During the infamous Waco siege in 1993, as members of the Branch Davidians religious sect were barricaded inside the Mount Carmel Center with federal law enforcement agents outside, curious onlookers routinely gathered at a hill three miles away. It was the closest civilians could get to the standoff, with the compound just barely visible in the distance.
On March 16, one of those onlookers sold pro-gun, anti-government bumper stickers slogans off the hood of his car. They included slogans such as “Fear the government that fears your guns,” “When guns are outlawed, I will become an outlaw,” and “A man with a gun is a citizen. A man without a gun is a subject.”
His name was Timothy McVeigh, and two years later, he and Terry Nichols would detonate explosives outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring hundreds more. His anger at the government over the Waco incident was one of McVeigh’s motivations in the attack. He wanted revenge.
