General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: ‘I didn’t come here to shoot, I came here to die’: Oregon militia occupiers fess up to local [View all]Lizzie Poppet
(10,164 posts)...is that you'd have to get people really close to the compound to do it. There are several hundred yards of really open country surrounding the buildings there. There's a slight hill on one side, but it's still pretty open (and there's actually an observation tower on the property, from which a sniper could target anyone approaching from any direction, although they'd be vulnerable themselves). Basically, you have armed people with open fields of fire and stone buildings for cover. If you're ready to assault them, you can do it with armored vehicles, but anything short of that point would call for putting people at great risk.
Electricity could be cut off from the grid. They have generators, but it would be simple to blockade any resupply of fuel (or food). There is almost certainly a well on the property (I've never noticed in my visits, but I never had reason to look) as well as a large holding pond and a spring about 1500 feet away. No way to cut them off from water short of an assault.
And that's what I'd like to see avoided: bloodshed. It may take a while, but let's wait these idiots out and arrest them when they're ready to give up without fighting.