American militia movement
Defunct Newspapers Journals TV channels Websites Other Congressional caucuses Economics Gun rights Identity politics Nativist Religion Watchdog groups Youth/student groups Miscellaneous Other American militia movement is a term used by law enforcement and security analysts to refer to a number of private organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements.
[5][6] While a common belief among members of modern paramilitary groups is that the constitution protects the ability of citizens to have the capability to overthrow the government by force when seen tyrannical, the Supreme Court has ruled differently.
[5][6][further explanation needed] The catalysts of the American militia movement started with the FBI's 1992 shootout with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, and the 1993 Waco siege which David Koresh and the Branch Davidians were involved in at Mt.
The movement's ideology has led some adherents to commit criminal acts, including stockpiling illegal weapons and explosives and plotting to destroy buildings or assassinate public officials, as well as lesser confrontations.The Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the Waco fire, drew nationwide attention to the militia movement because Timothy McVeigh was associated with the Michigan Militia; he possibly attended meetings before the attack.
The Freemen were a Sovereign Citizen group that included elements of the Christian Identity ideology, espoused common law legal theories, and rejected the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve.
[13] The group surrendered peacefully after an 81-day standoff and 14 of the Freemen faced criminal charges relating to circulating millions of dollars in bogus checks and threatening the life of a federal judge.
[12] The peaceful resolution of this and other standoffs after Ruby Ridge and Waco have been credited by some to the creation of the Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) in the U.S. Department of Justice in 1994.
Starting in 2020, militia groups were heavily involved in rallies against COVID-19 related restrictions, gun control measures, and Black Lives Matter protests.
[31] While militia organizations vary in their ideologies and objectives, with many high-profile organizations espousing anti-tax, anti-immigration, survivalist, sovereign citizen, libertarian, land rights views, they generally share a common belief in the imminent or actual rise of a tyrannical global socialist government in the United States which, they believe, must be confronted through armed force.
[35] The constitutionalist wing of the American militia movement became active in the mid 1990s in a response of outrage about the violent confrontation at Ruby Ridge, the Waco Siege and gun control legislation.
[60] Conceptually, a citizen's militia has been defined as a constitutionalist private army meeting regularly to practice combat skills and discuss weapons.
