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Sovereign Citizens Movement Attracts Law Enforcement Attention

Written by Gary North on February 28, 2012

As government tightens its grip, individuals fight back. If they use weapons, they are asking for trouble.

I wrote about this almost 30 hears ago in two books that I edited, Theology of Christian Resistance and Tactics of Christian Resistance. Both are online.

I have not changed my opinion. These groups are anarchistic and dangerous. They also draw way too much attention from authorities. One of these was arrested by local police.

According to court papers, Rice was involved in the “sovereign citizen” movement, a group that has attracted little national media attention but which the FBI classifies as an “extremist antigovernment group.” So-called sovereign citizens argue that they are not subject to local, state or federal laws, and some refuse to recognize the authority of courts or police.

Since 2000, members of the movement have killed six police officers, and clashes with law enforcement are on the rise, according to the FBI. The deadliest incident came in 2010, when a shootout with a member left four people dead, including two police officers, during what began as a routine traffic stop in West Memphis, Ark.

Since then, in a notable shift in policy, federal officials have stepped up their attention on sovereign citizens.

The issue is violence.

In two recent unpublished studies, the Homeland Security Department and the National Counterterrorism Center ranked the sovereign citizen movement as a major threat, along with Islamic extremists and white supremacists. The FBI assigned a supervisor to coordinate investigations of the movement last year.

This is a right-wing movement. “Most important, some followers believe they are entitled to use armed force to resist arrest and fight police.”

The movement has its roots in the citizens movement of the 1970s, the Posse Comitatus movement. The original organizer was pro-Nazi. These militias were not authorized under county government. They were not led by anyone with civil authority. They were revolutionaries.

Fringe groups that take up arms against the state attract people without good sense. It is wise to avoid them.

Continue Reading on www.latimes.com

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7 thoughts on “Sovereign Citizens Movement Attracts Law Enforcement Attention

  1. EyesWideOpen says:

    IT HAS BECOME OBVIOUS THAT GARY NORTH AND MUCH OF THE TEA PARTY HAVE SOLD OUT TO THE CORRUPT ESTABLISHMENT!!!
    Most of the police in this country are nothing more than Gustapo NAZI's. They are crooked and lie like crazy in court. They deserve whatever they get!!!

  2. Any idiot can see that America is becoming less free and more oppressive every day… How about the government return to what it was founded to be? The government is essentially overthrowing the government and upsetting the citizens. The government is acting in a subversive, counter-revolutionary way to undo the American Revolution. Stop and citizens will be more than happy to go back to their lives as normal citizens. That is pretty simple.

  3. The people that started this country used the same language, sovereign. I wonder if King George classified them as "dangerous" and "without common sense", "fringe" groups. You back an animal into a corner, what do you expect from him?
    Seriously, use your freaking brain North. You think my bashing people over the head with loaded terms changes minds? You don't even know where sovereign started do you. Don't whine about other people's courage and conviction just because you don't have any. If your wrists like cold steel then surrender them. You don't speak for Americans. REAL Americans.

  4. Colonialgirl says:

    They dont need "These militias were not authorized under county government. They were not led by anyone with civil authority. They were revolutionaries." to be legitimate. Remember the reason for the Second Amendment is so the Citizen can resist a government that becomes overbearing and is slipping into a Dictatorship. If the groups belonged to, had to be "led by" or "authorized by" some one with "Civil Authority" they can no longer resist a government gone rogue. Guess what Gary, Our Fore-Fathers were REVOLUTIONARIES, why do you think they call the war against Great Britain a Revolution? I think your Southern California schooling is betraying your ability to think.

  5. Colonialgirl is RIGHT our forefathers were REVOLUTIONARIES AND THEY KNEW IF THEY FAILED THEY WOULD BE KILLED and a lot of them died for their FREEDOM THATS FREEDOM YOU IDIOT!!! gary North is mind blown be nice nice or they will hurt you…

  6. It is the duty and obligation of every legal

    citizen,to do just as thoughs that signed the

    Constitution,to up hold the legal Constitution,

    with , the Founding Fathers swore by a sacred oath

    to protect and defend the new Constitutional

    Republic, and it’s citizens by their sacred honor.

    My statement is not verbatim, but the

    Constitution is being subverted, by executive

    orders. and the recess appointments of persons that

    where not properly vetted for government office.

    Violated by neglect of duty and performance,

    allowing coporations to do business with communist

    nations that have murdered millons includinG

    American Military personel

    Their deaths were in vain if this kind of thing is

    permited by the citizens or as the Constitution

    Preamble Amble States, we the people, to form a

    more perfect union.

    You are right Patriot sister.

    And the American people have the legal right to

    use the remendy for this type of crime, as set

    fourth by the legal laws in the Constitution that

    so many Americans have died keeping their sacred oath

    of citizenship, with their lives and fortune

    just as the founding Fathers did, to protect the

    citizens, of a Sovereign Nation.

  7. That was not the type of Christian leaders that many Christian sat under, many church leaders led their congregations

    into battle,stopping services and tell the members, get your guns the enemy oppressors are coming.

    When governments violate the laws of America, it is our just due's to honor those who died to allow to live as those

    who would oppress us, not as oppressors, but with the same right they grant themselvesand theirs, to live in Liberty and

    Freedom, surely we all understand that rights do not come from mere men with armys and guns.