'Inspector X'

Recent Gun Rights Examiner columns regarding the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reminded me of an interview I did some years back with a former ATF inspector. I went looking for it and found it has disappeared from the website that hosted it.

I believe it is still (and especially) relevant today, so present it here to preserve it, and to provide some recent past perspective to our current discussions.

Interview with "Inspector X"

IX: I guess I don't know for sure. My thoughts run along this line: I think some men who work for the alphabet agencies (FBI-ATF-CIA-IRS-NSA-etc.) like the notion that they can carry a gun. It is an ego thing. There is security in jobs like these.

Many people prefer security over liberty. We don't have to look far to see this. Look how many people work for the U.S. government. They really don't produce anything. They just are employed pushing paper and harassing the American people. These are the kinds of people who put this current president into office.

DC: Does the average field agent believe he is doing his patriotic duty?

IX: I think they do. Some have expressed to me that they are "Law Enforcement Agents," and therefore are doing what is right.

When I was working for ATF I was an inspector. I really had a low opinion of the enforcement agents. They would sit around the office all day playing electronic games, and then would go out at night to the bars and drink with the prostitutes and draw their premium overtime pay. They were a sorry lot, as far as I was concerned.

Of course, I was the guy who went around to the pawn brokers and firearms dealers and harassed them. I was young, and did not know what I was doing. I didn't know back in those days that the government was trying to take our guns away. Man, was I wrong. I'm ashamed of what I did to those firearms dealers. I wish I could make it right for them.

Well, now I try to do my best to stay on top of anti-gun legislation. I try to inform everyone I meet who will listen to me about the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), and their dominance over government, foundations, media, and industry. The upcoming presidential elections are a good example of how the American people are being manipulated. George W. Bush, by way of illustration, at a May 23rd press conference had with him former National Security Advisor Brent Scowcroft, former Secretary of State George Shultz, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell, all CFR members and internationalists. The CFR and UN supporters are the insider Elite behind the gun grab. Perhaps the tide will turn. I think not.

DC: Does the average ATF employee really think the Second Amendment is just a "National Guard" clause?

IX: I have heard some say that the Second Amendment refers to the National Guard.

DC: Is ATF loyalty fueled by a sense of being part of an elite corps, an "us vs. them" situation, or what?

IX: Yep!

DC: Does it go deeper, i.e., do you have people who know what they're doing is wrong but do it anyway?

IX: I don't think so. Most think they are doing their duty, that is, enforcing the law.

DC: Are some on power trips?

IX: Yes, for sure there's some of this. There are a lot of badge heavy federal agents. I have found that there are many local policemen and policewomen who are badge heavy, also.

DC: Did you see any out and out corruption?

IX: I don't recall seeing any of this. Just lazy federal employees exercising unrighteous dominion over their fellow citizens. The only corruption I saw in the government came from higher up. It's kinda like the drug war. You have the agents on the street busting minorities and small time drug dealers all the time. However, how often do they get the big guys? Not often. The guys up the ladder are protected; often by legislation.

I had a professor in college make the statement one time that "crime exists with the consent of the people." That was about 30 years ago when he said that. I am convinced he is right. Bill Clinton has done more in the last few years to help the drug cartels make money than the drug lords could have ever done for themselves.

I was not an "Agent" in those days, I was a regulatory "Inspector." I was the one who went out and did the inspections (harassed) firearms dealers. I did not carry a gun. My position was looked down upon by the "Agents." Again, the ego thing.

Just an afterthought about the ATF Agents playing the electronic games all day. The reason they did that was because of the lack of criminal enforcement work. There just was not anything for them to do.

Even now, as I think about it, what is there for the criminal enforcement agents to do in an 8-hour day? And when you have an office with 4-6 agents, what could those guys possibly do in a day? Or a week?

There just is not very much work for them to do. On the regulatory side of the house, there is lots to do, but for the criminal guys, not much. They have a really easy job. Not much work and high pay.

I recall an incident wherein the local police department picked up a guy with a sawed-off shotgun. You would have thought the agents in the office had won the lottery. They were so excited. Now they had some work.

Afterword:

It's important to understand the mindset of those who would strip us of our rights, and of those who act as their enforcers. "Inspector X" gives us valuable, first-hand insight into this.

I have found "Inspector X" to be forthright in both his observations and in his expressions of remorse for past actions. And while I cannot speak for those dealers who were, in his own words, "harassed" by him, I would hope to be able to forgive someone who not only regrets past transgressions, but also now believes in and promotes freedom.

Indeed, if there is a core message that I have taken away from this, it is one of hope.

I find hope in the knowledge that people come around, even those who we perceive as our tormentors. I hope others agree that who a person is now is more important than what a person once was. And I hope that other agents, inspectors and enforcers who chance across this realize that we don't want their enmity, but instead hope to welcome them to the fellowship of free people as friends and patriotic countrymen.

Finally, I want to make it clear that the idea of using an alias was mine, and was never imposed as a condition for communicating with me, despite potential personal risks, as "Inspector X" works in a position that could very likely result in official harassment and repercussions.

------------

The government middleman

------------

State firearm freedom movement growing