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insurrection-timeline
Insurrectionism Timeline
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On June 26, 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court embraced the National Rifle
Association's contention that the Second Amendment provides individuals
with the right to take violent action against our government should it
become "tyrannical." The following timeline catalogues incidents of
insurrectionist violence (or the promotion of such violence) that have
occurred since that decision was issued:
June 26, 2008—The case of District of Columbia v. Heller is decided by
the Supreme Court in a 5-4 ruling. The opinion not only endorses the
National Rifle Association’s “individual right” interpretation of the
Second Amendment; it also affirms that one of the purposes of the right
is to “assure the existence of a “citizens’ militia” as a safeguard
against tyranny.” The NRA’s amicus brief in the case had argued that “the
Second Amendment refers to the utility of an armed population in
preventing government tyranny.”
July 27, 2008—Jim Adkisson shoots and kills two people at a progressive
church in Knoxville, Tennessee, wounding two. Adkisson calls it “a
symbolic killing” because he really “wanted to kill…every Democrat in the
Senate & House, the 100 people in Bernard Goldberg's book,” but was
unable to gain access to them.
September 18, 2008—Dick Heller, the plaintiff from the case of District
of Columbia v. Heller, provides testimony to the D.C. Council regarding
firearm-related legislation. Heller’s written, submitted testimony
states, in part: "‘We the people,’ armed, are TRULY what the Writers of
the Constitution intended for us to be in Art. 1, Sec. 8, para. 15, and
that is the CITIZEN MILITIA. If suicide terrorists DO attact our city,
ARMED CITIZENS could be the First to counter these hostilities in our
individual neighborhoods.”
September 22, 2008—The National Rifle Association launches its
GunBanObama website, which predicts that Democratic presidential
candidate Barack Obama, “if elected…would be the most anti-gun president
in American history.” The website is part of a $15 million NRA campaign
to discredit Obama.
December 9, 2008—FBI teams investigating the murder of white supremacist
James Cumming, 29, a resident of Belfast, Maine, find supplies for a
crude radiological dispersal dervice and other explosives in his home.
Cumming's wife, who shot him to death after being abused by him
repeatedly, explains, "His intentions were to construct a dirty bomb and
take it to Washington to kill President Obama. He was planning to hide it
in the undercarriage of our moter home."
February 5, 2009—FOX commentator Glenn Beck hosts an hour-long special on
Fox called “We Surround Them,” a “grassroots effort to wake up our
Nation's leaders and let them know what many, if not most, Americans
truly believe in and stand for.”
February 20, 2009—FOX commentator Glenn Beck hosts a program that games a
2014 civil war scenario called “The Bubba Effect.” It involves citizen
militias in the South and West taking up arms against the U.S. government.
March 3, 2009— FOX commentator Glenn Beck interviews NRA celebrity
spokesman Chuck Norris. During the interview, Beck states that, “Somebody
asked me this morning, they said, ‘you really believe that there's going
to be trouble in the future?’ And I said, ‘if this country starts to
spiral out of control and, you know, and Mexico melts down or whatever,
if it really starts to spiral out of control, before America allows a
country to become a totalitarian country … Americans will, they just,
they won't stand for it. There will be parts of the country that will
rise up.’ And they said, ‘where's that going to come from?’ And I said,
‘Texas, it's going to come from Texas.’”
March 9, 2009—NRA celebrity spokesman Chuck Norris writes in an editorial
published at WorldNetDaily: “How much more will Americans take? When
will enough be enough? And, when that time comes, will our leaders
finally listen or will history need to record a second American
Revolution?”
March 11, 2009—NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre speaks at the 2009 Conservative
Political Action Conference and announces that “Our Founding Fathers
understood that the guys with the guns make the rules.”
March 21-22, 2009—Congresswoman Michele Bachmann (R-MN) states that she
wants residents of her state to be “armed and dangerous on this issue of
the energy tax because we need to fight back. Thomas Jefferson told us
‘having a revolution every now and then is a good thing,’ and the people—
we the people—are going to have to fight back hard if we’re not going to
lose our country.”
April 4, 2009—Neo-Nazi Richard Poplawski shoots and kills three police
officers responding to a 911 call to his home in Pittsburgh. His friend
Edward Perkovic tells reporters that Poplawski feared “the Obama gun ban
that’s on its way” and “didn’t like our rights being infringed upon.”
Perkovic also commented that Poplawski carried out the shooting because
“if anyone tried to take his firearms, he was gonna’ stand by what his
forefathers told him to do.”
April 7, 2009—The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of
Intelligence and Analysis releases an assessment of right wing extremism
in the United States. The Department notes that “the economic downturn
and the election of the first African American president present unique
drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment.” Recalling the 1995
Oklahoma City bombing by Timothy McVeigh, the Department speculates, “The
possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of
military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their
communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or
lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.”
April 15, 2009—Daniel Knight Hayden, 52, is arrested by FBI agents after
he openly states on Twitter that he is going to turn the upcoming
Oklahoma City “Tea Party” into a bloodbath. Two months earlier, Hayden
had written online, “The only thing that is keeping the New World Order
from destroying this nation is the presence of over 100,000,000 guns in
civilian hands. When guns are outlawed, only criminals will have guns.
Since we are already criminals in the eyes of the New World Order, and
they intend to enslave us all, and to kill those of us who will NOT
submit to their slavery, I say to IGNORE gun "laws" and keep your guns
(AND ammo) handy.”
April 19, 2009—The Oath Keepers, an anti-government group made up of
current and former law enforcement and military personnel, holds its
first "muster" in Lexington, Massachusetts, the site of the opening shots
of the Revolutionary War. The groups' members pledge to disobey ten
different orders that they deem "unconstitutional" and "immoral," the
first of which reads, "We will NOT obey orders to disarm the American
people."
April 25, 2009—Joshua Cartwright, 28, a member of the Florida National
Guard, shoots and kills two Okaloosa County sheriff's deputies attempting
to arrest him on a domestic abuse charge. Cartwright is killed in an
enusing gun battle with police. Cartwright's wife reports that he was
"severely disturbed" that Barack Obama had been elected president.
Okaloosa County Sheriff Edward Spooner states that Cartrwight was
"interested in militia groups and weapons training."
May 2009—Data released by the U.S. Marshals Service indicates that
threats to the nation's judges and prosecutors have more than doubled in
the past six years, from 592 in 2003 to 1,278 in 2008. Federal officials
blame a number of parties, including the "sovereign citizen" movement—an
unorganized grouping of tax protesters, white supremacists, and others
who don't respect federal authority.
May 21-22, 2009—We The People Chairman Bob Schultz hosts a gathering of
30 "freedom keepers" in Jekyll Island, Georgia. The meeting plays "a key
role in launching the current resurgence of militias and the larger anti-
government 'Patriot' movement." One of the participants, former Texas
militia leader Jon Roland, claims the federal government has "been
engaging in warlike activity against the American people."
May 31, 2009—Scott P. Roeder shoots and kills Dr. George Tiller, an
abortion provider, in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church in
Wichita, Kansas. The FBI lists Roeder as a member of the Montana Freemen,
a radical anti-government group. In April 1996, he had been pulled over
in Topeka, Kansas, for driving with a homemade license plate. Police
found a military-style rifle, ammunition, a blasting cap, a fuse cord, a
one-pound can of gunpowder, and two 9-volt batteries in his car.
June 3, 2009—Hal Turner, a New Jersey resident and white supremacist
blogger/radio host, is arrested on charges of inciting injury after
calling for the deaths of two Connecticut state legislators on his blog
because they sponsored a bill that would have transferred financial power
in Roman Catholic parishes from priests and bishops to lay members.
“While filing a lawsuit is quaint and the 'decent' way to handle things,”
he wrote, “we at TRN (Turner Radio Network) believe that being decent to
a group of tyrannical scumbags is the wrong approach. It's too soft.
Thankfully, the Founding Fathers gave us the tools necessary to resolve
tyranny: The Second Amendment. TRN advocates Catholics in Connecticut
take up arms and put down this tyranny by force ... If any state
attorney, police department or court thinks they're going to get uppity
with us about this, I suspect we have enough bullets to put them down,
too.”
June 10, 2009—James W. von Brunn, a convicted felon and a “hardcore Neo-
Nazi,” walks into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C.
and shoots and kills a security guard. Von Brunn believed that Western
civilization was going to be replaced with a “ONE WORLD ILLUMINATI
GOVERNMENT” that would “confiscate private weapons” in order to
accomplish its goals.
June 24, 2009—Hal Turner, a New Jersey resident and white supremacist
blogger/radio host, is arrested again after calling for the murder of
three Republican-appointed jurists on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
who had issued a June 2 decision upholding handgun restrictions in
Chicago. Writing on his blog, Turner says, “Let me be the first to say
this plainly: these judges deserve to be killed,” and includes
photographs, phone numbers, work addresses, and room numbers of the
judges, as well as a map of Chicago’s federal courthouse which points out
its “anti-truck bomb” pylons.
July 13, 2009—Gilbert Ortez, Jr. kills a police deputy in Chambers
County, Texas, with an assault rifle. Police were responding to reports
that Ortez or his wife had fired shots at utility workers in the area.
Police searching Ortez’s mobile home after a 10-hour standoff find more
than 100 explosive devices; Nazi drawings and extremist literature; and
several additional firearms.
July 15, 2009—Katherine Crabill, a Republican candidate for the Virginia
House of Delegates in the state’s 99th District makes headlines by
calling on Americans to resist the course President Obama has set for the
country. Appearing at a “Tea Party” rally, Crabill quotes a 1775 speech
by Patrick Henry and then states, “We have a chance to fight this battle
at the ballot box before we have to resort to the bullet box. But that's
the beauty of our Second Amendment right. I am glad for all of us who
enjoy the use of firearms for hunting. But make no mistake. That was
not the intent of the Founding Fathers. Our Second Amendment right was
to guard against tyranny.” This thought is reinforced on Crabill’s
campaign website, where she states the Second Amendment “was clearly
intended for self defense as well as, and more specifically, to keep the
government on notice of an armed citizenry.”
July 31, 2009—On WWJB-AM in Hernando County, Florida, talk radio host Bob
Haa takes a call from a listener who mentions ammunition, target
practice, and Barack Obama. Haa tells him not to waste his ammunition on
targets, to save it for the administration. Haa is later visited by an
agent for the Secret Service.
August 3, 2009—After being blamed for the murder of Dr. George Tiller,
FOX commentator Glenn Beck cautions his listeners that “just one lunatic
like Timothy McVeigh could ruin everything that everyone has worked so
hard for.”
WILLIAM KOSTRICAugust 11, 2009—William Kostric is filmed openly carrying
a handgun outside of President Obama's health care reform town hall
meeting in New Hampshire. Kostric holds a sign that reads, "IT IS TIME TO
WATER THE TREE OF LIBERTY!" a reference to the following Thomas Jefferson
quote: "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the
blood of patriots and tyrants."
August 17, 2009—Chris Broughton openly carries a handgun and AR-15
semiautomatic assault rifle to a health care rally in Phoenix, Arizona.
Simultaneously, President Obama addresses a VFW Convention across the
street. In a video recorded that day, Broughton states, “What do you
think we did in the revolution, in the American Revolution? The British
weren't stealing money from us for health care. They weren't taxing us
the way they are now back then. And what did we do? We forcefully kicked
them out of our country, and we will forcefully resist people imposing
their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote.”
August 25, 2009—During a GOP barbecue in Twin Falls, Idaho, an audience
member asks Rex Rammell, a candidate in the 2010 Idaho Republican
Primary, a question about "Obama tags" during a discussion about state-
issued tags for wolf hunting. Rammell responds, "The Obama tags? We'd buy
some of those." In a subsequent press release, he adds, "Anyone who
understands the law knows I was just joking, because Idaho has no
jurisdiction to issue hunting tags in Washington, D.C."
August 26, 2009—At a secessionist rally on the state capitol steps in
Austin, Texas, gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina states that, "We are
aware that stepping off into secession may in fact be a bloody war. We
are aware. We understand that the tree of freedom is occasionally watered
with the blood of tyrants and patriots.”
September 9, 2009—With President Barack Obama at the U.S. Capitol to
address a joint session of Congress on the subject of health care reform,
Joshua Bowman, 28, of Falls Church, Virginia, attempts to drive his Honda
Civic into a secure area near the building. U.S. Capitol Police stop him
and, searching his vehicle, find a rifle, a shotgun, and 500 rounds of
ammunition. He is arrested on weapons charges.
September 25-26, 2009—Kitty Werthmann, a speaker at the “How to Take Back
America” Conference in St. Louis, tells her audience, “If we had our guns
[during the time of the Nazis’ reign in Germany], we would have fought a
bloody battle. So, keep your guns, and buy more guns, and buy ammunition.
Take back America. Don’t let them take the country into Socialism. And I
refer again, Hitler’s party was National Socialism. And that’s what we
are having here right now, which is bordering on Marxism.”
September 28, 2009—Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), the Chairman of the Second
Amendment Task Force in the U.S. House of Representatives, calls House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi a “domestic enemy of the Constitution” at a health
care reform town hall meeting.
September 29, 2009—An editorial at the Newsmax website calls for a
military coup to oust President Obama.
September 30, 2009—The Michelangelo Signorile Show, a talk radio program
on Sirus, takes a call from “Jim” from Oklahoma, who claims that he and
200 others are meeting weekly to stage a coup against President Obama.
Jim says they want to restore their "a right to bear arms" and bring the
country back to where it was 400 years ago, before slavery was abolished.
October 18-19, 2009—Reports emerge that the Secret Service has received
an unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama. Ronald
Kessler's account of presidential security, In the President's Secret
Service, states that there has been a 400% increase in such threats in
comparison with Obama’s predecessor. Another source of these reports is
an August 5, 2009 study by the Congressional Research Service which
finds: “The [Secret] Service’s protection mission has increased and
become more ‘urgent’ due to the increase in terrorist threats and the
expanded arsenal of weapons that terrorists could use in an assassination
attempt or attacks on facilities.”
October 21, 2009—John Brek, a 55 year-old Newark Airport security guard,
is arrested for making terroristic threats against President Obama.
Authorities find 43 firearms while searching his home, including a stolen
rifle. Brek, a National Rifle Association member, is also found to be in
possession of illegal hollow point bullets.
November 2009—Billboard is erected on I-70 in Lafayette County, Missouri,
that promotes "a citizens guide to REVOLUTION." It urges Missourians to
"LIVE FREE OR DIE" and "PREPARE FOR WAR" with a corrupt government. The
billboard is highlighted at the Lafayette County Republicans website.
November 11-22, 2009—More than 100 delegates from across the country
attend a "Continental Congress" hosted by We The People. Attendees
include Neo-Confederate secessionists, "Common Law Court" enthusiasts,
adherents of the "Sovereign Citizens" movement, militia backers, and
other radicals. Planned at an earlier May meeting in Jekyll Island, the
Congress issues a document entitled the "Articles of Freedom" which
declares that the federal government "now threatens our Life, Liberty and
Property through usurpations of the Constitution."
December 23, 2009—Warren "Gator" Taylor takes three people hostage at a
federal post office in Wytheville, Virginia. He is armed with four guns,
including a .40-caliber Glock pistol, despite a criminal record that
includes convictions for lewd and lascivious beheavior with a 13 year-old
and attempted second-degree murder (Taylor shot his ex-wife three times
in a parking lot in 1993). Taylor fires at least three rounds before the
stand-off ends, including one at the station's fleeing postmaster. One of
Taylor's hostages reports that he was angry about taxes and "the
government taking over the right to bear arms."
January 2010—A group of nearly 200 "extremely concerned citizens" in
Ravalli County, Montana, demand that local elected officials fill out a
"questionnaire" pledging to form a local militia, prohibit mandatory
vaccinations, allow citizens to bear any type of firearms they choose
(including fully automatic machine guns), and require federal government
employees to get written approval before approaching "any Citizen" in the
county. The questionnaire is organized in part by Celebrating
Conservatism, a group with direct ties to the militia movement.
January 2, 2010—More than 300 people attend a rally in Alamogordo, New
Mexico, organized by the local Otero Tea Party Patriots and Second
Amendment Task Force. The purpose of the rally is to protest health care
reform, and many of the rally's participants openly carry handguns and/or
rifles. One attendee states that his handgun is a “very open threat” to
the “socialist communists” in the Obama Administration. “The government
fears the people, and a disarmed people are slaves,” he says. “Political
power comes from the barrel of a gun ... They’re pushing us to our
limits.”
January 12, 2010—Mark Campano of Cuyhaoga Falls, Ohio, pleads not guilty
to charges of possessing destructive devices not registered with the
federal government. Law enforcement are called to Campano's apartment in
November 2009 after he accidentally detonates a pipe bomb and loses parts
of two fingers. They find 30 pipe bombs, 17 rifles and handguns, and
hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the dwelling. Campano's next-door
neighbor states, "He was always trying to get me and another neighbor to
listen to anti-government tapes and watch anti-government videos ... He
was some kind of radical, and he didn't believe in the government."
January 12, 2010—Charles Allan Dyer, 29, a former Marine with ties to Tea
Parties and far-right-wing organizations like Oath Keepers, is arrested
at his home on charges of raping a 7 year old-girl. Sheriff's deputies
find several firearms inside Dyer's home and a Colt M-203 40mm grenade
launcher, which was stolen from a military base in Fort Irwin,
California, in 2006. Dyer had been an organizer of militia groups in
Oklahoma and told one interviewer, "I'm going to use my training and
become one of those domestic terrorists that you're so afraid of from the
[Department of Homeland Security (DHS)] reports." In another video, Dyer
states, "With DHS blatantly calling patriots, veterans, and
constitutionalists a threat, all that I have to say is you’re damn right
we're a threat. We're a threat to anyone that endangers our rights and
the Constitution of this republic."
February 9, 2010—Gregory Girard of Manchester, Massachusetts, is arrested
for weapons charges after police find 20 firearms, thousands of rounds of
ammunition, and explosive devices in his home. Girard's wife says that
her husband recently told her, "Don't talk to people, shoot them
instead." In a January 30 post at a popular website affiliated with the
Tea Party movement, Girard stated: "We have been in a state of war and
state of emergency of some time for decades uninterupted ... The entire
body of these War Powers and 'continuity of gov't' plans render our
concept of a Constitutional Republic to be little more than thin veil of
civility and justice layered over a monsterous, diabolic dictatorship
that would break out of political cage but for Americans vigorously
exercising their 2nd Amendment rights ... As it stands today at start of
2010, there is never a time that our gov't would find itself without some
excuse, no matter how perverse, as the justification for unleashing their
murderous 'War Powers' monster upon the public, in an attempt to subject
us to tyranny."
February 13, 2010—An unidentified speaker at an event organized by the
Lewis and Clark Tea Party Patriots in Asotin County, Washington, tells
the audience, "How many of you have watched the movie "Lonesome Dove"?
What happened to Jake when he ran with the wrong crowd? He got hung. And
that's what I want to do with [Democratic U.S. Senator] Patty Murray."
austin plane crashFebruary 18, 2010—Joseph Stack of Austin, Texas, flies
a single-engine plane into an office building containing nearly 200 IRS
employees, killing one and wounding 13. In a suicide note, Stack lays out
his grievances with the federal tax agency, stating, "The law 'requires'
a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully
that they understand what they are signing; if that's not 'duress' than
what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing
is ... Violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer."
February 19, 2010—Johnny Logan, Jr. of Louisville, Kentucky, is arrested
and charged with making threats against the president after his poem
titled "The Sniper" is found on the website NaziSpace/NewSaxon.org by the
U.S. Secret Service. The poem reads, in part: "As the tyrant enters his
cross hairs the breath he takes is deep. His focus is square on the
target as he begins to release. A patriot for his people he knows this
shot will cost his life. But for his race and their existence it is a
small sacrifice. The bullet that he has chambered is one of the purest
pride. And the inspiration on the casing reads DIE negro DIE. He breathes
out as he pulls the trigger releasing all his hate. And a smile appears
upon his face as he seals that monkey's fate. The bullet screams toward
its mark bringing with it death. And where there was once a face there is
nothing left. Two blood covered agents stare in horror and dismay.
Looking down toward the ground where their president now lay."
February 2010—Pvt. 1st Class Lee Pary, an active duty soldier at Fort
Drum and member of Oath Keepers, tells a reporter that he and five fellow
service members at the Army base are preparing to take on the U.S.
government when it declares martial law, and will turn their guns on
their fellow soldiers should it become necessary. "I know their tactics,"
says Pray. "I know how they...work their convoys—if we attack this
vehicle, what the others will do ... If the government continues to
ignore us, and forces us to engage, I'm willing to fight to the death."
March 2010—The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) announces that 2009 saw
a dramatic increase in the number of new anti-government "Patriot" groups
in the United States. Specifically, the number of Patriot groups jumped
from 149 (including 42 militias) to 512 (127 of them militias) in 2009—a
244% jump.
March 2, 2010—FOX News commentator Bill O'Reilly, speaking about the
McDonald v. Chicago case before the Supreme Court, declares that
plaintiff Otis McDonald's inability to own a handgun in Chicago amounts
to "tyranny." Predicting that four justices on the Court will side with
the city of Chicago, O'Reilly states, "It's interesting that in America
today the far Left that wants the government to call the shots, not the
folks. In the past, Right-Wing extremists like Hitler and Mussolini were
in the forefront of state control. But with the exception of Burma,
today's totalitarians are primarily on the Left."
March 4, 2010—John Patrick Bedell, a California resident, travels to
Arlington, Virginia, and opens fire on police officers at the entrance to
the Pentagon. Bedell is armed with two semiautomatic firearms and "many
[ammunition] magazines." Bedell injures two officers before he is killed
by return fire. Reports reveals Bedell to be a Truther who believed that
the U.S. government had been taken over by a criminal organization in a
1963 coup. In an Internet posting, he writes, "This organization, like so
many murderous governments throughout history, would see the sacrifice of
thousands of its citizens, in an event such as the September 11 attacks,
as a small cost in order to perpetuate its barbaric control."
niagra vandalismMarch 19-22, 2010—During consideration of health care
reform legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives, vandals attack
Democratic offices in Pleasant Ridge, Ohio; Wichita, Kansas; Tuscon,
Arizona; Niagra Falls, New York; and Rochester, New York. Mike
Vanderboegh, the former leader of f the Alabama Constitutional Militia,
takes credit for the violence after posting a blog on March 19 that
states, "If we break the windows of hundreds, thousands, of Democratic
party headquarters across this country, we might just make up enough of
them to make defending ourselves at the muzzle of a rifle unnecessary."
Several Democratic members receive death threats, including Rep. Louise
Slaughter (D-NY), who is told snipers will "kill the children of the
members who voted YES"; Rep. Bart Stupak (D-MI), who receives a message
saying, "You're dead; we know where you live; we'll get you"; and Rep.
Betsy Markey (D-CO), whose staffer is told by a caller, "Better hope I
don't run into you in a dark alley with a knife, a club or a gun." House
Minority Leader John Boehner, speaking about Rep. Steve Driehaus (D-OH),
says he "may be a dead man."
March 21, 2010—As the U.S. House of Representatives enters a final round
of debate over a controversial health care reform bill, Conservative
blogger Solomon "Solly" Forrell calls for the assassination of President
Barack Obama on his Twitter account. In two separate postings, Forrel
writes, "ASSASSINATION! America, we survived the #Assassinations of
#Lincoln & #Kennedy. We'll surely get over a bullet 2 #BarackObama's
head! ... The next #American with a #Clear #Shot should drop #Obama like
a bad habit."
March 21, 2010—Russell Laing, 52, is charged with aggravated assault and
making terroristic threats after a four-hour standoff with police at his
home in McCandless, Pennsylvania. Officers were responding to a 911 call
after Laing called a friend and said he couldn't walk. When police
responded to the call, Laing pointed an assault rifle at them and cocked
the weapon. After Laing was arrested, officers recovered approximately
150 guns and 15,000 rounds of ammunition from Laing's one-bedroom
apartment. "I can't explain it. In my 40 years, I've not seen that type
of collection," said McCandless Police Chief Gary Anderson.
March 23, 2010—After Mike Troxel of the Lynchburg Tea Party and Nigel
Coleman of the Danville Tea Party post the home address of the brother of
Rep. Tom Perriello (D-VA) and urge supporters to "drop by," someone
deliberately cuts a propane gas line at the house. Rep. Perriello is
targeted by the Tea Party activists because of his vote in favor of
health care reform. Perriello's brother and his wife have four children
under the age of eight.
March 24, 2010—After voting for health care reform legislation, Rep. Bart
Stupak (D-MI) and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC) receive faxes with drawings
of nooses.
March 25, 2010—Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY), who voted for health care
reform legislation, receives a package containing white powder and an
angry letter telling him to "drop dead ."
March 26, 2010—Rep. Vic Snyder (D-AR), who voted for health care reform
legislation, receives a letter stating, "It is apparent that it will take
a few assassinations to stop Obamacare. Militia central has selected you
for assassination. If we cannot stalk and find you in Washington, D.C.,
we will get you in Little Rock."
March 26, 2010—NRA Board Member Ted Nugent makes the following comment on
FOX News' "Your World" program: “I’m the expert on the health care bill
because I kill pigs and a just shot a monster big pig here in Texas and
seeing as how this is a pig bill created by pig bureaucrats to help out
American pigs … We gotta’ kill the pig.”
March 29, 2010—A Northeast Philadelphia man, Norman Leboon, is charged
with threatening the life of Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA). Leboon,
38, is arrested by the FBI after posting a YouTube video in which he
referred to Cantor's family and threatened,"bulllets...will be placed in
your heads." Leboon made hundreds of YouTube videos with anti-government
themes, and threatened others, including President Barack Obama, the
Democratic Leadership in Congress, and the Pope. Leboon has a long
history of mental illness, but was able to obtain a concealed handgun
permit in Pennsylvania, which alarmed his family.
March 29, 2010—Nine members of the MIchigan-based "Hutaree" Christian
militia are arrested and charged with seditious conspiracy and attempting
to deploy weapons of mass destruction. The group had allegedly plotted to
kill a law enforcement officer and then detonate improvised explosive
devices (IEDs) during the officer's funeral procession. The group
targeted federal officials, members of the law enforcement "brotherhood"
and other participants in the "New World Order."
March 30, 2010—Dozens of sitting governors receive letters from an
extremist anti-government group called the Guardians of the Free
Republics. The letters demand that the governors leave office within
three days or "they will be removed" from office. A page on the group's
website entitled "Rationale" reads, "For those who are concerned about
opening the door to satanic forces, permit me to reassure you. The
Guardian Elders deliberated with great sobriety the wisdom of sitting on
our hands while the march to World War III continues."
April 1, 2010—CNN commentator Erick Erickson, questioning the legality of
the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS), makes the
following comment on WMAC-AM radio: “We have become, or are becoming,
enslaved by the government ... I dare ‘em to try to come throw me in
jail. I dare ‘em to. [I’ll] pull out my wife’s shotgun and see how that
little ACS twerp likes being scared at the door. They’re not going on my
property.”
April 1-20, 2010—Walter Fitzpatrick, a member of American Grand Jury
(AGJ), attempts to effect a citizen's arrest on grand jury foreman Gary
Pettway at the Monroe County courthouse in Madisonville, Tennessee, and
is arrested. Nineteen days later, on the day that Fitzpatrick is
scheduled to face trial, Oath Keepers member Darren Huff is pulled over
by Tennessee state troopers as he attempts to drive to the courthouse to
arrest county officials he calls "domestic enemies of the United States
engaged in treason." Huff is armed with a Colt-45 handgun and an AK-47
assault rifle with 300-400 rounds of ammunition. He is indicted on
federal charges of traveling in interstate commerce with intent to incite
a riot and transporting in commerce a firearm in furtherance of a civil
disorder.
April 6, 2010—Authorities charge Charles Alan Wilson of Selah,
Washington, with threatening a federal official after Wilson makes
several phone calls to the office of Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA). Wilson, a
concealed handgun permit holder in Washington, was angry about Sen.
Murray's vote for health care reform legislation and told her she had "a
target on her back." He also told Murray, "Since you are going to put my
life at risk, and some bureaucrat is going to determine my health care,
your life is at risk, dear ... I hope somebody puts a...bullet between
your...eyes."
April 7, 2010—Gregory Lee Giusti, 48, of San Francisco, California, is
arrested for making threatening phone calls to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-CA). Giusti allegedly called Pelosi dozens of times, recited her home
address, and told her that if she wanted to see it again, she should drop
her support for health care reform legislation. Giusti had a "history of
mental health problems" and his mother indicated he was influenced by
"Fox News and all of those that are really radical."
April 7, 2010—Brody James Whitaker, 37, is apprehended and arrested on
charges including two counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement
officer, aggravated fleeing, and attempting to elude. The charges stem
from an incident on March 25, 2010 in which police attempted to pull
Whitaker over for a traffic violation on I-75 in Sumter County, Florida.
Whitaker led officers on a high-speed chase, fired shots at them from a
9mm handgun, and escaped capture. During his arraignment hearing,
Whitaker questions the authority of the judge and states, "I am a
sovereign. I am not an American citizen."
April 10, 2010—At a "Second Amendment March" organized by the Connecticut
Citizens Defense League, Martha Dean, the Republican-endorsed candidate
for Attorney General in Connecticut, tells those in attendance, "If
government is legitimate and truly is the voice of the people, it need
never fear the people themselves when they’re armed. Only a government
that uses secrecy and force to impose improper laws [to] which the people
do not consent need fear the wrath of its law-abiding citizens at the
ballot box or, ultimately, with arms … Our right of free speech and to
back it up with arms if necessary if our government becomes tyrannical
and unjust as King George’s was to the colonists are the most essential
of the rights we as Americans have ... I will oppose all efforts to
create nonsensical distinctions that are nowhere supported by our
constitutions between different types of firearms. Nowhere in the
Constitution does it say that the government gets the effective firearms
and the people the ineffective ones. Nowhere in our Constitution does it
say that the government gets the modern firearms and the citizens only
get the antiquated ones."
April 13, 2010—Reports surface that state Sen. Randy Brogdon (R-OK) and
Rep. Charles Key (R-OK) have met with Oklahoma Tea Party groups to
discuss the formation of a new "volunteer militia" to defend against what
they see as improprer federal infringements on state sovereignty. Brogdon
states that the Founding Fathers "were not referring to a turkey shoot or
a quail hunt. They really weren't even talking about us having the
ability to protect ourselves against each other. The Second Amendment
deals directly with the right of an individual to keep and bear arms to
protect themselves from an overreaching federal government." One Tea
Party leader involved in these meetings, J.W. Berry of the Tulsa-based
OKforTea group, has called for the Militia to "launch a thousand
guerrilla attacks on the plans that these people have to ruin us and our
country."
fort hunt rallyApril 19, 2010—Pro-gun activists conduct two rallies in
the Washington, D.C. area to demonstrate their opposition to an
"oppressive, totalitarian government." Among the featured speakers at the
events are current and former militia leaders and others with ties to
extreme, anti-government groups. The choice of date is significant, as
April 19 marks the anniversary of the first shots being fired in the
American Revolution at the Battle of Lexington/Concord, the fiery
conclusion to the 1993 siege at Waco, and the 1995 bombing of the Murrah
Building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh. At the "Second Amendment
March" in the District of Columbia, Larry Pratt, the Executive Director
of Gun Owners of America, states, "We're in a war. The other side knows
they are at war, because they started it. They are coming for our
freedom, for our money, for our kids, for our property. They are coming
for everything because they are a bunch of Socialists." Mike Vanderboegh,
who made national headlines after taking credit for several instances of
vandalism at Democratic offices following votes on health care reform
legislation, is the featured speaker at a rally in Fort Hunt National
Park in Virginia, where he tells attendees, "Whenever the legislators
endeavor to take away and destroy the property of the people, or to
reduce them to slavery under arbitrary power, they put themselves into a
state of war with the people, who are thereupon absolved from any further
obedience ... This is what the other side doesn’t understand! We are
doing backing up! Done! Not one more inch."
May 4, 2010—A questioner at a Heritage Foundation event asks speaker Rep.
Eric Cantor the question, "In light of what Obama has done to leave us
vulnerable, to cut defense spending, to make us vulnerable to outside
enemies, and to slight our allies ... What would he have to do
differently to be defined as a domestic enemy?" After smiling and stating
that "no one thinks that the president is a domestic enemy," Cantor is
booed by several members of the audience.
May 6, 2010—Dr. Christina Jeffrey, a Republican candidate in South
Carolina's 4th Congressional District, posts a YouTube video where she
holds an AK-47 assault rifle and tells viewers, "Why do we have the
Second Amendment? The Second Amendment ensures all of our other
rights ... The Second Amendment was placed in the Constitution, plainly,
to ensure that our limited government stayed limited and that we would be
able to enforce those limitations if need be ... We are a sovereign
people. A sovereign people is an armed people."
May 15, 2010—At the National Rifle Association's annual meeting in
Charlotte, North Carolina, 2012 Republican presidential nominee hopeful
Newt Gingrich tells the audience, "The Second Amendment is not in defense
of hunting. It is not in defense of target shooting. It is not in defense
of collecting. The Second Amendment is in defense of freedom from the
State." He goes on to make the following reference to Thomas Jefferson's
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood
of patriots and tyrants" quote: "Anybody who's historically honest has to
admit [the Founding Fathers] understood the right to bear arms because
they routinely carried arms. These were tough people in a tough time in a
tough country doing tough things and the idea that they would allow some
D.C. city government or some Washington federal bureaucrat to get between
them and their Constitutional rights, they would have said in Jefferson's
terms was the legitimate justification for a political revolution in
every generation which was what Jefferson thought was inevitable to clean
out the corruption, the arrogance, and the obsolenscence that government
would invariably have."
May 15, 2010—Referring to a controversial new anti-immigration law in
Arizona, FOX News personality Glenn Beck tells the 2010 NRA Convention,
"Let's talk a minute about a 'well-regulated militia' and why you might
need one because the government isn't doing their job. Let's meet people
in Texas, Arizona and California."
May 20, 2010—Jerry Kane, Jr., 45, and his son Joseph Kane, 16, fatally
shoot two Arkansas police officers with AK-47 assault rifles during a
routine traffic stop on Interstate 40 in West Memphis. The Kanes are
killed during an exchange of gunfire with police in a Walmart parking lot
90 minutes later. Jerry Kane, an Ohio resident and anti-government
activist, had a long history with police and had recently spent three
days in jail for driving with an expired license plate and no seat belt.
Kane considered himself a "sovereign citizen" and ran a business that
centered on debt-avoidance scams.
May 27, 2010—The Washington Times publishes an editorial claiming that a
United Nations treaty seeking to curb the international, illicit trade in
smalls arms "would necessarily lead to confication of personal firearms"
in the United States. The editorial goes on to say, "Not all insurgencies
are bad. As U.S. history shows, one way to get rid of a despotic regime
is to rise up against it. That threat is why authoritarian regimes such
as Syria, Cuba, Rwanda, Vietnam, Zimbabwe, and Sierra Leone endorse gun
control ... Governments are a bigger threat to most people than their
neighbors."
May 30, 2010—Sharron Angle, a candidate for the Republican nomination for
U.S. Senator in Nevada, tells the Reno Gazette-Journal that a recent
increase in gun sales nationwide "tells me that the nation is arming.
What are they arming for if it isn't that they are so distrustful of
government? They're afraid they'll have to fight for their liberty in
more Second Amendment kinds of ways." These comments echo ones made by
Angle in January, when she told conservative radio show talk host Lars
Larson, "You know, our Founding Fathers, they put that Second Amendment
in there for a good reason and that was for the people to protect
themselves against a tyrannical government. And in fact Thomas Jefferson
said it's good for a country to have a revolution every 20 years. I hope
that's not where we're going, but, you know, if this Congress keeps going
the way it is, people are really looking toward those Second Amendment
remedies and saying my goodness what can we do to turn this country
around? I'll tell you the first thing we need to do is take [U.S. Senator
from Nevada] Harry Reid out."
May 31, 2010—Oath Keeper Rex Nichols, a candidate for sheriff in
Montana's Lincoln County, makes reference to federal agents' standoffs at
Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco in 1993 and promises to keep them out of the
county if elected. "I am going to take my deputies and stand in the
middle of the road and tell them to get the hell out," says Nichols. "And
if they want a war, they got it."
rick barber adJune 2010—Rick Barber, a Tea Party candidate seeking the
Republican nomination in Alabama's Second Congressional District, runs a
campaign ad in which he dicusses contemporary political issues with
America's Founding Fathers. After Barber states "I would impeach him" and
rails about the "progressive income tax," the Internal Revenue Service,
and health care reform, a Founding Father replies, "Gather your armies."
Several Founding Fathers are depicted as being armed with pistols.
June 9, 2010—Addressing the Obama administration and the Democratic-
controlled Congress, FOX commentator Glenn Beck says, "Shoot me in the
head if you try to change our government—I will stand against you. And so
will millions of others." Beck also compares American Progressives to
Osama bin Laden and claims "they want to overthrow our entire system of
government."
June 27, 2010—Rick Barber, a Tea Party candidate seeking the Republican
nomination in Alabama's Second Congressional District, runs a campaign ad
in which he compares taxation and "the tyrannical health care bill" to
slavery and the extermination of Jews in Nazi Germany. "We live in
perilous times ... We are all becoming slaves to our government," Barber
warns. The "army of voters" depicted in the ad includes individuals who
are openly armed with guns. In a follow-up editorial in the Washington
Post, Barber makes reference to "the possibility of evil conducted on a
grand scale" and states, "Totalitarianism doesn't come all at once ...
The road to serfdom is a long one, but I fear that we are well on the
way."
July 2, 2010—The Wyoming Department of Revenue suspends sales tax
collections at the state's gun shows because of "increasing animosity"
toward field tax agents. Dan Noble, director of the department's Excise
Tax Division, cites one particular incident at a gun show that "crossed
the line" and says, "We tend to have more trouble at gun shows than any
place ... I have 10 field reps throughout the state, and every one of
them has experienced some animosity ... I don't want to put my people at
risk."
July 3, 2010—Joyce Kaufman, a conservative radio hosts on WFTL in
Florida, tells a crowd of supporters at a Fort Lauderdale Tea Party
event, “I am convinced that the most important thing the Founding Fathers
did to ensure me my First Amendments rights was they gave me a Second
Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will. This is the standoff.
When I say I’ll put my microphone down on November 2nd if we haven’t
achieved substantial victory, I mean it. Because if at that point I’m
going to up into the hills of Kentucky, I’m going to go out into the
Midwest, I’m going to go up in the Vermont and New Hampshire outreaches
and I’m going to gather together men and women who understand that some
things are worth fighting for and some things are worth dying for.”
July 6, 2010—Herb Titus, a lawyer for Gun Owners of America, tells
Religion Dispatches, "If you have a people that has basically been
disarmed by the civil government, then there really isn't any effectual
means available to the people to restore law and liberty and that's
really the purpose of the right to keep and bear arms—is to defend
yourself against a tyrant." Titus goes on to cite the "totalitarian
threat" posed by "Obamacare" and "what Sarah Palin said about the death
panels."
July 11, 2010—Supporters of Tea Party candidate Joe Miller openly carry
assault rifles and handguns during a community parade in Eagle River and
Chugiak, Alaska, while young children march alongside them. Miller, who
is running against Senator Lisa Murkowski in the Republican primary, was
endorsed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who described him as a
“true Commonsense Constitutional Conservative.”
July 18, 2010—California Highway Patrol officers arrest Byron Williams,
45, after a shootout on I-580 in which more than 60 rounds are fired.
Officers had pulled Williams over in his pick-up for speeding and weaving
in and out of traffic when he opened fire on them with a handgun and a
long gun. Williams, a convicted felon, is shot several times, but
survives because he is wearing body armor. Williams, a convicted felon,
reveals that he was on his way to San Francisco to "start a revolution"
by killing employees of the ACLU and Tides Foundation. Williams' mother
says her son was angry at "Left-wing politicians" and upset by "the way
Congress was railroading through all these Left-wing agenda items."
July 26, 2010—A proposed ordinance that would prohibit residents from
firing air rifles and other low-powered weapons within 500 feet of a
building (unless fired in a target range) is pulled from consideration in
Exeter Township, Pennsylvania, after the Board of Supervisors receives a
number of angry and threatening phone calls from gun owners. Citing a
National Rifle Association "Action Alert" that claimed Exeter supervisors
were "consider[ing] a broad and overreaching attack on our Second
Amendment freedoms," Exeter Township Police Chief Christopher Neidert
says, "This was totally false information that was put out. The anger was
building, and I was concerned that someone might actually get hurt."
July 29, 2010—Jack Dailey, the founder of the Appleseed Project (which is
dedicated to teaching every American how to fire a bullet through a man-
size target out to 500 yards), explains that Americans should own an
AR-15 assault rifle "because they want to tell us what to do. And we
don't want them to tell us what to do." James Faire, an Appleseed
trainer, states that, "the government has quite literally become
tyrannical. It is fulfilling the principles outlined in The Communist
Manifesto. It's completely out of control from city to state to federal
to international law. All predicate their existence on plundering the
individual and his rights. The only thing to do now is to organize
citizens into a militia to abolish this government."
July 30, 2010—Camp Hill prison guard Raymond Peake, 64, is charged with
robbery and the murder of Todd Getgen. Peake allegedly shot Getgen to
death at a local shooting range and stole Getgen's custom, silenced AR-15
rifle. Investigators follow Peake to a storage unit when they find three
firearms: Getgen's AR-15 rifle, a scoped Remington rifle that had been
reported stolen from the range in May, and a second AR-15 rifle. Thomas
Tuso is also arrested and charged with conspiracy, receiving stolen
property and other crimes. Peake tells police that he and Tuso had been
stealing guns "for the purpose of overthrowing the federal government."
August 14, 2010—Former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack—who gained fame in
anti-government circles by joining a mid-1990s lawsuit against the
federal government over the Brady Bill requirement that state law
enforcement agencies conduct background checks on gun purchasers—tells
those in attendance at the American Policy Center's 2010 Freedom Action
Natonal Conference, "My dear friends, I pray for the day that the first
sheriff in this country is the one to fire the shot heard 'round the
world and take out some IRS agents!"
August 17, 2010—Patrick Gray Sharp, 29, opens fire on the Department of
Public Safety in McKinney, Texas, and unsuccessfully attempts to ignite
gasoline and ammonium nitrate in a trailer hitched to his truck. Sharp is
armed with an assault rifle, a .45-caliber semiautomatic pistol, and a 12-
gauge shotgun. He is killed after an exchange of gunfire with police
arriving on the scene. Miraculously, no one else is hurt. Sharp's
roommate, Eric McClellan describes him as "a great guy" and states,
"We're Texans. We have a right to bear arms."
August 19, 2010—Josiah Fornof, 30, of Pasco County, Florida, is arrested
after threatening to "bear arms against" local law enforcement officers
who were trying to serve him with a warrant. Authorities recover a letter
that Fornof had tried to serve the deputies with, which reads, "I have
the right to bear arms against such unlawful entities, up to and
including the President of the United States, that are coming against me
unlawfully, lethally, and genocidally."
August 23, 2010—Thomas Pidgeon is arrested after he attempts to bring a
fully loaded .45-caliber handgun into a Cook County courthouse. Pidegon
was supposed to attend a foreclosure hearing that day. His home was to be
sold to a lender in North Carolina after New York-based BNY Mellon filed
an action against him in the county.
james jay leeSeptember 1, 2010—James Jay Lee, 43, takes hostages at the
Discovery Communications building in Silver Spring, Maryland, while armed
with two starter pistols and four improvised explosived devices. After
pointing a gun at one of the hostages, he is shot and killed by police.
Lee, a radical environmental activist, had previously issued 11 demands
through a webpage that Discovery was to meet "immediately." The demands
involved the content of programming on the Discovery Channel. Lee had
also declared on his MySpace page, "It's time for REVOLUTION!!!"
September 13, 2010—Police stop Richard Scott McLeod, 48, for a traffic
violation in Webberville, Michigan, and upon searching his vehicle,
discover bumper stickers quoting Adolf Hitler, a picture of President
Barack Obama, a loaded handgun, a bullet-proof vest, and bomb-making
materials. McLeod is arrested and charged with illegally carrying a
concealed weapon and unlawful possession of body armor. McLeod tells
officers that he is a member of the Michigan Militia. The group denies
any relationship with McLeod
September 16, 2010—Patricia Stoneking, the President of the Kansas State
Rifle Association, tells Fox News, "People need to arm themselves, We
have the right to put limits on our government, and that's what [the
Second Amendment] does." Explaining why America's Founding Fathers
drafted the amendment, she says, "They knew government could become
tyrannical. We have the right to defend ourselves from a rogue
government."
September 30, 2010—Kevin Terrell, a self-described "colonel" who founded
a group of "freedom fighters" in Kentucky, predicts war with "the
jackbooted thugs" of Washington within a year. Referring to the arrest of
Hutaree militia members earlier in the year, Terrell says, "There was a
lot of citizens out there in the bushes, locked and loaded. It's only due
to miracles I do not understand that civil war did not break out right
there."
September 30, 2010—Steve Kendley, a deputy sheriff running for sheriff in
Lake County, Montana, threatens "a violent conflict" with federal agents
if "they are doing something I believe is unconstitutional."
October 15, 2010—Conservative radio show host Glenn Beck lays out a
hypothetical scenario on the air where the government is considering
taking his children because he refused to have them receive a mandatory
flu vaccine. Beck tells his audience that his response to the government
would be "Meet Mr. Smith and Mr. Wesson."
October 21, 2010—Pastor Stephen Broden, the Republican candidate for U.S.
Representative in Texas' 30th Congressional District, tells WFAA-TV in
Dallas that the violent overthrow of the government is an "option" that
remains "on the table." "Our nation was founded on violence," states
Broden. "I don't think that we should ever remove anything from the table
as it relates to our liberties and our freedoms."
October 22, 2010—Texas Department of Corrections officers searching for a
missing person, Gill Clements, 69, are confronted by a neighbor while on
Clements' property in Henderson County. Howard Tod Granger, 46, points an
AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle at one of the officers, who recalls,
"He told us to get off the property or he would kill us all." Later that
afternoon, officers return to Granger's home with a search warrant and an
armored vehicle filled with 13 SWAT members. Granger opens fire on the
vehicle, discharging at least 30 rounds before authorities shoot and kill
him. Police find guns and "many rounds of ammunition" in Granger's house.
They also find the body of Clements, buried in a shallow grave on
Granger's property.
November 3, 2010—James Patock, 66, of Pima County, Arizona, is arrested
on the National Mall in the District of Columbia after law enforcement
authorities find a .223 caliber rifle, a .243 caliber rifle barrel, a .22
caliber rifle, a .357 caliber pistol, several boxes of ammunition, and
propane tanks wired to four car batteries in his truck and trailer.
Patock former neighbor in Arizona reported that, "He hated the president.
He hated everything. He said if he got a chance he would shoot the
president." Patock tells authorities he is a member of the National Rifle
Association.
November 4, 2010—On his radio show, conservative host Glenn Beck
fantasizes about President Obama being decapitated during a trip to
India, saying, "If anybody thinks he was a Muslim over here, well God
forbid, they think he was a Muslim over there because he left his
religion for Christianity, death sentence, behead him.” Beck then tells
his listeners that "God forbid" this should happen, as there would be a
"New World Order" overnight in the United States.
November 4, 2010—Fox News host Bill O'Reilly fantasizes about killing a
Washington Post reporter while on the air, saying, "Does sharia law say
we can behead Dana Milbank?" O'Reilly also tells co-host Megyn Kelly, "I
think you and I should go and beat him up."
November 9, 2010—U.S. Representative-Elect Allen West of Florida's 22nd
Congressional District hires conservative radio talk show host Joyce
Kaufman as his Chief of Staff. On July 3, Kaufman told a crowd of Tea
Party supporters, “I am convinced that the most important thing the
Founding Fathers did to ensure me my First Amendments rights was they
gave me a Second Amendment. And if ballots don’t work, bullets will."
November 9, 2010—Concealed handgun permit holder George Thomas Lee, 69,
of Walhalla, South Carolina, is arrested on the town's main street for
disseminating and promoting obscenity by bearing signs "laden with
expletives and taking aim at U.S. foreign policy, President Barack Obama,
blacks in general, Jews and the nation of Israel." Officers also seize
literature from Lee that details "the most expedient means of killing law
enforcement officers." The November 9 arrest follows an October 19 arrest
for assault after Lee kicked and swung his signs at a group of girls
between the ages of 12 and 14.
November 10, 2010—Public schools in Broward County, Florida, go into
lockdown after an email threat is received by WFTL 850 AM. The email is
sent to conservative radio host Joyce Kaufman in response to remarks she
made at a Tea Party event in July ("If ballots don't work, bullets
will"). The email expresses support for her view of the Second Amendment
and says that to further "their cause...something big will happen at a
government building in Broward County, maybe a post office maybe even a
school." A phone call is then received at the station, allegedly from the
emailer's wife, warning that he is preparing to go to a Pembroke Pines
school and open fire.
November 23, 2010—Larry Pratt, the Executive Director of Gun Owners of
America, writes an editorial in The Register Citizen in which he calls
for state and county sheriffs to organize large, armed "posses" as "a
check on the unconstitutional exercise of federal power."
November 29, 2010—U.S. Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX), the ranking Republican on
the House Energy and Commerce Committee, circulates a PowerPoint
presentation to his colleagues in which he compares the Obama
administration to the Nazi regime in Germany and likens himself to Gen.
George Patton, bragging, "Put anything in my scope and I will shoot it."
December 3, 2010—At "Roe & Roeper's Miracle on Indianapolis Blvd. Holiday
Extravaganza" promoting "Toys 4 Tots" in Chicago, Illinois, actor R. Lee
Emery (famous for his depiction of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman in "Full
Metal Jacket") tells those in attendance, "The economy really sucks. Now
I hate to point fingers at anybody, but the present administration
probably has a lot to do with that. And the way I see it, they're not
gonna quit doing it until they bring this country to its knees. So I
think we should all rise up and we should stop this administration from
what they're doing because they're destroying this country. They're
driving us into bankruptcy so that they can impose socialism on us."
January 8, 2011—Jared Lee Loughner, 22, shoots U.S. Rep. Gabrielle
Giffords (D-AZ) and 19 others at a "Congress in Your Corner" event at a
Safeway supermarket in Tuscon, Arizona. He kills six, including federal
judge John Roll, and wounds 14, including Giffords, who is shot in the
head. Loughner has an extensive history of mental illness and substance
abuse, yet is able to purchase two handguns and a high-capacity
ammunition magazine legally at Sportsman's Warehouse on November 30,
2010. In a YouTube video posted in December 2010, Loughner states, "You
don’t have to accept the federalist laws ... Nonetheless, read the United
States of America’s Constitution to apprehend all of the current
treasonous laws."
--
Information has never been so free. Even in authoritarian countries
information networks are helping people discover new facts and making
governments more accountable.- US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
January 21, 2010