Kind of like taking a carton of eggs to a gunfight.
With some sarcastic language and sense of irony thrown in.
From FoxNews.com (thanks, Chris):
The U.S. Border Patrol is under fire for allegedly ordering its elite, SWAT-style units to use non-lethal bean bag ammunition before responding with deadly force – even against suspects armed with high-powered semi-automatic and automatic weapons like AK-47s.The controversy over the agency’s “bean bag” policy began in the days following the Dec. 14 killing of U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry and has escalated recently as more information is uncovered in the investigation of the fatal shooting.“When the suspected aliens did not drop their weapons, two Border Patrol agents deployed ‘less than lethal’ beanbags at the suspected aliens,” according to a FBI search warrant request filed in the U.S. District Court in Tucson on Dec. 29. “At this time, at least one of the suspected aliens fired at the Border Patrol agents. Two Border Patrol agents returned fire, one with his long gun and one with his pistol. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot with one bullet and died shortly after.The warrant appears to support claims made by Terry’s brother, Kent, and former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo that Terry’s team — part of the U.S. Border Patrol Tactical Unit, also known as BORTAC — was under standing orders to always use bean-bag rounds first before using live ammunition.“There was a group of four guys with my brother and two had lethal and two had non-lethal weapons there,” Kent Terry told Fox News Friday.Tancredo wrote about the issue in a Dec. 18 op-ed article here.
Would your federal government ever purposely send its own very precious CIVILIAN agents into battle less than perfectly equipped?
For “Politically Correct” purposes?
You figure that one out.
BZ
P.S.
May the good Lord keep and hold USBP Agent Brian Terry, and look after him and his family.
I will say this about Carter – he only cut down on the amount of ammo we were allowed to carry in far off places that hated us – at least he didn’t take it away entirely.
Obama sure surpassed him on this one.
Why are so many of our GOOD MEN dying??
And under what circumstances ARE they dying??
For “political reasons”??
BZ
Way more to this story. Might be enough to bring down clown and company.
http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/
This is absolutely surreal. Another disgustingly politically correct/corrupt form of tricking Americians into believing we are protecting our nation.
These men were put in harms way. Two out of four had the actual amunition? Pathetic!
What about the thugs? Oh, yeah, I bet they are given a gold star! Pfffffffffffffffffff! Makes me SICK!
Isn’t it interesting that the Border Patrol has to use these less than lethal weapons when they face non U.S. citizens, but the ATF, FBI, and other federal law enforcement groups (AKA our constitutionally prohibited NATIONAL POLICE FORCE) are under no such compulsion when they bust into our homes because the neighbor called in a tip about someone lighting up a doobie or or having a shotgun that’s a quarter inch too short.
Those fellas come barging in with AR-15s, H&Ks, and Kimbers, and I guarantee you when they point them at U.S. citizenry they don’t have bean bags in the pipe.
I’m not sure why Border Patrol agents continue to do their jobs, considering their own government will turn on them and toss them in prison for the simple act of defending themselves.
God bless them for standing in the gap, despite the treachery of their political overseers.
Tim: I have some insight into this, but it won’t come with what you’ll expect and it won’t come with happiness.
BZ
Having actually worked in Central and South America many years back when assigned there, I can tell you this, I ALWAYS carried a pistol, and in many cases, depending on the locale, an M-16, an AK-47, an Uzi, whatever was available with an ample supply of ammo, and things weren’t nearly as bad 20 years ago as they are now..
Today, and agent, officer, whatever the case may be, anyone that goes down there unarmed is basically a suicidal person…
And a government that requires it’s officers and agents to traverse these nations unarmed will soon find that they employ only a few FOOLS, because you’d have to be a FOOL to do otherwise…
Isn’t this also the case where the ATF agent is saying he was forced by his superiors to allow the weapon used to kill this BP Officer through the sieve that is our border?
It’s almost vigilante time, isn’t it?!!!
Operation gunwalker is about all one needs to know about the border and our administration…Sigh.
But it’s secure really it is…so sayeth Janet.
put the stupid bureaucrats and politicians that come up with this shit on the front lines, bringing a beanbag to a gunfight.
That’s real intelligent throw harmless beam bags at someone who is holding an automatic weapon, gee, who has the upper hand?
Let’s send Obama and Napolitano to the hot zone and see how long they would last throwing bean bags at the cartel?
For political reasons… sigh… No way in HELL I’d go into what is essentially a combat situation with non-lethal as my ‘primary’
weapon…
There IS more to this, but I don’t know that we will ever see/find out the rest of the story.
Leticia: I make an assumption that I should clarify:
When I mention “beanbags”, having been the Rangemaster for my 2,000+ deputy department, I make the assumption that my readers know what I’m talking about. That’s MY mistake, not yours.
This isn’t a matter of, literally, bean bags.
The LTL weapon of which I refer is the Bean Bag SHOTGUN — that is, instead of a standard 00 buck or other shot round, substitutes a “bean-bag” -type round for a lethal high-base or low-base round with lead pellets within.
Go here (http://mkballistics.com/specs/MKB12%20GAUGE%20Ammo.htm) to see what I’m referring to.
BZ