“Jurors convicted an anti-government activist on firearms charges after authorities said he sought out high-powered weaponry for a coming “second American revolution,” talkingpointsmemo.com reports. “William Krisstofer Wolf of Montana was found guilty of possession of a machine gun and failing to register a firearm after buying an illegal sawed-off shotgun for $720 from an undercover FBI agent nicknamed ‘Dirty’ in a truck stop parking lot.” It was a set-up. Fair enough, you might say. Under oath, Wolf . . .
acknowledged that he wanted to acquire a flamethrower and spoke of targeting judges, elected officials and law enforcement in an anticipated conflict between the United States and its citizens.
“Once this goes down, once the war starts, I will do everything I can to end the war quickly,” Wolf testified. He added that he hoped for but did not expect a peaceful resolution.
Read that carefully. Did Wolf have active plans to target specific judges, elected officials and law enforcement? Or did he say that come the revolution, these would be the type of people he’d target? Given that Wolf wasn’t charged with making terroristic threats, I’m thinking it’s the latter. So . . . Dirty tricks? Entrapment? That depends entirely on what the words “sought out” mean in the following excerpt.
Government witnesses including an undercover agent testified that Wolf sought out a weapon that he knew to be illegal and appeared ready to use it when he was arrested in March.
During what was his second meeting with Wolf, the undercover agent said he was surprised to hear the defendant talk openly of building or attaining a flamethrower capable of defeating police body armor and an armored vehicle that recently had been purchased by the Bozeman Police Department.
Contrary to defense assertions that Wolf “talked a lot” but showed no intention to act on his extreme beliefs, the agent said Wolf appeared ready to act.
Federal Defender Mark Werner argued that the undercover agent and a paid FBI informant who encouraged Wolf to buy the Russian-made shotgun entrapped his client. The bureau said it paid the informant $9,000.
Werner said after Thursday’s verdict that he will consider an appeal.
“Would he have done that without Dirty’s persuasion? I don’t think so,” Werner said. “That guy was playing him like a piano from the get-go.”
No doubt. But here’s the critical question: did the feds make initial contact? If so, why? Simple answer: Wolf’s anti-government activism – his free speech – made him a target.
On his webcast, The Montana Republic, Wolf railed against federal immigration policies and the administration of President Barack Obama and advocated for direct action to restore a Constitution-based government.
He compared shooting police officers to “shooting gophers” and proposed citizen arrests of judges by militia-like “safety committees,” according to authorities and excerpts from the show played for jurors during a three-day trial.
During his final broadcast, in November 2014, Wolf said it was “time to stop talking for me … it is time for me to start putting my money where my mouth is.”
His final webcast! Sounds . . . ominous. I’m sure Wolf’s words of wisdom weren’t music to the ears of the jurors, who convicted Wolf on the weapons charges. And nothing else. Because the feds had nothing else. Which is why they arranged a firearms-related sting to take Wolf down.
Bottom line: the feds used gun charges to silence a critic. A man with “dangerous ideas.”
Again, you might say fair enough. I say this story reveals the reason gun control advocates want to take away your guns. They don’t like the way you think. They don’t like the way you talk. They can’t arrest you for that, but with a little creativity, they can arrest you on gun charges (heads-up New York and Connecticut) and throw you in prison for a very long time. And silence you that way.
Back in the day, Democrats canvassing for support knocked on houses with foreign cars parked in the driveway. These days they’re ready to send the police to knock on doors of gun owners, to thwart those who would thwart their statist ambitions. And no, I don’t want to buy a machine gun.
[h/t JA]