Are Ruby Ridge & Waco Tragedies Examples of 'Out-of-Control Government?

Ruby Ridge was a remote site in northern Idaho where a deadly stand-off between Randy Weaver, his family and friends, and U.S. Federal agents took place in 1992. The confrontation ended in the death of Weaver's son, his wife, and Deputy Marshal William Francis Degan.

On his Wednesday evening broadcast, Glenn Beck used the bloodshed at Ruby Ridge and later Waco, to showcase how even Republicans, who are supposedly in favor of greater personal freedom, have been at the forefront of policies that encroach on those very rights.

Weaver, a U.S. Army combat engineer, moved his family to 20 acres of remote land in Iowa in the 1980s in order to home-school his children and better survive what he and his wife believed would be a cataclysmic event marking the end of days. Weaver himself also had ties to the Aryan Nations, which was under investigation by the ATF at the time.

While Beck condemned Weaver's involvement at any level with the Aryan Nation, he noted that it did not excuse the way federal agents abused their power and conducted themselves at Ruby Ridge.

"New rules of engagement were drawn up specifically for Ruby Ridge," Beck noted. Those new rules allegedly included allowing federal agents to use deadly force against the Weavers even if they posed no immediate threat. Beck also said that "weak gun charges" were all it really took for Feds to have the excuse the needed to close in on the Weavers.

The incident at Ruby Ridge is similar to Waco and has served as the basis for how federal agencies view and handle potential threats from purported "homegrown militias."

Of course the massacre at Waco needs no introduction. It was spawned, according to Beck, by a "fringe belief" and a "weak gun charge" that ultimately led federal agencies to overstep their bounds.

Despite Weaver's and David Koresh's bizarre, even dangerous beliefs, were laws actually broken and did they warrant the carnage that ensued? Watch below:

Beck also brought in experts Chuck Hustmyre and Tim Lynch to discuss the details of both Ruby Ridge and Waco.