The following is from the BATF report on the raid of the Branch Davidian community at Mt. Carmel, outside Waco, TX. (Appendix G)
In a larger sense, however, the raid fit within an historic, well-established and well-defended government interest in prohibiting and breaking up all organized groups that sought to arm or fortify themselves.... From its earliest formation, the federal government has actively suppressed any effort by disgruntled or rebellious citizens to coalesce into an armed group, however small the group, petty its complaint, or grandiose its ambition.
Appendix G relates how the experience of Shay's Rebellion (1786-87), the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Fries Rebellion (1799), the fugitive slave rescues of the 1850s, John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry federal arsenal (1859), the Civil War, Southern resistance to Reconstruction, the Pullman Strike (1894), etc., created an intolerance to organized, armed groups on the part of the federal government. This paranoia led Congress to pass the National Firearms Act of 1934, not "to curb the gangsters' ability to arm themselves" with automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns as advertised, but "to discourage ownership of such weapons without outlawing them." It admits that "No self-respecting gangster would want to register, much less pay the tax, on his Tommygun." It goes on to say:
The passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first federal effort to control ownership of firearms, grew out of this historic fear of armed organizations.... In recent times, the federal government has shown itself even less patient with armed groups.... As both history and recent events clearly show, the United States has never tolerated armed groups residing within its borders. The intent of the particular organization, whether ideological or criminal, mattered little.... ATF's enforcement focus retains the flavor of that historic concern with armed organizations.
In a larger sense, however, the raid fit within an historic, well-established and well-defended government interest in prohibiting and breaking up all organized groups that sought to arm or fortify themselves.... From its earliest formation, the federal government has actively suppressed any effort by disgruntled or rebellious citizens to coalesce into an armed group, however small the group, petty its complaint, or grandiose its ambition.
Appendix G relates how the experience of Shay's Rebellion (1786-87), the Whiskey Rebellion (1794), Fries Rebellion (1799), the fugitive slave rescues of the 1850s, John Brown's raid on the Harper's Ferry federal arsenal (1859), the Civil War, Southern resistance to Reconstruction, the Pullman Strike (1894), etc., created an intolerance to organized, armed groups on the part of the federal government. This paranoia led Congress to pass the National Firearms Act of 1934, not "to curb the gangsters' ability to arm themselves" with automatic weapons and sawed-off shotguns as advertised, but "to discourage ownership of such weapons without outlawing them." It admits that "No self-respecting gangster would want to register, much less pay the tax, on his Tommygun." It goes on to say:
The passage of the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first federal effort to control ownership of firearms, grew out of this historic fear of armed organizations.... In recent times, the federal government has shown itself even less patient with armed groups.... As both history and recent events clearly show, the United States has never tolerated armed groups residing within its borders. The intent of the particular organization, whether ideological or criminal, mattered little.... ATF's enforcement focus retains the flavor of that historic concern with armed organizations.
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