Branch Davidians Research Paper

The Branch Davidians were a religious group who were based in Waco Texas. They got many reports that they had violated to firearms regulations, which led for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) to got information that they were engaged that the Branch Davidians were stockpiling and holding machine gun, they were illegally doing this so then the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms get involved with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians. On february 28 1993 the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms got an arrest warrant for David Koresh; who was one of the current leader of the Branch Davidians at the time. The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms also got a search warrant for the Mount Carmel compound outside of Waco Texas, as they wanted to search the compound to find the illegal weapons they were holding to be able to arrest the whole Branch Davidian group.

When the U.S.

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents arrived there was a two hour open fire battle between the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Branch Davidians, it ended with four agents being killed and more than twelve injured and six Davidians reportedly dead. This event then led to the waco siege, a fifty-one day standoff between the agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Branch Davidians. The Standoff ended on April 19 1993 because of a big fire that broke out after the Federal Bureau of Investigation used gas in attempt to break into the compound, or to make the Branch Davidians surrender or just to get them out of the building so the agents are able to arrest them but that never happened. There was fire that broke out which then cause about seventy- five deaths and one of those people being David Koresh. Only seven people inside

survived.

The leader of the Branch Davidians was David Koresh. Koresh was born as Vernon Howell In Houston, Texas in 1959. David Koresh moves to Mount Carmel where he met his wife and he joined the Branch Davidians in 1980, which was a sect of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church which was founded by Victor Houteff. When David Koresh joined the group Lois Roden 70 year old leader at the time, was impressed with his knowledge of the Bible to take him in, because of David Koresh strong knowledge of the Bible he began to have more power and become higher up in the Branch Davidian group. David Koresh started to believe that he was a second Christ. In 1990 Vernon Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh he claimed he done it for business reasons when he joined the Branch Davidians group in Waco Texas. He got his name from the Bible and Koresh being the name of the Persian king. On the day of the Waco Siege David Koresh died from a gunshot wound during the fire that broke out in the Branch Davidians compound.

The Branch Davidians followed strict rules and guidelines, most of these came from the Seventh-Day Adventist and the rest were made by David Koresh. The different doctrines that came from koresh was number one being that Koresh is Jesus Christ, number two is that all women and girls that join the Branch Davidian belong to David Koresh, number three is that koresh is the only one who can interpret the scripture. Number four is that David Koresh is the lamb of revelation 6. Number five that koresh is Cyrus so anything he does is led by God. The doctrines that came from the Roden’s were , number one the Holy Spirit is female, number two Christians must keep the feast days of the Old Testament, number three Lois Roden was the incarnation of the Holy Spirit.
After the unsuccessful raid of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Bureau of Investigation started to take over the situation. At the start of the seven week standoff with the Federal Bureau of investigation and the Branch Davidians, they made telephone negotiations which didn’t really affect anything and had a small progress. The leader of the Branch Davidians, David Koresh believed he had cracked the code of the Seven Seals in the book of revolution, this predicted the events like the apocalypse. Koresh and his followers built an ‘Army of God’ they prepared for the apocalypse by having possession of many different things, such as weapons and food and other things. Koresh finally started to negotiate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and trade milk and Koresh also allowed thirty people to leave, twenty one children and 2 adults, but it was suggested that there was still 100 people left in the compound. Throughout the day David Koresh released more and more children each hour.
The Waco siege was a fifty one day standoff that began on February 28 1993 and ended April 19 1993. On April 28 the U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved the tear gas attack in the mount Carmel compound. At around 6 am on April 19, the Branch Davidians were informed about the attack that was about to happen and the Federal Bureau of Investigation asked them to surrender,however the Branch Davidians did not. A few minutes after, two of the Federal Bureau of Investigation combat vehicles started to insert gas into the compound. Then they were joined by more vehicles that began to fire tear gas into the compound through the windows. The Branch Davidians still wouldn’t surrender so at around 12 o’clock the Federal Bureau of Investigation dropped the last of the tear gas into the compound. It was reported that a total of four hundred canisters of tear gas was put inside of the mount Carmel compound. Moments after the Branch Davidians opened fire and a couple hours later the attack stopped. About twenty five minutes later fires started to break out throughout the Branch Davidians compound afterward people started to hear gunshots coming from inside from the Branch Davidians. The firefighters were not able to enter the area and compound for fifteen minutes due to safety concerns. However after fifteen minutes the mount Carmel compound was unable to be saved. Nine of the Branch Davidian were able to escape from the compound. When the investigators entered the compound they found a total of seventy five bodies a number of the bodies had shot injuries one of these people was David Koresh and the rest had burn injuries from the fire.
Many people believe that the fire was caused by the Federal Bureau of Investigation when they throw the gas into the compound. This made people think that the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents were abusing the power and ended up killing nearly 80 people, because of this event people started to stop trusting the government because of the lack of control they had during both events. The fire started inside of the compound, so the Federal Bureau of Investigation believed that a couple of the Branch Davidians members started the fire themself, But the Branch Davidians believed that the Federal Bureau of Investigation was responsible for the fire breaking out. Because of the people accusing the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms started the fire in the compound there was investigations that took place to see if the tear gas actually caused the fire or if they didn’t and the Branch Davidians did. It is unclear of if the Federal Bureau of Investigation used tear gas grenades or if they didn’t, but if they did it is possible that they would have been able to start the fire in the Branch Davidian compound. However the tear gas what they did use is very dangerous, this what they use to stop riots or. This tear gas is toxic and can harm people but i can pretty dangerous if someone who has asthma or other cardiac issues, the medical examiner perform autopsies to make sure that no one did died for the cs gas. Although the tear gas couldn’t cause a fire I could have caused other injuries, the Federal Bureau of Investigation made sure that all they adults in the Branch Davidians compound had masks but they would have stopped working after hours of being in there, but they hoped that they would start to leave but they didn’t. The person who called the all clear on the attack Attorney General Janet Reno said that the tear gas used could not have caused a fire. The Federal Bureau of Investigation also has to review the military gas canisters used in the attack. The attack between the Branch Davidians and the aft and fbi, was viewed as a huge swing of evidence as to what the government was willing to do with such groups. The right wing groups saw it as a start of a war between government and citizens
The social effects of the Branch Davidians was that the Waco siege caused major publicity for Waco as many people started to visit there and it also got more recognition. This turned Waco and Mount Carmel into a massively popular tourist site and started bringing in money. But the locals hate it Waco for being remembered for that. The Branch Davidians also got publicity The branch davidians true beliefs are still heavily scrutinized. And their legacy will constantly be questioned. The Branch Davidians got more well known as they were all over the news because of the stand off between them and the agents. This also made people talk about it which made people look more into the events and talk more about it, this is when people came to the conclusion that the agents tackled this all wrong and the public started to get angry at the government for not having control in the situation and not doing the right thing, As a result of the wrongdoings in the waco siege, two of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms supervisors, Phillip Chojnacki and Chuck Sarabyn, were fired. The nine survives in the fire at the mount carmel compound all got charges. Seven of the nine got forty years in prison. One of the nine got five years and Kathy Schroeder, the ninth person only got three years as she testified for the government.
As the result socially of the public losing trust in the government in the way they handled the events, the Branch Davidians caused political effects such as the way the Federal Bureau of Investigation, military, U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and other people worked together, so there wouldn’t be an event that ended like this again. This also changed the way that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms engaged with the public, they done this to try to rebuild the trust if the public and the get them to support them again.
Another result of the Branch Davidians and the Waco siege, it started a national debate on gun rights, religion freedom and the role of the government. This brought speculation to if people should have such freedom with both gun rights and religion, there was more stronger opinions on the debate about guns and if the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms can handle people if they do violate the gun requirements. People also had debates about religious freedoms because if they didn't have some much freedom they wouldn’t be able to form groups like the Branch Davidians who illegally stockpiled and held firearms and explosives. If they didn’t do this the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Federal Bureau of Investigation would have got involved. As a result to this people started to talk about the roles government which then started to raise concerns over proper government conduct when involved in such crisis