Why Is the IRS Arming?
Contributed by a special friend.... :-)

Coalition for Constitutional Liberties Weekly Update for 7/24/98 Volume I, Number 23 Why Is the IRS Arming? A Guest Column by Jon Dougherty, USA Journal Online You know, I think the case can be made that - to a certain extent - there is generally nothing wrong with having a few armed federal agents. Most are dedicated to the law, have families of their own and understand the concept of policing a free society. For example, the U.S. Marshall's service, the Border Patrol, the CIA, the Secret Service and the FBI all have specific law enforcement duties to perform. Most Americans, consequently, understand that those duties are often very dangerous and carry risks to life and limb. Self-protection, as well as the ability to protect citizens, is indeed appropriate. But what about the Internal Revenue Service? How can Washington justify arming one of the most abusive of all federal agencies? The government's tax collectors don't need firepower, do they? Apparently lawmakers believe they do. In fact, between 1998 and 2000, the IRS will have spent some $1.2 million on weaponry - the very kind the socialists in government are denying to ordinary Americans. How typical. The most recent budgetary figures show that the IRS has already purchased a million dollars worth of SigArms high capacity semi-automatic handguns, and by the year 2000 the IRS will have spent $200,000 more on high capacity Remington shotguns. However, budget figures only tell part of the story. Now you know how much is being spent to upgrade and arm IRS agents, but that doesn't explain why the government believes IRS agents have a need - or even a right - to be armed in the first place. Don't worry, I can already hear the cogs spinning in the heads of the propaganda-meisters. Officials at the Treasury Department will undoubtedly say that IRS agents who operate in the field are expected to go on arrests and therefore are required to be armed. But the Treasury Department won't explain why IRS agents should be authorized to arrest anyone in the first place. With other federal law agencies at their disposal, the Justice Department doesn't need IRS cops. Oh, but that's the kicker, isn't it? If you violate federal tax laws, you get to appear before specific tax courts, not just any federal court. In other words, Washington, D.C. is so scared they are going to get cheated out of a dime that they have established the IRS as a virtual fourth branch of government. Their own laws, their own code, their own courts, their own cops. You can murder unborn babies, but by golly don't even think about cheating on your taxes. And what about these budget figures? You know that the government is getting a "deal" on these weapons, so figure that a Remington shotgun of the type they're buying will likely cost around $300. Sig Sauer semi-auto pistols go for about $750. Do the math: That's about 667 new shotguns and about 1340 new pistols, or enough for about 560 IRS teams of two if you figure in having the agency keep some spares lying around. That doesn't count the number of weapons already in the IRS arsenal that are not getting replaced in this budget. Who knows what the real number of weapons the IRS has in their possession really is. Furthermore, why would Congress - especially after both Houses have recently held hearings into the various and sundry IRS abuses over the years - even authorize arrest powers for IRS agents? Is everyone brain dead in Washington? Didn't various senators and representatives just inform the American people that they didn't much trust the IRS either? Something smells worse than second-hand tobacco smoke here. There is no reason to arm IRS agents anymore than there is a reason to arm Department of Energy agents, State Department agents, some Postal Service agents, federal Bureau of Land Management agents, Park Service agents, and so on. According to a recent report in WorldNetDaily, the federal government claims some 85,000 armed federal agents - with about 20,000 new ones trained each year. It should not be the IRS' job to arrest delinquent taxpayers. After they investigate a crime and get a warrant from a judge to execute an arrest, they should be turning those warrants over to traditional law enforcement agents either on the federal level or on the state and local levels - preferably both. IRS agents, who are already operating under a prejudicial mindset against taxpayers, do not need firepower to help enforce tax laws. Americans need to know what is happening here. When Washington worships our money more than our freedom - to the point of arming its tax collectors - something's seriously wrong in paradise. Be sure to visit the daily newsmagazine USA Journal Online: http://www.usajournal.com/ =========================== **COPYRIGHT NOTICE** In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, any copyrighted work in this message is distributed under fair use without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml