Changes

'''Ruby Ridge''' is the name given to a ridge near the town of [[Bonner's Ferry]], [[Idaho]] in the [[American Redoubt]] area just south of [[Canada]].  It is famous for the 1992 [[police state]] [[tyranny|atrocity]] in which [[Randy Weaver]] and his family, along with Kevin Harris, were surrounded in his home by federal agents intending to [[arrest]] Weaver for selling a sawed-off [[shotgun]] to an undercover agent of the [[BATF]]. To sell a saw-off shotgun, which is merely a shotgun that is shorter than 27 inches long, merely requires an easily obtainable $250 [[tax]] stamp from the BATF.  

'''Ruby Ridge''' is the name given to a ridge near the town of [[Bonner's Ferry]], [[Idaho]] in the [[American Redoubt]] area just south of [[Canada]].  It is famous for the 1992 [[police state]] [[tyranny|atrocity]] in which [[Randy Weaver]] and his family, along with Kevin Harris, were surrounded in his home by federal agents intending to [[arrest]] Weaver for selling a sawed-off [[shotgun]] to an undercover agent of the [[BATF]]. To sell a saw-off shotgun, which is simply a shotgun that is shorter than 27 inches long, merely requires an easily obtainable $250 [[tax]] stamp from the BATF.  

In a botched confrontation, Weaver's wife and son, along with a US Marshal were shot and killed.  The subsequent [[police state]] siege of the Weaver property by federal agents was the subject of a great deal of media attention and negative publicity about the tactics of the BATF, specifically their decision to suspend their normal [[rules of engagement]] and shoot on sight, which had led to the murder of Vicki Weaver and their son.  The incident came about because the BATF had attempted to enlist Randy Weaver as an undercover informant on the [[Aryan Nations]] group in Hayden Lake, Idaho.  Randy Weaver had once visited the Aryan Nations but was not a member.  When he refused, he was threatened with arrest on the sawed-off shotgun BATF $250 tax stamp charges. [[James "Bo" Gritz]], who had been Randy Weaver's commander in the [[Special Forces]] during the [[Vietnam War]], acted as the negotiator between Weaver and the U.S. government during the siege.

In a botched confrontation, Weaver's wife and son, along with a US Marshal were shot and killed.  The subsequent [[police state]] siege of the Weaver property by federal agents was the subject of a great deal of media attention and negative publicity about the tactics of the BATF, specifically their decision to suspend their normal [[rules of engagement]] and shoot on sight, which had led to the murder of Vicki Weaver and their son.  The incident came about because the BATF had attempted to enlist Randy Weaver as an undercover informant on the [[Aryan Nations]] group in Hayden Lake, Idaho.  Randy Weaver had once visited the Aryan Nations but was not a member.  When he refused, he was threatened with arrest on the sawed-off shotgun BATF $250 tax stamp charges. [[James "Bo" Gritz]], who had been Randy Weaver's commander in the [[Special Forces]] during the [[Vietnam War]], acted as the negotiator between Weaver and the U.S. government during the siege.