ATF making up crimes
Nothing new. They’ve done it quite a lot. But a judge is bringing the heat:
“Society does not win when the government stoops to the same level as the defendants it seeks to prosecute,” he wrote. “Especially when the government has acted solely to achieve a conviction for a made-up crime.”
Also, I liked this:
But for the undercover agent’s imagination in this case there would be no crime.
November 23rd, 2014 at 6:54 pm
At least tell me they got them on the felon in possession charges? Right?
November 23rd, 2014 at 7:31 pm
“But for the undercover agent’s imagination in this case there would be no crime.”
More likely it’s orders from higher up, not imagination.
November 23rd, 2014 at 10:58 pm
There is plenty of crime to solve and plenty of criminals to arrest without the government creating crimes in which to entrap people ( guilty or not).
November 24th, 2014 at 10:41 am
There are people who need to be in jail, and what the ATF was doing was one way to get them there, but it was the wrong way. Way wrong.
It was, however, much easier, safer and more efficient than actually figuring out what the gang members had been up to on their weekends. That would have required staying up late, visiting unsavory neighborhoods, doing boring things like interviewing witnesses to crimes and doing forensics on evidence, and maybe even getting shot at.
I can understand why the ATF thought stings were the way to go, but I really, really hope the ATF figures out why stings aren’t the way to go.
November 24th, 2014 at 11:25 am
“Tyranny is defined as that which is legal for the government but illegal to the citizenry.” –Thomas Jefferson
November 24th, 2014 at 5:48 pm
“…a valuable tool for the agency to tackle the heavy traffic of drugs flowing through Southern California and the crimes that go with it.”
Here’s a better tool: decriminalize drugs. If there’s no underlying crime there will be no traffic, no flowing, no secondary crime, and no stings.
But yeah, without laws against victimless crime, there would be DEA, no ATF, and a lot less GOV. Like that’ll ever happen.
November 24th, 2014 at 5:59 pm
Well I guess its safer than taking down meth cookers.
You know, people that are actually committing crimes…
November 24th, 2014 at 6:59 pm
What’s your opinion on “Bait Cars”?