The whole Secret Service South American Sexytime incident may have put a healthy (and deserved) dent in the reputation of the agency, but on the balance of the whole, I’m glad these guys are around in places like Louisiana.
Authorities in Houma said they found weapons, phony law enforcement badges and fake bombs at a residence where a 61-year-old man was arrested. Monday’s discovery at an apartment complex led to a six-hour evacuation of about 40 people from four buildings.
The Courier reports that the investigation was launched by the U.S. Secret Service after agents learned a man had bought counterfeit badges and credentials that represented him as a federal agent. The Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office said federal agents and deputies found several hundred counterfeit documents, badges and credentials.
Michael Hebert, a resident of the complex, was booked with multiple charges including 19 counts of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon and 10 counts of unlawful possession of fraudulent documents. Hebert was being held in the Terrebonne jail, awaiting a bond hearing, the Sheriff’s Office said. It was unclear when he would enter a plea or whether he had an attorney who could comment for him.
Hebert had illegally acquired 19 firearms and thousands of rounds of ammunition, which were confiscated along with the counterfeit documents, badges and credentials that falsely identified him as belonging to law-enforcement agencies, including the FBI, CIA and the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Best part: the guy managed to apparently obtain all this stuff while being a previously convicted felon, nobody bothered to flag the guy until the fake badges got introduced into the equation. But we can’t have a national discussion on gun control and lax enforcement of existing laws on the books, we can’t have a discussion on the real sourced of domestic terrorism in this country, and we certainly can’t have a frank and open national discussion as to why the Secret Service would need to get involved in a case where a guy is hoarding fake explosives, fake federal agency badges, and a metric asston of firearms.
Gosh, I certainly can’t think of a reason.
[UPDATE] And details are still sketchy of today’s shooting incident of a security guard at the Family Research Council building in Washington, DC, but law enforcement officials apparently are and need to be treating it like a domestic terrorism attack. Seems we’ve had a rash of those in the last few weeks and months.
Davis X. Machina
Extremism in the defense of extremism is no vice.
mechwarrior online
We just had a shooting here against the Family Research Center, waiting to see how that pans out.
whidby
Is this the 6th or 7th post on Balloon Juice in the past couple of weeks lamenting the fact that we cant talk about gun control?
I’ve lost count.
red dog
Reason #1. Congress’s fear of the NRA and other big pro GOP Pacs. Until large $$ donors who are anti-gun come along none of the “need re-election” pols will do anything. A perfect example of “buy a congressman”.
eric
@Davis X. Machina: ::golf clap::
Face
Real question — since gun shows dont run background checks (correct?), did he need to do anything illegal to obtain them if he gun show’d them? IOW, is the illegal part the fact that he possessed them, or did he lie about his name to buy them at Walmart?
Cap'n Magic
And yes, sadly, it does appear that both sides do it.
Punchy
@mechwarrior online: Fox News already bullhorning that the shooter’s a Libby or Proggy based on the fact that, I dunno, he was wearing a shirt and had a set of kidneys….
Maude
@mechwarrior online:
I read that. What a horrible thing.
roc
@whidby: Dude, you’re right. Being able to scream into the night totally offsets the fact that no politician in America will talk about gun control.
mechwarrior online
@Punchy:
The Family Research Council is pretty hardcore conservative of the Rick Santorum style that was only recently backing Chick-fil-a.
I mean, if I had to wager on what type of person shoots up a “true marriage, real social conservative” place I wouldn’t be shocked if it was a liberal.
Villago Delenda Est
Well, certainly an attack on fascist fuckstains would be considered domestic terrorism.
Unlike murdering a doctor who happens to perform abortions. Or, heaven forfend, pass out contraception.
Walter Homple
We have laws already and, as is pointed out here, they are being enforced.
Now it would be nice if we could have a conversation about why the Department of Justice had to send several hundred illegal guns to Mexico….
roc
@Walter Homple: If they *had*, it definitely would be worth talking about.
Steve
@Face: People who are normally in the business of selling guns still have to run the standard background check at a gun show. People who aren’t, don’t.
trollhattan
Just want to point out that had machine guns(pbut) been legal in 1990 he would have never had his Precious Weaponry Rights(tm) suppressed and perhaps no felony conviction at all. (After all, “wire fraud” is just misrepresenting the 18-gauge they’re selling as 16-gauge, amirte?)
Any relation to Bobby Hebert?
MikeJ
@Walter Homple: The DOJ didn;t send any guns to Mexico. The DOJ didn’t arrest anybody who bought those guns because they hadn’t violated any laws.
You can’t arrest people just because they’re hispanic, even if it is the GOP dream.
SatanicPanic
@Walter Homple: That was the ATF, not the DoJ. Dude, you’re not even getting basic facts right.
The trolls are weak today, I want a refund on my BJ subscription fee.
trollhattan
@Walter Homple:
You suggesting we haven’t?
Chris T.
Not to worry, soon the NRA will be against “badge control” too…
Poopyman
@Cap’n Magic:
My money’s on a domestic dispute gone nuclear.
Linda Featheringill
The Preserve Our Families and To Hell With Yours is so right wing, even Timmy McVeigh might be considered a liberal in comparison.
But there is a decent chance that the shooter was left-ish.
mechwarrior online
@Poopyman:
The security guard and people on the scene said the shooting was caused by the FRC’s stance on issues, they are an anti-gay group.
While the news will comment on statements like that, the FBI will not until after their investigation is complete, which is standard for them.
Everything we have now, points to the shooting being related to the FRCs stance on gay marriage. But since an investigation hasn’t been completed, we don’t know for sure and thus the FBI won’t comment.
catclub
@mechwarrior online: “I wouldn’t be shocked if it was a liberal.”
But consider the Phelps family, they consider the Army too liberal. So it is possibly someone who thought they were the Gay Family research center.
Crazy people are crazy.
SatanicPanic
@Linda Featheringill:
Coulda been. In which case, I hope he goes to jail.
mechwarrior online
@catclub:
The FRC is famous for being against gay marriage and most recently sticking it’s hand in the fried chicken protest. Eyewitness accounts so far say the shooting had to do with the FRCs stance on social issues.
I mean, if someone shot-up the Phelps compound I certainly wouldn’t think it was a bunch of bible thumpers.
trollhattan
@mechwarrior online:
But since teh gheys aren’t allowed to have guns, where did the shooter get his?
“Fast and Fabulous!”
Zifnab
@Linda Featheringill:
Politize ALL THE THINGS!
A lot of liberal pundits made this mistake with the Giffords shooting. Gun control isn’t about protecting the lefties from the righties or visa versa. It’s about protecting random people from being shot up by lunatics. And the tempo on this is cranking up. Eventually, you’re going to start sounding a bit tone deaf by announcing – for the millionth time on air – that the latest civilian massacre at the hands of a deranged gun owner was the result of hoodies or the newest movie fad or an Obama conspiracy. :-p
mechwarrior online
@trollhattan:
Pink Pistols is a thing.
GregB
I think we should just say no to shooting up places and people we disagree with.
Can we get Nancy Reagan to sit on a couch with Nancy Pelosi and cut a PSA?
pseudonymous in nc
@Zifnab:
This. The wingnut rhetoric of “self-defense” used by the trade association operating under the name “NRA” is a smokescreen.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Walter Homple: Yes, it would be nice to have a conversation about why the DOJ felt they had to allow guns to be sold that they knew could end up in Mexico, but, you see, you want to talk about something different.
trollhattan
@mechwarrior online:
But they’re for the womenz.
Sly
Jesus Christ.
These men and women are expected to put their bodies between a politician and bullet, and we as a nation have the gall to not only make them pay for sex out of their own pocket, but act all indignant about it?
Fuck that. If the IRS put a checkbox on my return to contribute to a Secret Service Hooker Fund, I’d kick in every year.
Felinious Wench
@Walter Homple:
Google is your friend. Go do some research and get back to us with what you find.
And if the shooter at the FRC is indeed a liberal, let’s see how our conservative friends plan to keep the guns away from us dangerous folk. It’s a different story when the guns get turned on you. I look forward to the conversation.
Redshift
@mechwarrior online:
I notice the conspicuous absence of a link. Is there any source for this other than Fox News “reporting?”
That’s some weak-ass trolling.
Martin
Will repost Juan Coles “Top Ten differences between White Terrorists and Others”
Waiting to hear if the FRC shooting is ‘terrorism’ while shooting up a Sikh temple is just ‘a crazed loner’.
mechwarrior online
@Redshift:
ABC news reporting it. The guy came in and made a statement, then opened fire, it was political. It’s close enough I could walk there so it’s all over the news here.
Martin
@Felinious Wench: This would never have happened if that security guard had been armed.
Roger Moore
@Zifnab:
Yeah, because there was nothing at all political about the Family Research Council before the shooting. Sorry, but when there’s a shooting at an extremist political organization, the default assumption is that the shooting was political. That says something sad about our country, but nothing untrue.
Redshift
@mechwarrior online:
They’re saying he made a statement. You’re saying it’s political and was caused by the FRC’s stance on issues, specifically their anti-gay stance. Those are not the same thing. A political statement is not the only kind of statement.
It may turn out to be true, and I’ll be happy to discuss it when there’s real information, rather than your presumption of what must be true.
beltane
It must have been a liberal because no one was killed. Liberals just aren’t very good at the cold-blooded murder thing.
Michelle Malkin is already out there blaming the SPLC for the crime http://wonkette.com/481131/michelle-malkin-why-is-the-southern-poverty-law-center-always-shooting-the-family-research-council-with-guns
The shooter must have granite countertops or something.
Rob
@mechwarrior online:
I don’t see it in this article.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/08/gunman-shoots-guard-at-james-dobson-groups-dc-office/
All the articles that I have seen have only quoted Fox News’ account; they haven’t corroborated it.
Steve
@mechwarrior online: The national ABC website doesn’t say anything like that in their story. The local affiliate may be reporting it, but that doesn’t make it accurate. As CNN’s Supreme Court reporters can tell you, there’s no prize given out for being the first one to jump to conclusions, so I’m not sure why you are in such a hurry to announce with certainty what happened here.
Redshift
@mechwarrior online: Or alternatively, it’s fine to discuss it even as a likely possibility, I’m just objecting to it being portrayed as reported fact.
Redshift
@Steve: Yeah, I wonder. This is what the local ABC affiliate is actually reporting:
NotMax
While I applaud the arrest, my inner civil liberties maven is troubled by the vagueness of “the investigation was launched by the U.S. Secret Service after agents learned.”
One hopes (and expects) such learning was done via court-approved warrants and/or standard, tedious investigative footwork, but in the current age of ramped-up surveillance, massive and broad-based data collection and outside-the-norm hectoring and pressuring of ISPs, telecoms and other such entities to release personal information, I have to be skeptical.
Note, please, that I am NOT tarring the Secret Service with using shady or unlawful methods, just mentioning that what has been reported thus far is too indefinite and fuzzy to allay worry about the methodology of obtaining evidence.
Felinious Wench
@beltane:
That was the exact same thought I had. We’re amateurs.
Call me Ishmael
You can have all the guns you want, but if you want a fake sheriff’s badge then the authorities will want to talk with you.
Waiting for the fake badge companies to hire Newt as a lobbyist. He’ll grease a few senators and remove that impediment to their doing business.
Zandar
Can’t wait until the Scalia symposium keynote on how fake FBI badges are the epitome of protected speech, and must be made available to all citizens at a reasonable cost.
japa21
The whole point is to make the case for saner laws is that we (liberals) want to protwect all people and prevent crzaies from either end of the spectrum from having easy access.
Culture of Truth
the guy managed to apparently obtain all this stuff while being a previously convicted felon
It’s not like he was going to something dangerous, like vote
Chris
@Felinious Wench:
By making laws against liberals, obviously.
Call me Ishmael
@Zandar: Its probably somewhere in the teabagger constitution. For some reason, that document has all kinds of stuff my copy doesn’t. Their’s must be more “Original”.
trollhattan
@mechwarrior online:
For all we know the “statement” could have been, “I like boobies.”
Poopyman
@beltane:
Close. Some say he was near.
Roger Moore
@trollhattan:
No beer and no TV make Homer something something.
NotMax
Guess it is must be a good thing that Cracker Jack now only includes crappy paper puzzles instead of stuff such as they used to include as prizes.
#1
#3
#2
Ed Drone
@Poopyman:
What irony there would be if it were true, and the result of a gay tryst.
Ed
les
@NotMax:
OK, “CrackerJack Police” made me laugh. We can only hope!
Chris
Did they do the same for the Sikh temple attack?
Please tell me they at least did the same for the Giffords attack if nothing else…
Tone In DC
@Culture of Truth:
LULz.
Best line I have read today.
burnspbesq
@Walter Homple:
Fixed to resolve your ongoing problem dealing with the truth.
PopeRatzo
Poor guy is just a Second Amendment activist and gun enthusiast.
And clearly a collector of law enforcement badges.
Another patriot.
The Moar You Know
FRC incident: false flag operation.
burnspbesq
@SatanicPanic:
Good luck with that. All of Cole’s assets are in the Caymans, in accounts in the name of Lilyrose, LLC.
karen marie
Why? The murder of George Tiller was not treated like domestic terrorism. The 2008 shooting at the Unitarian church was not treated like domestic terrorism. The mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado was not treated as domestic terrorism.
What makes FRC special?
trollhattan
@burnspbesq:
That’s just a front for the front. Everything ultimately runs through TunchGalaxyCrossroadsGPS(tm).
trollhattan
@karen marie:
Snowflakes.
mechwarrior online
@karen marie:
THey are treating it as domestic terrorism so far, that could change. Things often waft between crime and terrorism. The shooting of the temple recently was considered terrorism, the attempt to bomb the parade was considered terrorism.
So far they are treating it as such. We know he said something, eyewitness accounts say it was about the FRCs activities (which are pretty much anti gay marriage in a nut shell), and the FBI is tight lipped. We also know the suspect was a 6’3′, 250 pound, black male from Herndon VA.
We also know he had a backpack with materials related to Chick-fil-a… so this really points to being about gay marriage.
Waiting on more…
karen marie
@mechwarrior online:
No question, it’s terrorism!
mclaren
I’m still waiting, incidentally, for the Secret Service to take me into custody for my comments on this forum.
Could it be possible that the Secret Service isn’t staffed by ignorant incompetent crackpots like the cranks infesting this forum, who consider any criticism of Barack Obama equivalent to the ravings of Arthur Bremer…?
In other news, great to see Obama hitting back hard against the Republican lie machine and the Romney/Ryan ticket. Now, if only Obama would govern the way he speechifies…