In Athens, Tennessee in 1946, the county had been plagued by out of control law enforcement personnel doling out excessive fines and ticketing drivers for any imagined infraction for the purpose of taking their money.
These rogue law enforcement people had turned their sights on local veterans who had just come back from the war. There was a great deal of animosity between the police and the vets. Police did not command respect as the vets did, and the police misused their authority to express their displeasure.
In the middle of this atmosphere, a group of local veterans known as the ‘wild vets” decided to back their own political candidate and to remove the abusive law enforcement people from their positions. The group of GIs promised an honest ballot count and swore that they would remove the corrupt local government.
But on election day 200 armed deputies swarmed the ballots and began patrolling the surrounding area. Ordinarily, the town was policed by just 15 sheriff’s deputies. Conflicts arose. Cars were overturned and a black man was shot in the back by one of the deputies as he tried to escape a brutal assault.
Then, after all of the ballots were cast, and the poles were closed, the cop-mob seized the ballot boxes and moved them to the local jail. They claimed their intention was to prevent vote fixing by the vets. But the Wild Vets promptly armed themselves and headed over to a hill adjacent to the jail.
This was the first smart tactical move the vets made over these corrupt police.
As the deputies locked themselves inside the jail, the veterans fired from their hill and set dynamite to the front door. The deputies, realizing they were grossly overmatched, surrendered and turned the ballot boxes over to the vets. Once counted in public, the election was settled in favor of the five GI candidates who ran against the incumbents.
This is a textbook example of citizens using just and measured force of arms to remove a corrupted system of power. Not only did they use their arms and training to defeat the marshal power of the sheriff, but they used their victory in battle to allow for the democratic process to take its proper course.
The Wild Vets did not simply take power once their foe was defeated. They allowed the vote to proceed with no guarantee that they would win the election. Not only did they defeat the Athens police force militarily, but they defeated them morally while defending the freedom of their fellow citizens.
We would submit to you that this is a perfect example of why vets are treated so poorly by the federal government and that it is also a perfect example of why gun control advocates want to take away our Second Amendment rights. They want you disempowered.
Gun control is not about protecting the people from guns. It’s about creating a complete monopoly on the use of force by the government.
The real power players pushing for gun bans know what they are doing and why. They know they only want to rule unopposed by an armed citizenry. The useful idiots who support them simply worship government and want to hand your power over to it.
If the battle of Athens happened during the Obama era, those vets would have been met with a convoy of soldiers and federal hit men who would sweep in and mow them down. It would be like the assault on the Bundy’s who lost their leader, Ammon Bundy; gunned down while standing unarmed out in the open by a government sharp shooter.
If Athens happened during the Clinton era, they would have been firebombed like David Koresh and his group in Waco, Texas. Seventy-six innocent people died in that event, just because a liberal administration could not stand to have its authority challenged.
What’s worse- if Hillary Clinton had won the 2016 election- you can bet that not only would armed families come under real attack, but this article would probably be illegal.
Today, just actions like those taken by the brave men in Athens in 1946 would seem extreme. Today’s news watcher would not even blush if the Wild Vets were mowed down in a hail of taxpayer-funded bullets. In that regard, we are losing our gun rights. We’re losing on the cultural side of the battle.
As it becomes more and more irregular for people to openly carry weapons, we lose the fight for the right to openly defend ourselves and our families without fear of government intervention.
~ American Gun News
There are myriad examples of how gun control was used by so many vicious people to control and exterminate populations, that anyone who would agree to it is either deranged or one of those vicious monsters!
Good article, but it wasn’t Ammon Bundy who was shot down on the side of the road, it was Lavoy Finicum. A Rancher, who had also supported the Bundy’s in Nevada against government over reach. God rest his soul.
Perhaps the saying “Remember Athens” should become part of the American lexicon. People need to be educated on that event, and should always resist government attempts at disarmament.
I was unaware of this until just now. Thank you for printing it.
Remember always, the words of Mao Tse Tung: “Political power comes out of the barrel of a gun, which is why the people should never have guns.”
Here in South Florida the Politicians are taking advantage of the lives lost by High School students (in the shooting) to run for office and ban the so called Assault Rifles. What are we Law Abiding Citizens are supposed to do if our homes are attacked by a group of thieves or criminals, do you think they would bring only knifes?
Go to YouTube and do a search for “Battle of Athens” to see video depictions of this historical event. Show your kids and grandkids when they are old enough…
I couldn’t disagree more with this article. You do not take justice in to your own hands and execute or shoot at Police Officers. The Police do not have an easy job, they are sworn to uphold the law and most do an excellent job. You made it seem like it was a battle between the US Army and the Police. These were criminals some of whom were Veterans. I’m willing to bet many of the Police Officers were Veterans too. If you don’t like the law then you lobby your Representatives to change it. All future emails from this shit site will go straight to my spam folder. Shame on you American Gun News.!
This article was either poorly researched, or poorly written. It leaves out really important facts in order to sensationalize the pro-gun argument, and in doing so BADLY undermines it. The people of Athens, Tennessee had been suffering rigged Sheriff’s elections for years (involving favoritism and nepotism), and had petitioned the Federal Government multiple times to do something about it, and had been ignored. The veterans from WWII returned home to the stories of what had been going on, and how the government had failed to redress these grievances, and decided to run their own candidate for Sheriff. The day of the election, the Sheriff’s Deputies were intimidating people at the polls, and the black man who was shot was not shot “as he tried to escape a brutal assault” but as HE TRIED TO ENTER THE POLLING BUILDING TO VOTE. Yes, that’s right, he was shot for trying to exercise his right to vote. After the polls were closed, the Deputies confiscated the ballot boxes and took them to the Sheriff’s headquarters, claiming they wanted to prevent tampering, but they did not allow any observers to make sure THEY didn’t tamper, despite the precedent for doing so. Veterans got rifles from the local National Guard armory and laid seine to the headquarters, demanding the ballot boxes be publicly counted. There was a tense standoff, and nobody knows who fired the first shot, but someone did. The result was a multi-hour shooting match in which no one was killed. Eventually, someone got some dynamite from a local farm and started throwing lit sticks at the front porch. Seeing that they were outgunned, and seeing that the veterans let the rear of the building uncovered so that they could retreat, the Deputies surrendered the ballot boxes and ran off. The votes were tallied, and the corrupt Sheriff was deposed. NOW the Federal Government moved to act, sending forces down to handle the situation. The veterans surrendered to Federal authority, and the situation was investigated. The Veterans were deemed to have acted LEGALLY, and the newly elected government was installed. No charges were ever pressed.
For those of you that don’t agree with what the Veterans done you need to research the purpose of the 2nd amendment!! Who the Heck are you going to lobby there Shawn!!??? Who??? Where does the law and constitution say we have to lay down for tyrannical individuals!!!!?? “NOTHING”!!!! would have been done to those deputies!! Nothing!! I’ve seen corrupt law enforcement and dealt with them who the Heck are ua going to tell???
THIS IS A PERFECT EXAMPLE OF WHAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN DONE DURING THE CLINTON AND OSOMA OBAMAS REIGN OF TYRANNY! THIS IS WHAT SHOULD BE DONE IN CHICAGO, SAN FRANCISCO AND ALL OTHER DAMN DEM STRONGHOLDS. AN ELIMINATION OF REJECTS, AND THE CITIZENS THAT DID SO WOULD BE PAYED $1,000 A SCALP!
I REMEMBER OF WATCHING THIS ATTACK BY THE BESEIGED VETERANS ON THE CROOKED SHERIFF’S COPS CAUSING HELL IN ELECTION TIME! IT TURNED OUT THYAT THE VETS WON TWO WAYS, ONE, OVER THE CROOKED COPS, AND 2 IN THE BALLOT BOX IN WINNING THERE SEATS IN THE GOVT. AND RIDDING THE POLICE OF THE CROOKED ONES! ” THE 2ND AMMANDMANT IN FILL USE “!
Shawn Hast is a perfect example of the brainwashing being done by the real Deep State! DS wants to confiscate the citizens’ arms so when their totalitarian regime tries to take over there will be no armed resistance to their plans. The DS is using subliminal messaging on social media sites to incite gun violence by teens and young adults to create an anti-gun atmosphere amongst the general populace to help further their aims of repealing the Second Amendment. Why else, after 242 years, is there a call for a new constitutional convention to rewrite the Constitution of The United States? Because our original Constitution limits the powers of the government, and the govt. wants to overstep those limits!
Fred,
You stated that “The DS is using subliminal messaging”. While I won’t discount the possibility, I would need to see evidence of the “subliminal messaging” before I believe it’s happening. Are you prepared to back up your allegations?
Never ever under estimate the veterans of our country. They know every weakness of our millitary and know that even many of them will obey the law……not an illegal order.