Ruby Ridge Remembered
SEATTLE, WA – When we hit the road our route was pretty open with just a few exceptions – Jason wanted to make it to the Liberty Summer Seminar (LSS) and possibly to Burning Man and I wanted to make it to Waco and Ruby Ridge. Thanks to the actions of the Jones County Sheriff’s Department we were denied entry into Canada, preventing us from getting to LSS (though we did speak with LSS attendees via Skype) and we were well away from Nevada when Burning Man went down. However, we were able to stop by Waco in late May and this past weekend, made it to Ruby Ridge – site of a violent confrontation between many local, state and federal law enforcement agencies and the Weaver family in the early 1990s in northern Idaho.
The cause for this incident – the selling of two shotguns by Randy Weaver to an undercover ATF informant that the ATF later claimed were 1/4″ shorter than allowable per their dictate (which Weaver denies) eventually resulted in over 400 law enforcement personnel swarming this remote area of Idaho. When it was all said and done Randy Weaver’s son had been shot in the back and killed by U.S. Marshal Larry Cooper and of his wife Vicki shot in the face and murdered by FBI sniper Lou Horiuchi.
As I tried to show in the beginning of the first video, this location is very remote and difficult to find – begging the question of if it makes sense that some bureaucrats sitting in a DC office over 2,500 miles away have the authority to make decisions that ultimately resulted in the deaths of two innocent people.
The lack of unaccountability for the actions of government agents at Ruby Ridge should be a warning. Though Horiuchi’s actions were condemned by a DOJ investigation (which found that his second shot violated the Constitution) received no negative repercussions and later in the same year was on the ground in Waco, Texas. When charges were brought against Hourchi the federal government quickly claimed sovereign immunity – which basically means that he can’t be sued and that he was just following orders. And though the government admitted no fault the remaining Weavers and their friend Kyle Harris were given financial compensation – money taken not from those who caused the atrocities but stolen from taxpayers. Is that any deterrent?
What steps can be taken to prevent similar situations in the future? If we take into consideration the incentives inherent in a system that shield entire groups of people and the “goods” and “services” they provide from competition and accountability it doesn’t look too good.
For more on this I encourage you to read an overview of Public Choice Theory, Murray Rothbard’s chapter on Police, Law and the Courts from For a New Liberty, and the books The Enterprise of Law by Bruce Benson, Anarchy & the Law edited by Ed Stringham, and The Market for Liberty by the Tannehill’s (read by Ian Freeman of Free Talk Live & FreeKeene.com).
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Previously, I had only heard of “Ruby Ridge” in passing, yet another one of your honest and straightforward videos has now educated me about this truly horrific event. Murder is clearly the ultimate rights violation, and to learn of it happening at the hands of those claiming to “serve and protect” is the worst of contradictions.
I could see that Pete was moved by the tragedy of these innocent lives being brutally ended by men who had the audacity to think and act as if they were justified in ruling others and enforcing obedience through violence. Although I’m deeply disturbed to learn the details of these heinous acts, I remain grateful for the important work that MHD is doing to educate people about the true nature of government.
Thanks for bringing this up. One question/verification. I believe I read Randy Weaver asked to go to Vietnam, once he became a Green Beret and was not permitted to go.
Here is some vidoe about a similar incident that happened in Wisconsin in 2008. A man had his house raid because he didn’t pay $ 5000 in taxes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwuYApNB4Y4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8oO2x8UwF4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvQgJYuYvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALbfvP3vMk
@daniel – thanks so much man. it’s why i’m toying with the idea of a future project similar to our “search for freedom” called “government violence tour” to highlight incidents like this and waco.
i tried condensing this into one part, one vid, but felt i was stripping out too much substantive content. i then thought i’d just have one polished vid about the incident with a second of a bunch of raw clips i stripped out for those interested in hearing more about what went down. but eventually thought a two-parter would be best to do it justice. hopefully the combined length doesn’t deter too many folks from checking it out.
@tom – exactly. more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Weaver#Military_training
I had also read that, it was either the ATF or FBI, had not known the boy had been killed until they tried to bulldoze the shed his body was interned in during the stand off.
Also, didn’t this whole thing started because the federal agents wanted Weaver to risk his life infiltrating that white supremacist group and he refused?
Interesting stuff. I do feel that the government does need to inforce the law.
@bill Re: “I do feel the government needs to inforce the law.”
Really, Bill? Do you mean in general, or this law in particular? No matter what law? No matter how much force? ‘Cause they sure did “enforce” the HELL out of that shotgun barrel length restriction, didn’t they? Murder was done at Ruby Ridge, who’s going to enforce the law against that?
Thanks for this report, and I appreciate (and share) your passion over the incident.
A correction needs to be made, though: it was Kevin Harris, not “Kyle”.
Reading about Ruby Ridge and the Waco incident and Jon Horiuchi’s connection to both as well as his connection to West Point was one of the largest factors in my decision to stop my admission process to that particular school. I truly felt disgusted when I learned more about these events and I could see your frustration Pete, at the end of the video.
It was a great video(s) and there were a lot of details that were there that I hadn’t previously gotten wind of.
Please checkout these videos about a similar situation in Wisconsin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwuYApNB4Y4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8oO2x8UwF4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvQgJYuYvo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ALbfvP3vMk&feature=related
This really is hard to believe. Would a reputable PR Company really do this? I hope they get the soccer mom they deserve.
Yep, very hard to believe it. I think it would, Alex, yes.. They’ll get the soccer mom they deserve for sure.