Increases could happen under Biden presidency
A West Virginia University journalism professor who has studied the Patriot Militia Movement in the U.S. said there is a real possibility that more of these kinds of groups could pop up under a Joe Biden administration.
“These are cases of militias going out,” said professor John Temple, the author of “Up In Arms: How the Bundy Family Hijacked Public Lands, Outfoxed the Federal Government and Ignited America’s Patriot Militia Movement.”
“The bigger danger they put out there is rhetoric and conspiracy theories that might inspire a lone wolf,” Temple said.
Temple’s 2019 book follows the saga of the Bundy family, a Nevada ranching family, that used federal land next to its ranch for cattle grazing. The family’s conflict with the federal government came when they defaulted on grazing fees.
That, in turn, led to an armed confrontation between the Bundys, their supporters and the government in 2014 that was resolved in a Las Vegas federal court four years later when charges against the ranching family were dismissed.
Temple said there are numerous “patriot” groups around the U.S. whose members believe the federal government controls too much.
“The thing that unites them is the belief the federal government is tyrannical,” he said. “Every group carries a different threat level. The more politically minded groups might go out and have a rally, not that that is any different from right-leaning groups.”
Patriot groups differ from hate groups in that they are against too much government. Hate groups, meanwhile, have beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their characteristics such as different skin color.
The Southern Poverty Law Center, a nonprofit legal advocacy organization specializing in civil rights and public interest litigation in Montgomery, Ala., known for its legal cases against white supremacist groups, said there are four different “hate” groups in West Virginia: the statewide Patriot Front, a White Nationalist group; the National Alliance, a Neo-Nazi group in Hillsboro, Pocahontas County; the American Identity Movement in Harpers Ferry, White Nationalists; and Act for America, an anti-Muslim group in Charleston.
Also, the FBI said recently a Jefferson County man sold more than 600 3D-printed plastic components of automatic rifles disguised as wall hooks for keys and coats. The story in wired.com reported the FBI said some of the people who purchased the items were members of the Boogaloo movement, an anti-government group. Boogaloo members have allegedly wounded and killed multiple law enforcement officers in incidents throughout the country and have incited violence at racial justice protests, wired.com said.
Temple said President Donald Trump has emboldened patriot groups during his time in office mostly because of his own anti-government rhetoric, such as “drain the swamp.” And a Biden presidency could draw more people to anti-government movements.
“The main thing animating the whole movement is the feeling the federal government will take their guns away,” he said.
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