How the Shootout at Ruby Ridge Resonates in the Gun Debate Today
In 1992, federal agents surrounded the remote Idaho cabin of fugitive Randy Weaver, wanted for selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns to an informant. By the time Weaver surrendered 11 days later, his wife, 14-year-old son and a federal agent were dead.
The outcry afterwards sparked Congressional hearings and investigations that shook the highest ranks of the FBI. It also began a new way of thinking about police tactics that has impacted some of the most far-flung corners of the country.
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