set the ball rolling on this.

I’d say that their ad campaigns by featuring Oleg Volk photos and hardcore Libertarian philosophies provoked the A.T.F. and as much as the vindictive report of a neer-do-well. Here’s an example:

Cavarly Arms is a symbolic target, and a successful prosecution of them will not just shut down an American business, but will have a chilling effect on politically incorrect speech. We all know that ultimately the government cannot protect you and that the police aren’t your bodyguards and shouldn’t be expected to act as such. The A.T.F. and the powers that be don’t want you to say that however, the question is why?