They arrived off the freeways wearing camouflage and ammo
vests. Some had flown in from California and were now parading around
with AK-47s slung over their shoulders and loaded pistols in their
holsters. They were overwhelmingly male, angry and white.
They are
the foot soldiers in what they hope will be a new and militant citizen
army . They gathered under the flight path of Washington's busy
international airport, within sight of the White House and the Capitol.
Thanks to a new law signed by Barack Obama (and they didn't thank him
for it) loaded weapons may now be carried in America's national parks.
Despite the obvious threat to the traveling public in planes overhead,
the police looked quietly on knowing there was nothing they could do to
stop the protest.
This armed militia, which has materialized out of
the blogosphere despises president Obama and views him as pernicious
threat to the US Constitution - as they interpret it. Some undoubtedly
wish harm on him. Like the Tea Party activists, militia members seem to
especially dislike 'the tyranny of socialized healthcare' as they call
it.
Mike Vanderboegh leader of the "Three Percent" movement, a
gun-owners' rights group read from the philosopher John Locke. There
comes a time when people are "absolved from any further obedience" to
their government, he said.
"This is what the other side doesn't
understand!" Vanderboegh shouted. "We are done backing up! Done! Not one
more inch!"
The 19th of April commemorates the American
revolutionary war battles of Lexington and Concord - in 1775. But its
also the anniversary of the F.B.I's sacking of the Branch Davidian
compound in 1993. More ominously its anniversary of the Oklahoma City
bombing in 1995.
The Pew Research Center has a poll showing that 77
percent of Americans are frustrated or angry with the federal
government. There were 363 new patriot groups in 2009 -- a 244 percent
increase from the previous year -- documented by the anti-racist
Southern Poverty Law Center.
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