Would this have happened in a Thompson administration?

I'm not sure it would have happened in the Bush administration of a few years ago. Also, whatever the SG's brief says about Bush, I think that one lesson from this incident, and from the various CIA/intelligence debacles, is that it's extremely difficult for any president to control the executive bureaucracy. A President Thompson will have to be willing to fire a lot more people, and otherwise to impose his will a lot more effectively than Bush did.

I would agree with Johnathan on this. The SG brief seems more a product of a bureaucracy than an administration. I've received training from Secret Service on protection, and they really like having the DC gun ban to make their life easier. No doubt, the BATF would enjoy it too. There may be many citizens, who would want to abolish the ban, but they don't have the SG phone number on tap. Further, the BATF/SS guys have a career to look after.

Of course, Bush had an opportunity to get rid of agencies like the BATF, but he didn't.

You can speculate about a Thompson administration, or you can be damn sure a Paul administration wouldn't have done it....

For all the ills of the BATF, it's not as bad as pulling troops out of Iraq, and electing a truly racist person as the national icon for the conservative and/or libertarian platforms. So, I'm left with speculating about Thompson.

Assuming your characterization is more than just opinion and wishful thinking based on data from a disgruntled ex-employee...

...A "racist" with a proven record of voting to cut taxes and spending and defending the Constitution, including that pesky 2nd Amendment, would be head-and-shoulders better than any of the current crop for which we have no such record or evidence, and whose racial record has yet to be established.

Simon Jester,

Did you ever use to post over at AR15.com?

you can be damn sure a Paul administration wouldn't have done it....

Because a thing that cannot possibly exist, also cannot possibly do anything.