Chris Jennings

But they were just speaking two completely different languages and the Weavers made it very, very difficult to communicate and peacefully resolve this.

Yeah.

So, I mean, when people look at the case of Ruby Ridge, they always compare the overwhelming scale of the federal response.

And there are these photographs of what looks like a military encampment, hundreds of agents, helicopters, camo trucks.

And this lowly family and people say, what was the crime?

Oh, it was two illegal shotguns.

And that would indeed be an absurd asymmetry.

But basically the entire federal response was because of not the guns or Randy's failure to appear but because of the death of William Deegan.

The marshals didn't report it.

People sympathetic to the Weavers widely believe that it was a lie, that the government didn't know they had shot and killed Samuel Weaver.

I am somewhat convinced that it's plausible that they really didn't know.

At the moments after

Samuel was killed.

The marshals were attending to their comrade, Deegan, who was bleeding out and dying.

And they believed that they were still under assault because they continued to hear gunfire because the Weavers were firing their guns into the air.

So I think it's plausible that they didn't know that Samuel was dead and soon after Samuel was shot, Randy and Vicki came down the hill and collected his body and brought him up to a shed on the property and cleaned him and wrapped him in a shroud.

So basically, you know, the rules of engagement are a document that every federal agency has that says, you know, when they can shoot at a citizen and the standard FBI rules as they are for most law enforcement is you can only shoot at someone if they're.

represent an imminent threat to the agent or someone else.

And if you've identified yourself, you know, said like U.S.

Marshals, drop your weapon, that sort of thing.