An American standoff is being led by Ammon & Ryan Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy from another similar situation.
Militia members from all around the country have shown up to stand with Dwight and Steven Hammond, 2 ranchers accused of having 2 banned burns on Federal lands in 2001 and 2006
They claim they did it to fight off an invasive species of plant on one occasion and to backburn another fire coming at them on another occasion. The Federal Govt claims they did it to cover evidence of illegal poaching on Federal lands.
Some of the Militia members are leaving video messages and texts telling their families good bye and that they love them
Here is what I do know about the Militia from my experience and from being an honorary Militia member. Keeping in mind my group’s biggest preoccupation is with MRE’s and survival skills and we can’t even seem to coordinate a meeting at Denny’s let alone an armed takeover.
I know many have guns but once they start talking about them there may as well be a hive of bees buzzing in my ears and it’s usually only the typical guy fissing contest… mine’s bigger then yours kind of thing
Most are current and former military as is the group in Oregon. Most are very well educated and even more so about the Constitution, Land Use, Maritime Law, and Civil Law but most of the group I know of is more interested in taking back the Constitution in a Courtroom.
I don’t believe for one moment that they would take a violent preemptive strike but I do believe they would defend themselves to the death.
The “Federal Lands” issue has always been a bone of contention for me: Mainly because the Federal Government has taken most of the lands from my people and other Alaskan Nations to run the pipeline through and have never actually compensated any of us for the oil or the land. If we were to repatriate the lands and ourselves it would mean the loss of billions of dollars.
Perhaps the oddest part of this story is that the Hammonds are insisting that these folks don’t speak for them and that they don’t approve of what is going on, so it is more of a fight over Federal Lands then it is for human beings.
As an activist I understand the frustration, but if this erupts into gunfire then they will lose the message, it will end up being nothing more then “those crazy militia folks” and it will give the Feds a license to fire upon more and more of it’s citizens with merely the “claim” that they were militia members…
The Seattle FBI Office already declared war on all Patriots, and Militia Members declaring them to be homegrown terrorists after the arrest of Schuyler Pyatte Barbeau a former Cliven Bundy bodygaurd, which may have actually exacerbated this situation in Oregon (way to go Agent Montoya)
I am also willing to bet that the “70” terrorists they are invetigating right now are in fact our group which numbers…. yep 69 as far as I know. Pretty sad if you think about it, trolling groups and calling that investigating US citizens when you can’t find a real terrorist.
In October the FBI tried to convince everyone that Anarchists were going to wage wars on inner cities all across the country on Halloween of course that was a lie
This is precisely what most activists want to avoid: You can not make a change using the same tactics being used against you and violence will only create more violence. much more.
As I said before: Most of these folks are former military and they have gone into wars, wars that made no sense and then kicked to the curb like so much trash and I suspect that is where a good deal of this frustration is coming from.
We will bring you more as we look further into this situation, let’s just hope everyone stays peaceful and there is a good outcome here.
