In February, I blogged here at the Huffington Post and commented on National Rifle Association (NRA) CEO Wayne LaPierre's recent call for the implementation of a militia movement untethered to government authority. In his speech before the 2011 Conservative Political Action Conference, LaPierre claimed that American police forces can no longer protect us and fantasized about "[armed] citizens coming together, in the face of lawlessness, to protect their neighborhoods."
Recent events in Alaska demonstrate that the NRA's connection to violent anti-government militias is more than just conceptual. In fact, two longstanding NRA board members are closely tied to a group of extremists who were just put in jail after plotting insurrectionary killings.
On March 10, 2011, five members of the Second Amendment Task Force/Alaska Peacemakers Militia were arrested on charges of conspiracy to commit murder and kidnapping. The group, led by Francis "Schaeffer" Cox, 27, had stockpiled firearms and munitions and was planning to kill Alaska State Troopers and a federal judge. Cox had previously stated that "our government is sliding into tyranny, a police state" and boasted to law enforcement authorities that he had them "outmanned and outgunned." Cox's sordid past of sedition and domestic abuse was chronicled well in a recent article by David Holthouse.
Following these arrests, a YouTube video was uncovered by the staff of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence that shows NRA board member and U.S. Rep. Don Young (R-AK-At Large) signing an insurrectionist "Letter of Declaration" drafted by Schaeffer Cox. Young signed the document with Cox looking on while attending an "open carry" event in Fairbanks on April 13, 2009.
The Declaration reads as follows:
Let it be known that we, the people of Alaska, stand in recognition of the true principle that whenever a government abandons the purpose for which we have created it and even becomes hostile towards that which it was once a defender of, it is no longer a fit steward of the political power that is inherent in the people and lent to this government with strict conditions. These conditions are clearly defined in the United States Constitution and understood by the common man.Furthermore, to the extent that our government violates these conditions, they nullify their own authority, at which point it is our right and duty, not as subjects but as sovereign Americans, to entrust this power to new stewards who will not depart from the laws we have given them.
This being the case, let it be known that should our government seek to further tax, restrict or register firearms or otherwise impose on the right that shall not be infringed, thus impairing our ability to exercise the God-given right to self-defense which precedes all human legislation and is superior to it, that the duty of us good and faithful people will not be to obey them but to alter or abolish them and institute new government laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to us shall seem most likely to effect our safety and happiness.
CSGV has posted a petition at SignOn.Org calling on Rep. Young to immediately re-swear his oath to our Constitution and repudiate Cox's insurrectionary "Letter of Declaration." Young wasn't ready to take this step, however, when reporter Mike Stark tracked him down outside his congressional office on March 31. In a taped interview, the Alaska congressman made it clear that he stills supports the "Declaration" and its calls for the abolition of government in response to even modest gun control legislation likes taxes on ammunition.
Rep. Young isn't the only NRA board member to pal around with Schaeffer Cox. That honor also goes to Wayne Anthony Ross.
Ross is an extremely controversial figure in Alaskan politics who has served on the NRA board for over 30 years. During that time, he has garnered criticism by writing editorials with titles "KKK 'Art' Project Gets 'A' for Courage," and "It is Time We Quit Crying over the Oil Spill." Then there are alleged public comments made by Ross, including "If a guy can't rape his wife...who's he gonna' rape?" and "There wouldn't be an issue with domestic violence if women would learn to keep their mouths shut." This past was drudged up in 2009 when Ross was nominated to serve as attorney general by Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.
During the same month that the Alaska legislature rejected him (it was the first time in state history a head of a state agency had failed to be confirmed), Ross shared a stage with Schaefer Cox and other anti-government extremists. As David Holthouse reported:
In April 2009, Cox held a Second Amendment Task Force public forum on the Kenai Peninsula that drew about 200 people to the Soldotna Sports Center. Cox shared a stage with Alaska conservative luminaries including: Wayne Anthony Ross, a current board member and past vice-president of the National Rifle Association, as well as then-Governor Sarah Palin's nominee for state attorney general; Kenai Peninsula Borough Mayor Dave Carey; and Bob Bird, the secessionist Alaska Independence Party's most recent candidate for U.S. Senate.
The story does not end there, however. Five days after Schaeffer Cox and his co-conspirators were arrested, Alaska Citizens Militia "supply sergeant" William Fulton disappeared. Huffington Post readers will recognize Fulton as the man who handcuffed Alaska Dispatch reporter Tony Hopfinger while providing event security for U.S. Senate Candidate Joe Miller. Before disappearing, however, Fulton signed the two houses he owns in Anchorage over to none other than...Wayne Anthony Ross. Ross has remained tight-lipped about his relationship with his client and refused to shed light on why Fulton went underground.
When a 2009 Southern Poverty Law Center report linked the NRA with the regeneration of the militia movement in response to the election of Barack Obama, the organization steadfastly denied any links to extreme anti-government groups. Now that it is clear that at least two of the NRA's board members are in the tank with the militia movement in Alaska, the truth is out.
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Henry J. Stern: NRA's Friendly Fire
The NRA is one of the most pernicious organizations in American history. The tens of thousands of annual gun-deaths in this country are largely due to the absurdly easy access to firearms that these scoundrels have enabled. Like most things in politics and history, follow the money. The gun industry is big business. Behind the NRA's red-white-and-blue propaganda is a single color: green.
Ain't it funny that firearms were far easier to obtain before the NRA was founded?
I realize that the dark, stinky specter of Matt Drudge hangs over the entire body politic, Josh, but the "past was DREDGED up," not "drudged" (drudge being a noun, and having no past tense).
The purpose of government is to protect our liberties, not to restrict them. Failing to do so it needs to be altered or even abolished as a last resort.
http://tinyurl.com/4k346he
Further, it's even more amazing that you can discuss "re-swearing a Constitutional oath" when the man's quoted statement was 100% in line with that sacred document!
"Hand 'em in" != "Shall not be infringed"!
The oath sworn by all is to "...support and defend the Constitution...against all enemies foreign OR DOMESTIC..." Anyone who would even consider ordering confiscation is without question in the latter category - a fact which the wise should seriously consider ...
If someone from the NRA were to post something equally offensive about say CSGV would you all blindly believe it? Of course not. Yet you do this guy? Sorry, wake up when a real journalist breaks it. Or at the very least, someone who does not have ties to an advocacy group that is not exactly known for intellectual honesty.
Which raises the question: Why is the author of this article trying to draw this connection? Is it a tacit concession that his arguments fare better in a "guilt by association" approach than a discussion of their merits?
Nice comment.
Semper fi
Because in the wrong hands it can be dangerous you should do no less before being allowed to own a firearm. The NRA is a lobby for manufacturers period! Your rights are just the smoke screen used to keep money flowing to their constituants. If you wish to own guns fine by me but don't try and sell me that there should be no rules or restrictions for this responsibility that is just ignorant.
Just curious--no judgment--why did you divest yourself of your guns?
Taking their Oath of Office seriousy...to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, both foriegn and domestic, is an act of treason???
Fascinating, do tell us more.
You do more for the pro-2A crowd than the NRA could ever dream of.
I actually had to think on this one. A .58 caliber? I can't see how anyone would want to fire one, they've become antiques and collectibles at this point.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/80658080/
I believe some muzzleloaders are .58 caliber, and I do believe that a 20 gauge shotgun is about that caliber.The former require no background check and the latter are very unregulated in most states.
TITLE 10 > Subtitle A > PART I > CHAPTER 13 > § 311
§ 311. Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
A completely frightening trifecta.
Having an adult conversation regarding the 2nd Amendment and firearms is a little challenging when people use such outrageous rhetoric. As an NRA life member your association of the NRA with terrorism is deeply offensive.