Militia Movement

MILITIA MOVEMENT

MILITIA MOVEMENT. Catapulted into the public eye after the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City because early, exaggerated reports linked the bombers to the Michigan Militia, the militia movement combined conspiracy theories with a fascination for paramilitary activity. Ideologically, militias are an offshoot of the Posse Comitatus (roughly 1970–1989), a right-wing group whose philosophy combined extreme libertarianism with a conviction that the government was illegitimate. By the 1980s, the Posse's influence had helped create the loosely organized antigovernment "Patriot" movement. In the 1990s, militia groups surfaced as its newest component.

Many factors, including the end of the Cold War and the rapidly changing U.S. economy, led to the militias' emergence. Specific catalysts included the election of Bill Clinton (1992) and the passage of the North American Free Trade Agreement (1993), the Brady Law (1994), and the Assault Weapons Ban (1994). Most important, however, were two controversial and deadly standoffs involving federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho (1992), and Waco, Texas (1993). Far-right activists held that the Weaver family in Idaho and the Branch Davidians in Texas had been targeted by the federal government. The desire to prevent more standoffs, by force if necessary, led by 1994 to the formation of paramilitary groups. The term "militia" not only evoked memories of the American Revolution but also allowed the groups to claim legitimacy as the statutory militia, whose purpose they claimed was to act as a check on tyrannical government.

The movement spread quickly, drawing support from beyond the traditional right-wing fringe, especially among gun-rights activists and libertarians. That it represented something new can be seen in its leadership, which consisted of people not previously active in leadership roles. Some observers, pointing to members with ties to racist organizations, initially claimed that the movement was just a cover for white supremacy. Such ties certainly existed; in particular, militias had many members who were adherents of the racist and anti-Semitic religious sect Christian Identity. However, the ideological thrust of the militia movement remained antigovernment in nature; militia rhetoric stressed not race but rather conspiracy theories about an attempt to institute a one-world government or "new world order." Members repeated rumors about United Nations soldiers hiding in national parks, secret concentration camps established by the government, and plans for door-to-door gun confiscation.

Militia members held rallies and sometimes ran for public office, but their illegal activities brought them the most attention. Many adherents amassed illegal weapons and explosives and some plotted to use such weapons against the government. Major arrests of militia members for possession of weapons or explosives or on conspiracy charges occurred in Oklahoma, Arizona, Georgia, Washington, West Virginia, California, and elsewhere. Some militia members engaged in confrontations or even shoot-outs with law enforcement. Arrests involving militias had a dampening effect on more timid members of the movement; at the same time, the movement saw the exodus of radical members disgusted at the lack of militia involvement in the eighty-one-day Montana Freeman standoff against FBI agents in 1996 and the Republic of Texas standoff near Fort Davis in 1997. Consequently, beginning in 1997, the militia movement experienced a decline in membership and activity, accelerating after the "Y2K" computer bug failed to live up to expectations. By the early 2000s, the militia movement was much smaller than in 1995, although in some parts of the country, such as the Midwest, it was still quite active.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Pitcavage, Mark. "Camouflage and Conspiracy: The Militia Movement from Ruby Ridge to Y2K." American Behavioral Scientist 44 (February 2001): 957–981.

Snow, Robert L. The Militia Threat: Terrorists among Us. New York: Plenum, 1999.

Stern, Kenneth S. A Force upon the Plain: The American Militia Movement and the Politics of Hate. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996.

Mark Pitcavage

See also Oklahoma City Bombing ; Ruby Ridge ; Waco Siege .