When Justice So Requires

Yes, the BATFE is impressed with itself, no doubt. Take a peek at this Amended Declaration (www.jpfo.org/redsdec.pdf). Part of the suit Red's filed in an effort to save the business, this declaration is the sworn statement of BATFE agent Richard Van Loan. In Section 7, he references the phrase "...when justice so requires." This isn't the first time Agent Van Loan has said that. In fact, according to Horsley, Agent Van Loan has stipulated several times that he has ultimate authority "when justice so requires".

I asked Ryan Horsley about the missing guns referred to in Van Loan's declaration. His reply:

This inspection was in 2000 the same year that I had taken over management. My parents had just fired [a former employee]* for theft, right on the heels of the firing, we were audited. They went back about 20 years in their audit. In those years after my grandfather's death (after 1986) and when my Grandmother took over there were rumored numerous thefts by employees.

We still have a surveillance video tape in the back of [a former employee]* stealing from the cash register. Anyway they initially counted 25 missing firearms that had not been properly logged out of the A&D (Acquisition/ Disposition) Book. We were able to resolve 13 of them but the other 12 we were finally forced to declare as lost and report them to the Police Department.

It is important to note that since that time, there have been no missing firearms. All of the current findings have been for perceived paperwork glitches.

I'll be blogging more about Red's later today--I have a project in mind, but I can't do it alone.

* I have taken it upon myself to delete identifying information due to potential legal implications.--DC