Ruby Ridge

Ruby Ridge is the name given to a ridge near the town of Bonner's Ferry, Idaho. It is famous for an incident in 1992 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. 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 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.

Conservative Veterans, Gun Enthusiasts See Police State Behaviors

Many Conservative veterans, American Oath Keeper Patriots, gun enthusiasts and preppers see the FBI and BATFE's behaviors at both Waco and Ruby Ridge as tyrannical episodes of police state behaviors.

See Also

• American Redoubt: Idaho
• Branch Davidians
• Police state Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
• National Rifle Association, Gun Owners of America, Second Amendment Foundation

References

• Bock, Alan. Ambush at Ruby Ridge : How Government Agents Set Randy Weaver Up and Took His Family Down. Dickens Press, 1995.
• Walter, Jess. Every Knee Shall Bow:The Truth and Tragedy of Ruby Ridge and the Randy Weaver Family. HarperCollins, 1995.