Janet Reno and Waco

* Congratulations on your editorial “A Rebuke to the Government” (March 1). It was appropriate but did not go far enough.

All law is force. Behind each law is the bayonet. How many Wacos lie behind the Brady bill and other proposed plans designed to disarm law-abiding citizens?

In spite of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno’s rhetoric to the contrary, the chapter on Waco is not closed and won’t be closed until she resigns and the ATF and FBI officials responsible are brought to justice.

FRANK PERNICE

Newbury Park

* Chalk one up for the little guy. A Houston jury acquitted all the Branch Davidians (Feb. 27) of a murder charge trumped up by government to whitewash yet avenge the deaths of four ATF agents characterized by prosecutor Ray Jahn as brave and courageous, when in reality they were misguided, untrained fools dispatched to Waco by an incompetent, zealous manager--the real “Waco Wacko”--who had months earlier thrown away the opportunity to peacefully and thoroughly examine the defendants’ arms cache.

ATF had also failed to heed lessons learned earlier by its sister, the IRS: Texans, in particular, resent federal agents who believe that their government employment renders them immune from common law and local statutes designed to protect people from oppressive government. (Two IRS agents were convicted of criminal trespass despite their protestations that local laws don’t apply to them.)

Janet Reno, take note: The little man is at long last resigned to turn and defend himself. Never, never ever pick the Lone Star state as the site of a caper like this.

OLIVER BERLINER

Beverly Hills