Unintended Consequences

Discussion in 'Freedom and Liberty' started by Seacowboys, Sep 19, 2005.


  1. Seacowboys

    Seacowboys Senior Member Founding Member

    JAMES H. JEFFRIES, III
    ATTORNEY AT LAW
    3019 LAKE FOREST DRIVE
    GREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA 27408
    TELEPHONE: (336) 282-6024

    30 June, 2000


    Honorable Bradley A. Buckles, Director
    Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
    United States Department of the Treasury
    650 Massachusetts Avenue, Northwest
    Washington, D.C. 20226


    Re: Mr. John Ross
    St. Louis, Missouri

    Dear Mr. Buckles:

    I represent Mr. John Ross of St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Ross is
    an investment broker and financial adviser with a respected
    investment firm in st. Louis. He has degrees in English and
    Economics from Amherst College. Mr. Ross is very active in
    community and public affairs. He is the grandson of President
    Harry Truman's press secretary, Charles Ross, and was himself the
    Democratic Party candidate for the United States House of
    Representatives from the Second District of Missouri in 1998. In
    short, Mr. Ross is an upstanding and productive member of his
    community.

    Mr. Ross has had a lifelong interest in firearms and is both
    a Federal Firearms Licensee and a Special Occupational Taxpayer
    under the National Firearms Act. Of central importance to the
    purpose of this letter is the fact that Mr. Ross is also the author
    of Unintended Consequences, a highly popular novel about the trials
    and tribulations of legal gun owners and dealers in the United
    States. Although the book is manifestly a work of fiction, it
    accurately depicts documented historical events in the long and
    sordid history of misconduct by personnel of the Bureau of Alcohol,
    Tobacco and Firearms. The book is in its fifth hardcover printing
    with some 50,000 copies in circulation and has become enormously
    popular among the gun owners of the United States. Because the
    book is highly critical of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
    Firearms, it appears that some in your agency have undertaken to
    suppress it and to intimidate its author.


    Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page two


    For example, in 1997 the book's publisher became aware that
    individuals purporting to be BATF agents had threatened vendors of
    the book in at least three different states with "problems" if they
    did not cease their sales of the book. A full-page ad in Shotgun
    News offering a $10,000 reward for the identity of these
    individuals put a stop to that particular business.

    Now we have learned that in late May of this year agents from
    your St. Louis field office have engaged in an official effort to
    enlist Mrs. Ross, who is amicably separated from her husband as an
    informant against her husband. On or about May 24 2000, at about
    7:30 a.m. two agents approached Mrs. Ross on the street while she
    was walking her dog, identified themselves by displaying their BATF
    credentials, and proceeded to inquire what she thought about her
    husband's book. When she was noncommittal the agents terminated
    the conversation and departed. This contact had been preceded in
    previous weeks by pretext telephone calls to Mrs. Ross, by what
    were undoubtedly your agents, in an attempt to draw her out about
    her husband's book. An agent, using the pseudonym of Peter
    Nettleson, and pretending to be a great fan of Unintended
    Consequences, sought Mrs. Ross's agreement that the book was, in
    fact, "a manual for the murder of federal agents." [1]

    I note in passing that best-selling author Tom Clancy in
    recent books has murdered a Director of the FBI, the President of
    the United States, the entire Congress, the Supreme Court, the
    entire cabinet, the Joint Chiefs of Staff and a few lesser
    functionaries. I presume he has not thereby become subject to
    investigation by your literary critics.

    ------------------------
    1. As an experienced federal prosecutor I am fully aware of
    what is going on here. Disgruntled former spouses are a prime
    source of intelligence for law enforcement, having as they
    frequently do both a strong bias against the subject of the
    investigation and the proximity and intimacy to know many things
    not available to others. A structured approach such as this
    required, according to your manuals, formal agency approval. It
    required the investment of time and effort in setting up the
    approach: determining Mrs. Ross's new address, learning her new
    telephone number, physical surveillance to determine her routine so
    that she could be approached in a way that she could not simply
    shut the door and where there would be less risk of confirming
    witnesses, the use of a female agent to lessen any apprehension at
    being approached publicly by strangers, etc.


    Honorable Bradley A. Buckles - page three

    What kind of people are you? Is there no honor within the
    ranks of your agency? It has long been clear, from repeated court
    decisions and congressional committee reports, that your agents
    have no familiarity with the Second, Fourth, Fifth and Sixth
    Amendments to the United States Constitution. Now it appears that
    they have not even been introduced to the very first Article of the
    Bill of Rights.

    I am writing to express our outrage about this conduct and to
    formally demand that your agency cease and desist from this
    unconstitutional abuse of power. I am contemporaneously making
    formal Freedom of Information Act and Privacy Act demands upon BATF
    for the records and files pertaining to Mr. Ross, his book, and
    these events.

    By copies of this letter I am requesting the Inspector General
    of the Treasury Department to formally investigate this unlawful
    conduct and the Attorney General to investigate to determine
    whether Mr. Ross's civil rights are being violated by the Bureau of
    Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.


    Sincerely yours,

    [signed]
    James H. Jeffries, III


    cc: Attorney General of the United States
    Inspector General, Department of the Treasury
     
  2. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    I've read that before. Seems they left him alone only after his wife left him and he suffered a stroke.

    btw, there have been online E-Text pdfs of UC circulating the net. I have a copy and have for a few months now. I also have purchaed 6 or 7 copies, some Signed in person at Knob Creek. I have not set up a link to my Version of UC as I really feel that John has done some very important work for us and I'd rather not rob him of his due royalties. If you look around, you can find the whole copy. If you don't have a copy of this book, I suggest you order one.
     
  3. Valkman

    Valkman Knifemaker Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Definitely BUY the book. That and "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" by Matt Bracken are the best!
     
  4. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    lol, EFAD made me take a second look at my "Tennison Champion" in .223...
    Or did I buy one after I read the book...don't remember [nono]
     
  5. Valkman

    Valkman Knifemaker Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I've met Matt twice and he's a neat guy. Ex-Special Forces, built his own huge sailboat. We were having dinner here in Vegas when guys showed up who spoke only Russian, and Matt was like "no problem", and went over and talked to them. The sequel should be out anytime.
     
  6. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    Sounds like I need to get a copy.
     
  7. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

  8. Valkman

    Valkman Knifemaker Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    You can get Matt to sign it for you too. I need to get to SHOT, find John Ross and have him sign my UC.
     
  9. E.L.

    E.L. Moderator of Lead Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    SHOT as in SHOT show? If I can ever beg, borrow or steal credentials to get in I would love to go.
     
  10. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    If anyone want signed copies of UC, I'll be seeing John Ross at KC October 14th weekend.. $30
     
  11. Valkman

    Valkman Knifemaker Moderator Emeritus Founding Member

    I've had the badge twice to get in and haven't gone because that's the time of year my feet get really bad from arthritis. We're looking in to getting power chairs/scooters right now so I can go one way or the other!

    Heck melbo, I may have to get one to go with my unsigned one! b::
     
  12. melbo

    melbo Hunter Gatherer Administrator Founding Member

    Anyone who want's a copy, just let me know prior to 10/13
     
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