Don’t Disarm Federal Agents

U.S. Sen. Larry Craig wants federal agents to paint bull’s eyes on their chests before they venture into the backcountry to enforce natural-resource laws.

That’s what they will be doing if Congress ever heeds the Idaho Republican’s call to disarm agents of federal land and resource agencies. Such a policy would endanger the lives of federal officers who patrol national forests and wildlife refuges in these increasingly hostile anti-government times.

Does the name Claude Dallas ring a bell?

Martin Phillips, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management official from Utah, explained why Craig’s idea is silly: “We deal with people often under the influence of drugs and alcohol who are in the process of committing federal felonies. Most of these people have loaded rifles and shotguns in their vehicles. And our backups are usually an hour or two away at best.”

Craig, on the other hand, is right when he says some Westerners are alarmed by “the increasing presence of an armed federal entity” in their states. The botched handling of the Randy Weaver siege (and the recent promotion of the man in charge to the FBI’s No. 2 position), the Branch Davidian inferno in Waco, Texas, and a questionable investigation of a wolf killing have fanned those fears.

Occasionally, federal agents have played Rambo when diplomacy in the field and cooperation with local law enforcement officials would have served them better.

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service enforcement officers created a potentially dangerous standoff with a central Idaho rancher by entering his property unannounced in March to investigate the wolf shooting.

The county sheriff said the agents exhibited an intimidating manner that was “dangerously close to excessive force.” But the officers said they left as soon as they saw the confrontation heating up.

The federal officers might have avoided the problem if they had accepted the county sheriff’s standing offer for help.

Now, U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, is writing legislation that would require federal agents to get written permission from the local sheriff before carrying firearms in his jurisdiction.

Such legislation overreaches - like Craig’s desire to disarm natural-resource officers. Common sense and a sensitivity to local feelings by federal enforcement officers will do more to calm people than disarming thousands of officers, turning them into sitting ducks.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = D.F. Oliveria/For the editorial board