(The opinions expressed in guest op-eds are those of the writer and do not necessarily represent the views of RedState.com.)
Concerns over 87,000 new employees of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), including the additions of armed agent ranks, has rekindled debate about the necessity of having armed agents within certain federal departments.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (U.S. Police divisions are also available at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Social Security Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Unnecessarily militarized agencies include the Environmental Protection Agency.
This isn’t strictly a partisan issue, though Democratic administrations tend to allow the EPA to leverage their increasing power with more leniency. The Reagan administration was the first to allow the EPA military-like power. Then, in 2015, it was reported that the EPA was spending nearly $75 million per year to keep their 200 special armed agents kitted up with “military-style weaponry,” drones, amphibious assault vehicles, night-vision gear, and other equipment.
But, don’t worry; it’s not going to waste. EPA employees seem to love any chance to show off their cool gear to We The People.
For example, in 2015, residents of Chicken, Alaska, woke up to their town and local gold mine being swarmed by armed officers in full body armor and “POLICE” jackets. The men in full body armor and “POLICE” jackets were from the EPA. They were raiding the mine because they believed the mine violated the Clean Water Act.
Locals and the Alaskan government were furious at the EPA’s intimidation tactics, fearsome aggression, and other threats that they displayed on this day.
In 2012, EPA agents had knocked at Larry Keller’s door. They had previously sent a brief email to Al Armendariz, then the regional administrator for the EPA. The email was a query for Armendariz’s contact information: “Hello Mr. Gray-Do you have Mr. Armendariz’s contact information so we can say hello? -Regards-Larry Keller.”
Keller wanted to ask Armendariz about the administrator’s inflammatory statements about the oil and gas industry, where he had said his enforcement goals were to “crucify” executives.
Armed agents and local police showed up at Keller’s door, refused to give him their business cards, and interrogated him about the intent of his email.
Unfortunately, these kinds of abuses didn’t end when President Obama exited the White House; after the December 2020 National Compliance Initiative: Stopping Aftermarket Defeat Devices for Vehicles and Engines, shortly before Trump was out of office, the EPA announced it would crack down on private shops that modify cars.
The Lund Racing shop for auto-tuning in West Chester, Pennsylvania was raided by armed and heavily-armed agents on July 20, 2021. Other shops throughout the country were also raided and fined for failure to follow regulations so fickle and unclear that Congress had to pass the RPM Act to protect competition vehicles from the EPA’s wrath. This is despite the fact race cars have been exempted by the Clean Air Act.
These cases serve to remind Americans of how heavy handed a bunch self-righteous bureaucrats can and will impose on them in order enforce regulations that are not voted upon by Congress. It is even more dangerous because agencies such as the EPA don’t have to answer for their misconduct. This encourages people to believe that they are above the law.
How about the time the EPA dumped heavy-metals into a major water system and nobody at the agency was fired? If a private individual or company was to cause that kind of pollution, they’d be in jail.
The EPA will have the right to regulate individual methane or carbon dioxide emissions or nitrogen fertilizer use in your garden. They can also use militarized units on you to enforce or intimidate their edicts.
Fortunately, in West Virginia v. EPAThe Supreme Court ruled in favor of the EPA, stating that it had overstepped its authority when it came to carbon dioxide regulation, especially from state power stations. This ruling will hopefully serve as a precedent and prevent any further regulation tyranny in this area.
However, administrative agencies should be at most demilitarized.
As former congressman Ron Paul shrewdly said in a prophetic 1997 speech about the militarization of government administrative agencies, “Yes, we need gun control. It is time to abolish all agencies and disarm bureaucrats. If government bureaucrats like guns that much, let them seek work with the NRA.”
Linnea Lueken ([email protected]The Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy has a Research Fellow named. The Heartland Institute Arlington Heights, Illinois is home to a non-partisan and nonprofit research centre.