Not to excuse the actions of criminals, but perhaps there is a silver lining in this claim by "IRS officials"?
Criminals prefer to operate using stealth and deception, fearing discovery and exposure. The IRS was feared as a powerful, corrupt organization by adults I knew while growing up. Yet this declaration of fear of ordinary people by IRS officials may well be important to note.
As the burglar and mugger fear of being caught out of their element, so should the collectors of the fruit of slavery be afraid of being seen for what they are and what they do by those whom they oppress and exploit.
I suspect those expressing fear of retaliation medan they're afraid of fratricide ( figuratively and literally ) they'll face, not prominent middle-age types with businesses and community status.
The Forbes story is kind of a canard. IRS "tax collectors" and Revenue Officers are not armed, but IRS-CID agents have been armed since the 20s. The agency was originally called the Intelligence Division ("intelligence" was as trendy back then as "tactical" is now), and its 1000 or so agents specialize in organized-crime cases. IRS agents got Frank Nitti, Al Capone, and Jake Guzik back then, and they now work on big-time drug smugglers. Most Federal investigative agencies, including the FBI, started out as unarmed agencies. But it's a funny thing about criminals: they don't want to go to prison, so they have a way of assaulting, kidnapping, and murdering unarmed investigators. So most Federal investigative agencies arm their agents today.
Not to excuse the actions of criminals, but perhaps there is a silver lining in this claim by "IRS officials"?
ReplyDeleteCriminals prefer to operate using stealth and deception, fearing discovery and exposure. The IRS was feared as a powerful, corrupt organization by adults I knew while growing up. Yet this declaration of fear of ordinary people by IRS officials may well be important to note.
As the burglar and mugger fear of being caught out of their element, so should the collectors of the fruit of slavery be afraid of being seen for what they are and what they do by those whom they oppress and exploit.
-PG
I suspect those expressing fear of retaliation medan they're afraid of fratricide ( figuratively and literally ) they'll face, not prominent middle-age types with businesses and community status.
ReplyDeleteThe Forbes story is kind of a canard. IRS "tax collectors" and Revenue Officers are not armed, but IRS-CID agents have been armed since the 20s. The agency was originally called the Intelligence Division ("intelligence" was as trendy back then as "tactical" is now), and its 1000 or so agents specialize in organized-crime cases. IRS agents got Frank Nitti, Al Capone, and Jake Guzik back then, and they now work on big-time drug smugglers.
ReplyDeleteMost Federal investigative agencies, including the FBI, started out as unarmed agencies. But it's a funny thing about criminals: they don't want to go to prison, so they have a way of assaulting, kidnapping, and murdering unarmed investigators. So most Federal investigative agencies arm their agents today.