Dangerous Copycats Inspired by Anti-Government Rancher Cliven Bundy

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http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/dangerous-copycat-militias-inspired-cliven-bundy



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n the months since Bundy’s standoff there have been several hostile actions linked to militia groups. Notably, a Bureau of Land Management employee was stopped in his federal vehicle in Utah by two men who held him at gunpoint while holding a sign that read: “You Need to Die.” And last month, Jerad and Amanda Miller shot two police officers at point blank range in a pizzeria, took their weapons, covered the bodies with a "Don’t Tread on Me” flag, and pinned a note on one body that said, "This is the beginning of the revolution." The couple then fled to a Walmart where they killed a third person. The Millers, who were killed during a shootout with police, were among the hundreds of “volunteers” at the Bundy Ranch standoff earlier this year.

Government and law enforcement officials need to recognize what motivates the militia movement, says the SPLC report, as it can inspire others like the Millers into violent action. It says the couple “will not be the last to demonstrate their anti-government rage with bullets.”

The SPLC is also warning that copycat militias may be focusing on the immigrant-child crisis as it intensifies. Mark Potok, a senior fellow at SPLC, says it’s “possible that people at the Bundy ranch are headed toward the Texas border now."

He notes that militias are now posting online messages urging their followers to deploy in response to the crisis. "We don’t know if these calls to go to the border are going to get much response at all,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “It’s very unclear if this is just talk or actually developing.”