[Vision2020] Election, economy spark explosive growth of militias

[Saundra Lund]

I wanted to post this last night, but our electricity went out -- anyone
know what was up with that?

In any case, kudos to Stephanie Schendel of the Murrow News Service for
collaborating on this very informative article:
<http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/07/10602763-election-economy-spar
k-explosive-growth-of-militias>
OR
http://tinyurl.com/88dodxg

Election, economy spark explosive growth of militias
By Stephanie Schendel, Murrow News Service

The election of President Barack Obama in 2008 triggered an explosion in the
number of militias and so-called patriot groups in the United States, the
Southern Poverty Law Center reported in its annual tally of such
anti-government organizations.

There were 149 militias and patriot groups when Obama took office, compared
to more than 1,200 today - an increase of 755 percent, the nonprofit civil
rights organization reported.
 
"The increase has just been astounding," said Mark Potok, editor-in-chief of
the SPLC report. "The reality is that many of these groups are becoming more
and more fearful that Barack Obama will win the re-election. You can see the
anger rising along with that fear."

The SPLC defines the "patriot" movement as made up of conspiracy-minded
individuals who see the federal government as their primary enemy. The
movement includes paramilitary militias as well as groups of "sovereign
citizens," who believe they are not subject to federal or state laws, nor
obligated to pay federal taxes, according to SPLC.

The center also reports a steady rise in the number of hate groups in
America - from 604 in 2000, to more than 1,000 last year. Those include
anti-gay groups, anti-Muslim groups, black separatists and "Christian
Identity" groups, which hold racist and anti-Semitic views that overlap with
neo-Nazi beliefs.

The spike in these groups can be attributed to a combination of factors,
including the sluggish economy, radical propaganda and anxiety over the
election of a black president, Potok said.

Potok said although many individuals involved in patriot militias are not
criminals, a handful of these groups have been responsible for a significant
amount of violence in recent years.

***Government employees targeted***
SPLC provides one of the few annual reports on militia or anti-government
groups. The Federal Bureau of Investigation does not track militia groups
unless they are alerted to violent or extremist activity, according to an
agency spokesman.

"Some of these groups veer into violent extremism," said Frank Harrill,
special agent in charge of the FBI's office in Spokane, Wash., and spokesman
for the Inland Northwest Joint Terrorism Task Force. "Where hate and
ignorance and violence collide, that is where our interests lie."

Two militia groups have made headlines in recent years for allegedly
hatching violent plots to target government employees.

Seven people from the Michigan-based Hutaree Christian militia are on trial
for allegedly conspiring to ambush and kill a police officer. They allegedly
plotted to follow up the ambush with an attack on the officer's funeral
procession in the hope of killing more officers, and thus sparking a revolt
against the U.S. government. Recent evidence presented in trial included a
recording made by an undercover FBI agent in which the militia's leader,
David Stone, 47, says he is going to "start huntin'" police soon. The seven
have pleaded innocent, and argue that the "plot" was nothing but talk,
protected by the First Amendment.

And in November four members of a Georgia-based militia, all in their 60s
and 70s, were charged with plotting to buy explosives and the ingredients to
make a deadly toxin to attack government officials. They are in custody
awaiting trial.

But members of other militias say that exercising their constitutional right
to bear arms does not mean they are committed to revolution.

Spokane-based militia member Ed LeStage, 59, denied that his group, the 63rd
Battalion of Lightfoot Militia, which was listed on as an active militia
group in the SPLC's report, was a danger - unless, he said, "you're a
communist or socialist who attacks us."

LeStage, a veteran to the patriot movement, said he believes the increased
number of militias comes from U.S. citizens' desire to restore the country
to its constitutional roots. He also said that what he called President
Obama's intrusion on personal liberties also has driven growth in the
movement.

"He's been after our guns," LeStage said. "Obama's been the best gun
salesman there ever was."

>From his home in eastern Washington, LeStage broadcasts weekly training
videos to militia members across the country. Those videos - which include
instruction on such things as drinking one's own urine and scavenging for
food - are meant to help members survive anarchy or economic collapse.

LeStage said he has been involved in militias and related groups for more
than 20 years, including the Idaho Mountain Boys, a member of which was
arrested in September 2002 for plotting to kill a federal judge and a police
officer.

That member, Larry Raugust, served 77 months for possession and production
of pipe bombs. Today, Raugust has a member profile on LeStage's militia
website, which has added more than 1,000 members since its launch last fall.

"(Raugust) is just a friend," LeStage said. "He doesn't belong to our unit.
He is a convicted felon."

LeStage explained that his militia requires each member to obtain a
concealed weapons permit. As a felon, Raugust is not allowed to carry
weapons, LeStage said.

The patriot movement first peaked in 1994, said Potok, the author of the
SPLC report, in the aftermath of deadly confrontations at Ruby Ridge, Idaho,
in 1992 and Waco, Texas in 1993, where anti-government groups came under
siege by federal authorities.

Membership then dropped sharply during President George W. Bush's two terms
before rebounding in late 2008 after the election of Obama, which created a
backlash that included "several plots to murder Obama," according to SPLC.

The numbers of those groups have continued to grow, jumping from 824 in 2010
to 1274 this year, the SPLC said.

***'Sovereign citizen' movement***
The ailing economy also helped fuel a huge expansion in a subset of the
larger Patriot movement - the so-called "sovereign citizens" movement.
Followers generally believe they do not have to pay federal taxes or follow
most laws. The SPLC estimates some 300,000 Americans are involved in the
movement.

In September, the FBI issued a bulletin to law enforcement officials that
called "sovereign citizens" a growing domestic threat due to some members'
belief that they can use armed force to resist police.

The bulletin noted that sovereigns have killed six law officers since 2000.
In one of the more deadly clashes, a shootout in West Memphis, Ark., in 2010
left four people dead including two officers. Terry Nichols, convicted as a
conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing, was a sovereign citizen.

In 2010, a shootout with a member of the group in West Memphis, Arkansas
ended with four people dead, including two policemen.

Last month, a Texas man who said he was a sovereign citizen was sentenced to
35 years in prison for repeatedly firing at a police officer trying to
arrest him.

A Washington state man, David R. Myrland, was sentenced in December to 40
months in prison for threatening to "arrest" the mayor of Kirkland and other
local officials "with deadly force."

Investigators said Myrland sent an e-mail to the mayor warning that "50 or
more concerned Citizens will enter your home and arrest you.  Do not resist,
as these Citizens will be heavily armed."

"As sovereign citizens' numbers grow, so do the chances of contact with law
enforcement and, thus, the risks that incidents will end in violence," the
FBI said at the time.

>From LeStage's point of view, though, the risk comes from the top of
government.

If Obama is re-elected this year, "we will probably lose our republic," he
said. "We will probably turn into another socialist country."

On his website www.modernmilitiamovement.com, some forum members have raised
even more dire concerns about the fall's elections.

"Nov. the 8th should be the start of the next civil war," a member with the
username "Thunder" wrote in January. "May GOD guide us safely."

The Murrow News Service is provides local, regional and statewide stories
reported and written by journalism students at the Edward R. Murrow College
of Communication at Washington State University. Msnbc.com's James Eng and
Kari Huus, and NBC's Pete Williams contributed to this report.