Idaho's Ryan Horsley for U.S. Senate?

The mounting woes of U.S. Senator Larry Craig, R-Idaho, stemming from his arrest in a sting operation at an airport restroom, has fed speculation that the Senator's resignation may be imminent.

In the event of such a resignation, the name of Red's Trading Post owner/manager Ryan Horsley has surfaced as a possible replacement.

Horsley has risen to both state and national prominence in his ongoing battle with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. The BATFE has targeted Red's for unprecedented and unnecessary harassment as part of its modus operandi to drive gun shops out of business.

As reported on The Liberty Sphere, the BATFE often uses something as minor and insignificant as a misspelled word on a license application form to revoke the sales licenses of gun dealers.

The gestapo-like tactics of the BATFE was visited upon Red's in a series of clearly oppressive raids designed to 'catch' the gun shop in some violation of regulations.

Shockingly, the BATFE claimed harassment on the part of Red's during its last gestapo raid due to the fact that citizens who were present at the time began to video record the actions of the agents. The case is now in court, and Red's faces upwards of $100,000 in legal defense fees.

Not to be outwitted or oppressed into silence by a rogue arm of the Department of Justice, law-abiding gun owners across the nation came to Red's defense. Gun rights groups such as the NRA, the GOA, and the JPFO have stepped up to the plate in fine fashion to give Ryan Horsley a national platform from which to describe the unlawful harassment conducted by the BATFE.

The GOA even started a legal defense fund for Horsley.

Horsley has also appeared on several national radio talk shows. The national publicity given to Horsley and his fight against the BATFE has even caught the attention of several in the U.S. Congress who are now demanding an accounting on the part of the Department of Justice and the BATFE.

So what, exactly, does all of this have to do with the scandal surrounding Idaho's Senator Larry Craig? Craig has been caught in a hypocrisy scandal that the GOP can ill afford in the year prior to a national election. Clearly Craig is a liability since he has made public statements denouncing the very behavior for which he was arrested.

Several of the GOP Presidential candidates have denounced Craig. Some GOP Senators and Congressmen are openly calling for his resignation.

Word was received late Thursday that if Craig refuses to step down, the Republican National Committee itself may demand that Craig relinquish his Senate seat.

Enter Ryan Horsley. Despite the BATFE's attempts at character assassination in its vendetta against lawful gun dealerships, Horsley has garnered a stellar reputation among the residents in his local area of Idaho. He has been active in local government, serving on various committees, and is known to be an honest, reliable, and trustworthy public servant and private citizen, as well as a reputable businessman.

No doubt the fact that Horsley has become a major figure in Idaho in his fight against a very unpopular federal bureau is the impetus leading to calls for Craig to be replaced by Horsley.

It is our view that if Horsley feels that becoming a U.S. Senator is the best way for him to fight for his beliefs, then his ascension to the U.S. Senate would be an excellent turn of events.

The Department of Justice and its gestapo unit, the BATFE, could hardly continue to conduct its vendetta against gun owners, gun shops, and gun manufacturers with a member of the U.S. Senate who knows first-hand the underhanded and illegal tactics of the feds.

Ryan Horsley's selection to fill the vacated Senate seat of Larry Craig, if and when Craig resigns, could well be the very first nail in the coffin of an unfortunate and dangerous chapter in the history of the U.S. Government.

We may actually live to see the BATFE de-funded, dismantled, and buried for good.