American militia movement is a term which is used by law enforcement and security analysts in reference to a number of private organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements. These groups may refer to themselves as militia, unorganized militia,Mulloy, Darren (2004) American Extremism: History, Politics and the Militia Movement, Routledge. and constitutional militia.Williams, David C. (2003) The mythic meanings of the Second Amendment: taming political violence in a constitutional republic. Yale University Press. p. 363. While groups such as the Posse Comitatus existed as early as the 1980s, the movement gained momentum only after standoffs with government agents in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, such groups were active in all 50 US states, with membership estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000. The movement is most closely associated with the American right-wing. Most modern organizations calling themselves militias are illegal private paramilitary organizations that would require official sanctioning of a state government in order to be constitutional.
History The catalysts of the American militia movement started with the FBI's 1992 shootout with Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, and the 1993 Waco siege in which David Koresh and the Branch Davidians were involved at Mt. Carmel in Waco, Texas.Rise Of Citizen Militias: Angry White Guys With Guns Daniel Junas CovertAction Quarterly April 24, 1995Morris Dees, Gathering Storm: America's Militia Threat. Harper Perennial (April 23, 1997) Robert H. Churchill, "Arming for the Last Battle: Secular and Religious Millennial Impulses within the Militia Movement", 1999 Annual Conference of the Center for Millennial Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA, November 9, 1999. Online copy Critic Mark Pitcavage described the predecessors of the modern militia movement:Pitcavage, Mark; Institute for Intergovernmental Research: Camouflage and Conspiracy. The Militia Movement From Ruby Ridge to Y2K. American Behavioral Scientist, Vol. 44, No. 6, Pages 957–981, SAGE Publications, 2001.
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 even attended meetings before the attack. This increased public scrutiny and law enforcement pressure, and brought in more recruits due to the heightened awareness of the movement.Militia Nation Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons Progressive Magazine
In March 1996, agents of the FBI and other law enforcement organizations surrounded the eastern Montana "Justus Township" compound of the Montana Freemen. The Freemen were a group of sovereign citizens that included elements of the Christian Identity ideology, espoused common law legal theories, and rejected the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve. Montana legislator Karl Ohs mediated through the standoff. Both Randy Weaver (one of the besieged at Ruby Ridge) and Bo Gritz (a civilian negotiator at Ruby Ridge) had attempted to talk to the group but had given up in frustration, as did Colorado Senator Charlie Duke when he had attempted negotiations.Freemen surrender peacefully to FBI Cable News Network June 14, 1996 A break finally came when far-right political leaders abandoned the group to their fate.Freemen Were Alone New York Times June 15, 1996 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. 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.Christopher Whitcomb, Cold Zero: Inside the FBI Hostage Rescue Team. . (Covers Ruby Ridge, Waco Siege and creation of CIRG.)
A 1999 US Department of Justice analysis of the potential militia threat at the millennium conceded that the vast majority of militias were reactive (not proactive) and posed no threat.United States Department of Justice, "Operation Megiddo", November 2, 1999, page 22; cited in Robert H. Churchill, "Arming for the Last Battle: Secular and Religious Millennial Impulses within the Militia Movement", 1999 Annual Conference of the Center for Millennial Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA, November 9, 1999. By 2001, the militia movement seemed to be in decline, having peaked in 1996 with 858 groups. As a result of the 2008 financial crisis and the election of Barack Obama as United States president in 2008, militia activity experienced a resurgence. Militia groups have recently been involved in several high-profile standoffs, including the Bundy Standoff in 2014 and the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 2016.
Many militia groups strongly supported the candidacy and presidency of Donald Trump, with their focus on anti-government sentiment being replaced with opposing perceived enemies of Trump who were often alleged to be deeply imbedded within the bureaucracy or "deep state". Starting in 2020, militia groups were heavily involved in rallies against COVID-19-related restrictions, gun control measures, and Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests. After Trump's loss in the 2020 presidential election, many militia groups mobilized to protest the results, including large scale participation in the "Stop The Steal" movement, promoting false claims that the election result was fraudulent.
In the storming of the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, members with ties to various militia groups participated in the attack. In recent years, there have been increasing incidents in which Republicans aligned themselves with militia groups in exchange for their support.
On January 11, 2024, Congressman Jamie Raskin and Senator Ed Markey proposed the Preventing Private Paramilitary Activity Act as an attempt to federally prohibit "publicly patrolling, drilling, or engaging in [harmful paramilitary tactics]" and "falsely assuming the functions of law enforcement." Following January 6th Anniversary, Congressman Raskin and Senator Markey Introduce Legislation to Stop Private Paramilitary Activity The bill has not yet been codified into law.
Legal legitimacy
Most militia organizations envisage themselves as legally legitimate organizations, despite the fact that all 50 states prohibit private paramilitary activity. Others subscribe to the "insurrection theory" which describes the right of the body politic to rebel against the established government in the face of tyranny.
Opposition to the government
Beliefs within the militia movement encompass a combination of ideologies and positions commonly associated with various groups, including the sovereign citizens movement, the 1960s tax protest movement, the John Birch Society, the Tea Party movement, and since 2016, Trumpism. These beliefs often revolve around anti-government sentiments, opposition to perceived encroachments on individual rights, and skepticism towards established institutions. The militia movement has gained attention for its advocacy of armed resistance and its involvement in controversial incidents, such as standoffs with law enforcement. Not all individuals who identify with the militia movement share the same beliefs or engage in illegal activities.
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. This tyrannical government is linked to the New World Order conspiracy theory and is named by the militiamen as the eponymous conspiracy theory.The Hate Map Of America - Interview with Mark Potok, investigative reporter for the Southern Poverty Law Center
Groups part of the militia movement
The Southern Poverty Law Center identified 334 militia groups at a peak in 2011. It identified 276 in 2015, up from 202 in 2014 and in 2022 nearly 200 groups still exist, down from 2015. +United States militia movement groupsGroup nameAreaBeliefs 3 PercentersNationwideRight-libertarianism (majority)Patriot movementSecond Amendment Constitutionalism Arizona Border ReconArizona HutareeMichigan, southernChristian nationalismChristian Patriot movement"US 'Christian militants' charged after FBI raids" BBC, March 30, 2010. Retrieved January 11, 2016. Idaho Light Foot MilitiaIdaho, statewidePatriot movement Michigan MilitiaMichigan, RedfordPatriot movement Militia of MontanaMontana, NoxonAmerican constitutionalismAmerican nationalismAccelerationism Missouri Citizens MilitiaMissouri, statewideMissouri MilitiaMissouri, Kansas CityNew York Light Foot MilitiaNew York, statewidePatriot movement Oath KeepersNationwidePatriot movement Ohio Defense ForceOhio, statewidePennsylvania Light Foot MilitiaPennsylvaniaTexas Light Foot MilitiaTexas, statewideVeterans on PatrolNationwidePatriot movement QAnon
Constitutionalists
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.Beaumont, Roger; "American as Cherry Pie? Unofficial Militias in American History", Journal of Conflict Studies Vol. XIX No. 2, Fall 1999: University of New Brunswick The movement is composed largely of veterans, libertarians, and Second Amendment advocates who share a common belief in individual liberties and civil responsibilities, according to their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, as well as disdain for what are perceived to be abusive, usurpative, or tyrannical federal government decisions and actions, and a set of ideals associated with the values of the militia they see embodied in the Constitution.Jonathan Karl, The Right to Bear Arms: The Rise of America's New Militias (New York: Harper, 1995)Churchill, Robert H., Boston University, 1999 Annual Conference of the Center for Millennial Studies. Arming for the Last Battle: Secular and Religious Millennial Impulses within the Militia Movement. From the inception of the modern movement there has been controversy over whether the movement was an important part of a complete response to many important threats, or a threat in itself.
Scholars Stanley C. Weeber and Daniel G. Rodeheaver offer a description of the constitutionalist militia movement that identifies four types:Weeber, Stanley C., and Daniel Gilbert Rodeheaver. Militias in the New Millennium A Test of Smelser's Theory of Collective Behavior Page 61. The Open Constitutionalist, with the Cascade Brigade as an example Constitutionalist/Command Structure, with the Alabama Constitutional Militia and the Michigan Militia as examples Constitutionalist/Cell Structure, with the Militia of Montana and the Texas Constitutional Militia as examples Underground/ No Public Contact, with the Sons of Liberty (Alabama) as an example
Other writers view constitutionalism as the movement, having a militia wing, rather than a militia movement with a constitutionalist wing.