Tea Party terrorists

[Jeffersons Ghost]

The Militia Movement

The militia movement is the youngest of the major right-wing anti-government movements in the United States (the sovereign citizen movement and the tax protest movement are the two others) yet it has seared itself into the American consciousness as virtually no other fringe movement has. The publicity given to militia groups in the wake of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995, when the militia movement was erroneously linked to that tragedy, made them into a household name.

The extreme right in the United States has long had a fascination with paramilitary groups. Before World War II, right-wing and fascist groups such as the Silver Shirt Legion and the Christian Front marched across America. Later, the Cold War ushered in a new wave of paramilitary organizations like the California Rangers and the Minutemen. In the 1980s, survivalists and white supremacists formed a variety of paramilitary groups ranging from the Christian Patriot-Defense League to the Texas Emergency Reserve to the White Patriot Party.

What turned the concept into reality in the early 1990s was a series of catalysts that angered people on the extreme right sufficiently to start a new movement. Although some militia movement pioneers had been active in other anti-government or hate groups earlier, most militia leaders were in fact new leaders, people who only recently had been so motivated that they were willing to take action. The events that angered them ranged from the election of Bill Clinton to the Rodney King riots.

The fact that both the Ruby Ridge and Waco incidents involved illegal firearms added considerable fuel to the fire that formed the militia movement. Many militia members and leaders were radical gun-rights advocates, people who believed that, in fact, there could be no such things as illegal firearms and whose anti-government ire was formed in large part because of fear and suspicion of imminent gun confiscation. In the early 1990s, several prototype militias had emerged in Connecticut and Florida on the basis that members of the "militia" were exempt from federal gun laws.

http://www.adl.org/learn/ext_us/militia_m.asp?xpicked=4&item=19

From the liberty file: Hot tea and warm guns
By John Tomasic 1/4/10 9:48 AM

About 300 people attended an anti-Obama rally in Alamogordo Saturday, and many of the protesters showed up at the rally armed with holstered hand-guns and loaded assault rifles.

Protesters cited a number of issues for the event, including the health care reform in Congress, taxes, gun rights, allegations that Obama is not an American citizen. One attendee cited his displeasure with what was described as an international police organization that will take control away from local police departments as a result of a recent Obama secret directive.

Those gathered to protest said they brought their guns because they wanted to draw more attention to the event, because they wanted to exercise their Constitutional Rights, to show responsible gun ownership. One protester threatened armed insurrection if steps are not taken to restore “Constitutional” governance.

http://coloradoindependent.com/45261/from-the-liberty-file-hot-tea-and-warm-guns

[savalez]

1. 300 armed nut jobs talking nonsense don't scare me.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

2. it's the ones you don't see that get you. thanks for the kick. freepers are trying to bury this OP

[pintobean]

12. How can anyone try to bury an OP?

[NuclearDem]

6. It should scare you

Maybe not the 300 guys, but the people they inspire; the gun show nuts and militia movement in the 90s didn't blow up Oklahoma City, but they did inspire and encourage McVeigh.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

10. good point

[WCGreen]

3. KKK, nuff said....

[Jeffersons Ghost]

9. you should see modern KKK sites. they preach love and of course white supremacy

The KKK has too much reputation. But many KKK groups are still a well-armed threat. That said, it's the Tea Party terrorist preaching violent overthrow of the government that's the new trend. Many of them are basically racist too.

[Ian David]

4. See also: tinyurl.com/TeaTerror

http://tinyurl.com/TeaTerror

[savalez]

5. They just keep telling that...

"Dems want to take yer guns" fairytale. Don't they? And the other stuff is pure BS too. Poor dumb asses. It's gotta hurt to be them.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

11. that's just one of the many ways Republicans rally their uninformed base

[bluerum]

7. The gun industry loves the 'Obama gonna git ur guns' straw man. They are

raking it in. But they keep up the rhetoric cause the dumb asses eat it up and spend their paychecks and unemployment checks on ammo and guns.

The gun companies love it. Demonize the dem - rake in the dough.

[spin]

8. Just because someone is legally open carrying a firearm ..

at an event that attracts a number of other people who also are carrying openly, that doesn't mean that they are in a militia or plotting to overthrow the government or commit terrorist acts.

If I show up at such a local rally, I would probably be armed but no one would know as in my state of Florida open carry is illegal and I have a concealed weapons license. I wouldn't have my firearm with me because of the rally but merely because I usually carry a firearm everywhere.

As the article pointed out, these people "brought their guns because they wanted to draw more attention to the event, because they wanted to exercise their Constitutional Rights, to show responsible gun ownership." Only one person was talking about an armed insurrection if the group didn't get its way.

The Rally was called anti-Obama and it may have been. I wasn't there. However any political meeting by the Tea Party or the Republicans can probably be called anti-Obama just as the meetings by Democrats could be described as anti-Bush during the eight long years of the administration of G. W. Bush.

I am not fond of militia movements. I remember one time at the range an individual showed up to shoot and spent much of his time trying (we suspected) to recruit us for a militia movement. We managed to make him uncomfortable enough that he left and never returned. Most regular shooters that I know have a low opinion of militia members.

Personally I disagree with the idea of openly carrying firearms at political events where it is legal. It definitely does attract attention which is the goal of the people who are carrying, however it attracts as much or more negative attention as it does a positive response.