For the past decade, gun owners dressed in flak jackets and camouflage fatigues have brought their rifles into the Michigan Legislature at least twice every year, asserting their vehement support for gun rights by displaying weapons in the hallways.
The brothers are among 13 men who face a variety of charges related to the kidnapping plot, including terrorism, conspiracy and weapons possession. The authorities said the men were also affiliated with an extremist group called the Wolverine Watchmen, which court documents called “an anti-government, anti-law enforcement militia group.” Such groups have existed in Michigan for decades, most notably in 1994 with the formation of the Michigan Militia.
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, later convicted of bombing a federal office building in Oklahoma City in April 1995, killing 168 people, attended some of the earliest meetings of the Michigan Militia. The gory details from the trial diminished the appeal of such groups, but they continued to exist.
Various factors contribute to the current strength of the anti-government movement in Michigan, including the collapse of the auto industry, which stripped the state of countless jobs, said Amy Cooter, a senior sociology lecturer at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, who has studied such groups for a decade.
“It’s feeding into their beliefs that Trump will not get a fair shake and they’re seeing the open tensions between Trump and Whitmer,” Cooter said. That is why adherents sometimes wear Hawaiian shirts, including numerous armed protesters at the state Capitol in Lansing, in April. At least one of the men charged this week had posted a picture of himself in a Hawaiian shirt.
Is kidnapping a horse head illegal?
Wow. Wearing army uniforms. Bet they couldn’t make it through basic training. Anti-Gov but they want to LOOK live gov. 😂🤣😂🤣