From the Radio Free Michigan archives ftp://141.209.3.26/pub/patriot If you have any other files you'd like to contribute, e-mail them to bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu. ------------------------------------------------ X-Fido-Echo: LIBERTY To: Libernet Date: 3 Nov 94 00:57:00 This article was also printed in the (Vancouver, USA) Columbian newspaper on Friday, October 28, 1994, on page b6. ___--------------------------------------------------------------------------- XXXXXXXXXX Original From: THOMAS BURKE STOLEN X To: ALL X STUFF X Date/Number: 10/11/94 - 0001059 XXXXXXXXXX On: GUNTALK - 0019 - XPOST ___-------------------------------------------------------------------- The Evansville Courier 10-10-94 Gun activists forming militias Fear incursion of foreign police state By The Associated Press PETOSKEY, Mich.- For members of the Northern Michigan Regional Militia, the signs are everywhere. They have reports of helicopters hovering over houses; stickers on the backs of highway signs with indecipherable codes that just might be messages for foreign troops; U.N. military vehicles spotted in Western states. Maybe it's all harmless, they say. But maybe not- maybe the tentacles of a foreign- dominated police state are already spreading throughout the continent. They and other hard-core gun activists around the nation are organizing, planning, training for the day when their guns will be weapons of war. "We're not here playing soldier, we're not foolishly looking for trouble.... But tyrants should know that they will be met with force," says Norm Olson, commander of the Northern Michigan militia. It's unclear how many self-styled militias exist nationwide. The FBI keeps no list and would monitor them only if they were suspected of violating federal law or planning to do so, says agency spokesman Hank Glaspie. But mainstream groups on both sides of the gun-control debate agree that the militia movement is for real. "In some cases, they're setting up what I'd call legitimate groups to lobby and pressure local governments," said Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens' Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms. "But you're also seeing the more extreme elements ... who feel the only way to take back the government is through armed resistance." The militias, says Ray Southwell of the Northern Michigan group, are led by spiritual heirs of the Revolutionary-era citizens who took up arms against British tyranny. Only now, he says, the U.S. government is the tyrant. Some see gun control as part of a broader conspiracy to bring about world government. If that day comes, they say, Americans will be ruled by a socialist United Nations, which will abolish freedom of religion and speech. Foreign troops will occupy U.S. soil, confiscating private weapons and property. "Am I nuts? Am I paranoid? Maybe, but I'm seeing things that scare me and I want to find out what's going on," Southwell says. In Elorida, the militia movement is picking up "like a snowball rolling down a mountain," said Robert Pummer, a member from Stuart. This summer, commissioners in four Panhandle counties authorized citizens to form militias. Commissioners said their resolutions were symbolic messages to Washington to get off gun owners' backs. Northern Michigan's "First Brigade" formed last April and has inspired spinoff groups in 11 counties, Southwell says. The First Brigade meets once a month. Olson, the commander, owns a gun shop in Alanson. He's also pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church. Each of the 65 members is required to own a rifle, at least 100 rounds of ammunition and a knapsack containing a mess kit, sleeping bag and first-aid supplies. Members take an oath to defend the Constitution against enemies "foreign and domestic." Their conduct code demands a willingness to die for their liberty and a promise never to surrender or divulge information about the militia if taken "prisoner of war." ... Bill of Rights: Void where Prohibited by Law ___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12 --- Maximus 2.01wb * Origin: Electronic Educator (1:105/114) ------------------------------------------------ (This file was found elsewhere on the Internet and uploaded to the Radio Free Michigan archives by the archive maintainer. All files are ZIP archives for fast download. E-mail bj496@Cleveland.Freenet.Edu)