Article – Primed to fight the government

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REDMOND, Ore. — B.J. Soper took aim with his AR-15 semiautomatic rifle and fired a dozen shots at a human silhouette target. Soper’s wife and their 16-year-old daughter practiced drawing pistols. Then Soper helped his 4-year-old daughter, in pink sneakers and a ponytail, work on her marksmanship with a .22-caliber rifle.

Deep in the heart of a vast U.S. military training ground, surrounded by spent shotgun shells and juniper trees blasted to shreds, the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard was conducting its weekly firearms training.

“The intent is to be able to work together and defend ourselves if we need to,” said Soper, 40, a building contractor who is an emerging leader in a growing national movement rooted in distrust of the federal government, one that increasingly finds itself in armed conflicts with authorities.

Ok, grab your ‘Militia Panic’ bingo card and lets play:

  • Quote from the panic pimps at the SPLC? Got it.
  • Mention of young children shooting guns? Yup, got it.
  • Use of the race card? Uh..whoops, there it is!
  • Nod to conspiracy theories? It’s there.
  • Picture of scary guns and the use of ‘assault rifles’?Of course!

Man, every few years this comes up….some folks form a brunch-n-bitch club with the word ‘Constitution’ or ‘Patriot’ in it’s name, shoot targets once in a while, and clean CostCo out on 50# bags of rice, and the media thinks it’s barbarians-at-the-gates.

You know, I live in the middle of that sort of environment. If there is a person I encounter during my day who doesn’t have food socked away, own a gun, or think .gov gets pretty grabby once in a while…well…I’m unaware of it. I’ve met a bunch of those high-profile folks..Randy Weaver, Bo Gritz, John Trochmann, etc, etc….and they’ve all been pretty nice folks. Oh, you don’t want to get into a long political debate with them but they’ll buy you lunch, help you change a tire, or help you plow your driveway. Most people, regardless of political inclinations, are, at a basic level, fairly decent folks.

The folks in the Wasington Post (aka “Pravda On The Potomac”) article seem like nice enough folks, with a genuine civic and civil mindset. It seems like they just need a lower profile. Guys, you don’t need to be part of a structured, high-profile, march-in-public organization in order to do the things you want to do. The ‘Boise Hiking Club’, ‘Kalispell Trail Walkers’, or ‘Butte Gopher Whackers’ can go out and hike in the woods with rifles, learn first aid, and do small-unit exercises just as well as the other guys. But with less scrutiny from the pearl-clutchers in the stands.

However…..

There’s always some idiot with a bad case of derpes who takes it too far. Pretty much anyone on reality TV ‘prepper’ shows springs to mind. Remember this clown? Don’t be that guy.

But…without the specter of those evil ‘militias’, how’s a place like the SPLC going to stay in business?

11 thoughts on “Article – Primed to fight the government”

  5. Preparing to fight the government is preparing to lose in a spectacular fashion. “You can’t fight city hall,” and you most certainly can’t fight the federal government, metaphorically or otherwise.

    You can, however, be prepared to defend yourself and your home when the day comes that that government collapses under its own weight. That’s what these dudes ought to be training for.

    • I dunno. Historically the American military has not fared well against non-conventional indigenous forces made up of armed locals.

      Even when they can be over the top like in Iraq and Afghanistan, and run heavy armor and air strikes, the locals seem to hold their own in terms of keeping the conflict going. It costs them, but they keep going.

      Domestically I don’t the the American government could wage warfare the way does in Iraq and Afghanistan and maintain legitimacy. the more militant the response the more they would lose legitimacy as observers would start to think that those resisting might be right about a heavy handed government.

      • I completely agree with NurseDaddy. But would like to add that in recent history there is a legitimate example where the type of training these people are doing would have been useful – Katrina. Instead of making everyone nervous with the kind of references that make non-LMI’s nervous, just say “If there is a Katrina type event, we want to keep our neighborhood safe until help arrives”.

        That might not be a complete and full telling of why you do what you do, but if you are quoted, most people would find it acceptable. Far-fetched, waste of time maybe, but at least it rings of good intentions.

      • Americans have become soft. Very few Americans left most are American’ts!!! They are like frogs in a pot. By the time most wake up it will be to late. The left knows what their doing and have the patients to accomplish their goals over generations.

  6. Three years ago I was kicked out of a growing preparedness group because I voiced my objection to the influx of militia members turning it into a patriot/militia type group. I was told that “You cannot be a prepper or into preparedness at ANY level and not belong to the patriot or militia movement”. Hell, they booted a bunch of people because they wouldn’t buy two sets of Multi-cam uniforms INCLUDING their own Black T-shirts with the new group logo/emblem for $20 each. I miss the old days of survival groups or MAGs that only cared about taking care of their members if TSHTF, not these psudo-MAGs or other groups who have this fantasy of fighting the UN or martial law or get involved with political agenda bs. So many of these militia/patriot groups treat their members as their personal cannon fodder and ATM machines.

    • JH, you win. Not being among that particular herd, lowers your profile. As Commander Zero noted, joining a hiking club, or a prarie dog hunting club, is less SPLC bait-ey than being part of the “Constitutionalist Reform NWO warriors”, or similar. Heck, you might even get allied with folks who think Mr. Obama is great, but want to be more self sufficient. More folks to help you can food, or plow, or farm. Also more folks that you can help can/plow/farm! Community!

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