To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant's Face: Libertarian Political Violence and the Origins of the Militia Movement

Introduction

introduction On April 29, 1994, twenty-eight men met in the woods of northern Michigan. Angered by the events at Ruby Ridge and Waco and alarmed by rumors of black helicopters and foreign soldiers hidden on American military bases, these men agreed to associate as the ‹rst brigade of the Northern Michigan Regional Militia. The militia was the brainchild of Norm Olson and Ray Southwell, the pastor and deacon of a small Baptist church near Alanson, Michigan. Those assembled elected Olson as their commander. He in turn laid down some basic principles under which they would proceed. First, the militia would operate publicly. If they believed that the government was a threat to their liberty, then it was their duty, as patriots and as men, to“shake their guns in the tyrant’s face.” Second, the militia would be open to men and women of principle regardless of race or faith. Olson believed that the government was utterly corrupt, but unlike other voices on the far right, he argued that the source of that corruption lay in the human heart and not in any Jewish conspiracy or in the loss of racial purity. Finally, Olson portrayed the militia as an expression of popular sovereignty , a reincarnation of the Minutemen who had faced off against the king’s troops at Lexington and Concord. The people’s right to associate under arms to protect their liberty, Olson declared, was not subject to regulation by any government on earth. The purpose of that association was to create an armed force capable of deterring an increasingly abusive government. That April 29 meeting proved to be the genesis of the Michigan Militia.1 The Michigan Militia was one of hundreds of citizens’ militias formed around the nation in 1994 and 1995. The Texas Constitutional Militia also held its ‹rst muster in April 1994. That same spring, J. J. and Helen Johnson began organizing E Pluribus Unum, a public discussion forum that would serve as a catalyst for militia activity in Ohio. Smaller organizations formed in Indiana, California, Alabama, Florida, and the states of the Northwest. Olson himself assisted in the organization of militias in Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin. His manual outlining the historical justi‹cation, organization, goals, and code of conduct of the Michigan Militia served as the basis for the manuals of militias in Missouri, Texas, and California.2 Some of these emerging militias followed Olson’s model of holding public meetings and opening membership to all citizens. Others disagreed . The Militia of Montana, which began organizing in February 1994, offered a very different model. Founder John Trochman warned that America faced an apocalyptic invasion by the forces of the New World Order and consequently proposed an organizational structure based on closed, underground cells.3 This more nativist and millenarian vision of the movement also spread to the Midwest. The Militia of Montana ’s manual was adopted by the early leadership of the Ohio Unorganized Militia. Mark Koernke, whose vision was similar to Trochman’s, also began organizing local underground militias in southeast Michigan. By the spring of 1995, hundreds of militias with as many as one hundred thousand members total had formed across the nation.4 Most of the public became aware of the burgeoning militia movement only in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. Around the country, people reacted with shock, wondering what could possibly motivate citizens who claimed to be patriots to take up arms against their own democratically elected government. As journalists, self-appointed militia experts, and scholars rushed to offer answers, several explanations emerged. A loose coalition of civil rights organizations argued that the to shake their guns in the tyrant’s face 2 movement was an outgrowth of a white supremacist paramilitary movement that had emerged in the 1980s, and constituted an attempt to reestablish white supremacy by armed force. Other experts saw the movement as the product of millenarian impulses within the Christian Right. Finally, some scholars and journalists compared the militia movement to earlier populist vigilante movements, and argued that it was the product of economic dislocation. All of these explanations portrayed the movement as an outgrowth of right-wing extremism in America.5 Like most Americans, I ‹rst learned of the militia movement in the weeks after the Oklahoma City bombing. As I began to do research on the movement, I became increasingly dissatis‹ed with these explanations...