You know, having a pain in the ass neighbor is the oldest story in the book. In every county in every state in the country you can find at least one simmering feud between neighboring landowners that will involve cows getting out, fences being cut, property lines being ignored/disputed and so on and so forth. Often, they are litigated for years, even decades in stop and start actions. Sometimes, the parties run out of money and reach an uneasy truce. Sometimes, one side or another will actually box the other one in legally speaking so that a true victory can be reached.
That is exactly what you have here. And the more I see about it, I can fully understand that Bundy is a pain in the ass. But the BLM basically said, "Frick all that legal stuff we're going to have to do. We've done enough. We BY GOD are the US BYGOD GOVERNMENT and we're going in there and shut this contrary self-righteous pain in the ass down with overwhelming force."
That is what they did, and in that respect they are no different or more right than that neighbor, who after years of unsatisfying litigation, finds his fence down one day, snaps, and goes and shoots his neighbor.
There has been a lot of talk about the rule of law in this instance. But if the US Government is above the rule of law and does not follow the legal forms and procedures TO THE LETTER and reserves the right to use overwhelming force, then it is no more right than anyone else who boils over with frustration and does something stupid and THERE IS NO RULE OF LAW.
