BATF--Books, Alcohol, Tobacco & Firearms? Is the tax collection agency expanding its authority to include book burning? by Don Harkins MIDWEST, USA--A gun dealer known as "Winchester Man" was exhibiting for sale at a gun show, among other things, copies of the novel Unintended Consequences when "suits" who identified themselves as (Books?) Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [B?(ATF)] agents indicated that they did not approve the commerce of that particular novel. According to Second Amendment proponent and editor of the PR Oponent Colonel Harry S. Bachstein, "Apparently they told him they couldn’t force him to stop selling the novel, but he noted that they strongly seemed to imply that they could make life tough for him if he didn’t comply with their wishes." The 863-page book by John Ross is a fictionalized history of Second Amendment rights in America and how, generation by generation, our Second Amendment rights have been eroded through gun control legislation. Unintended Consequences fictionalizes personalities that are reminiscent of players in contemporary gun control legislation controversies. The book also critically fictionalizes the heinous activities of the (B)ATF along lines that are representative of real life atrocities that have been committed by that federal agency in recent years. The book’s title comes from what happens in the novel once Americans decide that they will no longer take their disarmament laying down and begin to hold those who are determined to take their guns away accountable for their unconstitutional behavior. "So this is what it comes down to," said Colonel Bachstein. "It’s not just ‘gun control’ any more, but ‘book control’ as well. This goes right along with ‘Internet control’ and every other recent attack on the Bill of Rights by so-called ‘federal’ law enforcement," said the Colonel. Apparently, the (B)ATF harassment has been effective. The Winchester Man who, after all, is just a man trying to make a living, has stated that since he does not make that much money on the books anyway, he will not order any more of them after he sells his current inventory. Colonel Bachstein commented that, "Inside my head it wasn’t Winchester Man talking, but some German shopkeeper back in the thirties. He was telling me that he didn’t want ‘trouble’ from the Brown Shirts and even though they didn’t have the right to choose his customers, only a small fraction of his business was from Jews anyway, so it didn’t matter." "It is PRO’s suggestion to Winchester Man and anyone else trying to avoid "trouble" from the socialist-fascist faction in our government that they dig out a good history book and take a gander at just the photographs...nothing else...of what Germany looked like by the end of WWII. Then, having done that, come back and tell us exactly how much ‘trouble’ those shopkeepers saved themselves in the end by going along with Nazi policy?" Colonel Bachstein can be emailed at colonel@azstarnet.com. His publication PR Oponent, of Columbus, Ohio, can be reached through Colonel Bachstein’s email address. Read the book Unintended Consequences. A review of Unintended Consequences Another review of Unintended Consequences To order Unintended Consequences from Amazon Books