Also in 2015, Oath Keepers in Montana put out anothercall to action, summoning members to help another local miner fight the government even though the Forest Service had been working with the miner for some time to resolve the issue. All rights reserved (About Us). When questioned, Phillips allegedly told the officer that he was exempt from having to register or insure his vehicle. The Oath Keepers rose to prominence when handfuls of heavily armed members showed up at racial justice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014, and their profile grew thanks to a series of . Herndon, Virginia, July 2013: Gun rights activist and Oath Keeper Adam Kokesh was arrested in Washington, D.C., on weapon charges after a search warrant on his Virginia home turned up firearms and illegal drugs. WASHINGTON At the height of the chaos at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, two dozen members of the Oath Keepers militia met outside the building with their leader, Stewart Rhodes. Obviously, were not in a confrontation,David Smith, regional spokesman for the Forest Service, told the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you purchase a product or register for an account through one of the links on our site, we may receive compensation. The organization urged members to form security networks within their communities to block neighborhoods with vehicles and armed men, and following one protest in El Paso, the group claimed that they successfully served as a deterrent to anyone looking to inflict damage, thereby taking credit for peaceful protests. For example, the Oath Keepers believe that a UN Small Arms Treaty will be implemented to bypass the second Amendment and prohibit firearms. Registration on or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement, Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement, and Your California Privacy Rights (User Agreement updated 1/1/21. Membership has never actually required current or former ties with military, police, or first responders. Despite this, the Bundys and a number of other heavily armed militants decided to break away from a pro-Hammond rally in Oregon and occupy the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a famous birding location. The miners received anNotice of Noncomplianceand were ordered to stop their mining activities, submit the appropriate paperwork and fees for their operations, or file an appeal. The miners filed an appeal and asked the Oath Keepers toprovide securityto protect them and the mine against the BLM, claiming the BLM had a history of burning down cabins and confiscating property at whim, without due process. The Oath Keepers subsequently put out anationwide call to actionfor Operation Gold Rush, as they called it. The name Oath Keepers comes from the groups core principle that members vow to uphold the oath they took as law enforcement or military personnel to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The Oath Keepers urge members to obey the Constitution, as they understand it, even if that interpretation goes against that of U.S. lawmakers and judges. In many ways, Jan. 6, 2021, was the day that Stewart Rhodes had been waiting for his whole life. Various Oath Keeper adherents attended the protest, carrying signs and publicly showcasing their dislike for Governor Northams attempts at gun legislation, calling him a coward and a tyrant while also violating the states ban on firearms. Dallas, Georgia, and Madisonville, Tennessee, April 2010: Darren Huff, a Georgia militia member and Oath Keeper, traveled to Tennessee with an AK47 and a .45 caliber Colt handgun in order to make citizens arrests of government officials who had refused demands to indict President Obama. Josephine County Sheriff Dave Daniel toldHigh Country News that he was [concerned] in that there were militia,Three Percentersand Oath Keepers from around the country that had come in and were potentially unpredictable. Members have provided security for events and individuals promoting Stop the Steal after the 2020 election, including Roger Stone. As a result, Rhodes argued, the Oath Keepers could not be found guilty because they were simply following their president's orders. He talks. Since 2015, various Oath Keepers CPTs have held militia-like training sessions on topics such as weapons use, patrolling techniques, first aid, and emergency communications. While the Oath Keepers official statement regarding the death of George Floyd was to condemn the actions of the officers involved, they have stated that they oppose looting and arson and have expressed a general distrust for the Black Lives Matter protests. [A group spokesman] will tell you that everyone was vetted properly. Community Rules apply to all content you upload or otherwise submit to this site. It asks its . At the White Hope mine in Lincoln, Montana, the U.S. Forest Service took issue with an unauthorized shed and surface disturbances related to the cutting of firewood. Instead, many simply dismiss the events of January 6thas the work of antifa or a false flag operation. Previously, Ritzheimer participated in the2014 Bundy standoff in Bunkerville. While the most notable of these remains the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, they reportedly have a long history of involving themselves in vigilante justice. In 2014, the Oath Keepers highlighted the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa on their web site, questioning the Obama administrations response and raising concerns that it could be used to justify medical martial law in the U.S. As early as January 2020, Oath Keepers began posting about the seriousness of COVID-19, which was spreading at the time within China, and in the first two months of the pandemics spread in the U.S., they provided advice and information regarding COVID-19 to their followers. Dyer was extradited back to Oklahoma and subsequently sentenced to 30 years in prison. In a bold move, Stewart Rhodes, the founder and leader of the right-wing militia group, sat for an interview with federal agents after they seized his phone in May. Members told us at least 40 Oath Keepers were at the January 6 rally with some seen providing security to Trump associate Roger Stone. Amplifying Fears of the Deep State: Though the Oath Keepers espouse an anti-government ideology, the Oath Keepers largely support President Trump and his administration. However, there were no such orders from Trump, and this defense from the Oath Keepers was swiftly rebuked in court, eventually leading to Rhodes and four others' guilty verdict. And you can bet that if you let them take away your military semi-autos, next on their list will be bolt action rifles, which they will call sniper rifles (and By God, that is certainly what they are good for! 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. We dont want to see things escalate, especially over an issue that we have been working all along in a very cooperative way to resolve. Ultimately, again, no real confrontation occurred. Two elected officials in Wilbraham and Cape Cod are listed as being members of the Oath Keepers, a far-right extremist group. The Oath Keepers, who believe themselves to be " the last line of defense against tyranny ," are more aptly described as a conspiracy group, or extremist militia, who have set aside their anti . Oath Keeper member and tattoo shop owner Roberto Minuta requested the groups presence for the reopening of his business. The group has attracted considerable media attention in 2020 for providing vigilante-style security for local communities and businesses during Black Lives Matter protests, for their aggressive rhetoric in the lead up to the 2020 election (including asserting that the Marxist left is trying to seize control of the United States which led Twitter to de-platform the group) and for participating in various anti-lockdown protests. Tied into the fact that conspiracy theories and the far-right movement have become more mainstream in the past few years, and it is unlikely that the Oath Keepers will disappear, even without their leader. We think a good first step is to have the veterans stand up in every community and go help form and train neighborhood watches, to get the people to take back into their own hands their own personal self-defense and security.. In addition, Oath Keepers routinely pushed conspiratorial rhetoric within their communities, including promoting the ostensible effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine, claiming the virus is a Chinese bioweapon, and casting the virus within a deep state globalist narrative. Thirteen people associated with the Oath Keepers have. We will NOT obey any order to force American citizens into any form of detention camps under any pretext. It ended when officials arrested the Bundys and others at a roadblock near the refuge. Prior to his arrest, Dyer had posted a YouTube video in which Dyer, a former Marine, said, Join the military? News never stops. Their overt opposition to President Trump made them a target for anti-government extremists, and Oath Keepers were quick to label antifa the modern day Brown Shirts. They have repeatedly called on President Trump to put an end to the terrorist insurrection of antifa, particularly in response to their alleged involvement in the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, and they have offered protection to various individuals who have been doxed by supposed antifa supporters, including ICE officials and their families. The Interior Board of Land Appeals decided the miners were allowed to operate the mine while their appeal was being considered. These include: Impending Takeover of the U.S. by the Marxist Left: On September 10, 2020, Twitter announced that it had banned the accounts belonging to the Oath Keepers for violating the platforms policies on violent extremist groups as part of the platforms wider effort to limit the presence of militias on its platform. We will NOT obey orders to invade and subjugate any state that asserts its sovereignty. However, those who knew him said he soon started using his time at the court to express his disillusioned views and complain of government overreach,The Associated Presswrites in its history of the group. While criticizing the occupation, the Oath Keepers did take part in a coalition of militias in the Pacific Northwest called the Pacific Patriots Network, which served as a buffer between the occupiers and government forces. Following the 2020 election, in which former President Donald Trump lost to President Biden, the Oath Keepers began working on a weeks-long campaign to have the election overturned. The five members were driving around Mexico Beach patrolling the aftermath of Hurricane Michael in a Ford automobile that was decorated to look like a patrol cruiser; every member wore military-style clothing, including one vest that read tactical officer.. The deep state conspiracy helps create space for the Oath Keepers to address the dissonance created by their opposition to the federal government and their support for President Trump by reframing events as a struggle between President Trump, who is trying to help the people, and a deep state that is seeking to thwart his efforts. The Oath Keepers have become indelibly tied to the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and their leader, Stewart Rhodes, was convicted of seditious conspiracy related to that day. But it remains to be seen what the effects will be of putting Rhodes behind bars. The driving theory behind the Oath Keepers is that the federal government has been overtaken by a mass liberal conspiracy in an effort to strip Americans of their rights. Recently, these activities have increasingly taken the shape of natural disaster management. The groups response to the 2020 outbreak of the coronavirus is discussed in more detail below; however, it is worth noting that the national organization initially shared material on its website and Twitter account calling for increased state government involvement in stemming the viruss spread before shifting its messaging and labelling the virus as a weapon used by leftists to attack President Trump and by the government to strip away Americans rights. We will NOT obey orders to impose martial law or a state of emergency on a state. The Oath Keepers wereparticularly active in 2020, participating in various anti-lockdown protests, providing vigilante-style security for local communities and businesses during the Black Lives Matter protests that spread in the wake of the killing of George Floyd, and warning about a potential takeover by the Marxist left during the 2020 election. In February 2015, Irish was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Rhodes formally launched the. Kokesh entered an Alford plea and was given a suspended sentence for the initial drug and gun charges. In response, the group posted acall to actionon its website. Addresses from cities, suburbs, and rural areas all appeared on the list. Oath Keepers is an American far-right [1] anti-government militia [1] [3] whose leaders have been convicted of violently opposing the government of the United States, including the transfer of Presidential power as prescribed by the US Constitution. Their first major showdown with the government occurred in 2011 in the town ofQuartzsite, Arizona. However, the outlet also noted that the tactics of the Oath Keepers were constantly shifting in an effort to evade law enforcement. Since shifting their approach, the Oath Keepers have provided security to businesses that have refused to follow state lockdown orders while maintaining a presence at anti-lockdown rallies across the nation. Here's everything you need to know: They are described by the Anti-Defamation Leagueas "a large but loosely organized collection of right-wing anti-government extremists who are part of the militia movement." The Oath Keepers have been linked to incidents of violence, including last year's Capitol riots. Such behavior was in line with the Oath Keepers efforts to focus on opposing state governments rather than the Trump administration. Oath Keepers members have not limited their activities to spouting extreme antigovernment conspiracy theories as a number of people associated with the Oath Keepers have been involved in criminal incidents since its founding in 2009. Usually these calls for security go unanswered, and merely serve as displays of support for various causes and a means of garnering attention. The Oath Keepers found members in all corners of Massachusetts, from the Berkshires to the Cape and Islands. He was charged with carrying a firearm in interstate commerce with intent to use it for civil disorder, as well as a second count of using a firearm in relation to another felony. Seven of the defendants were visible wearing combat gear and participating in a tactical stack as they moved through the crowd towards the Capitol. The Oath Keepers are an anti-government, right-wing political organization committed to supporting and defending their interpretation of the U.S. Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic. Washington, D.C., January 2021:Federal authorities have arrested at least 25 people associated with the Oath Keepers, charging them in connection with their efforts to impede the processes governing the transfer of presidential power in the lead up to and during the January 6 insurrection. Jackson, an expert on far-right extremism, is a professor in the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University of Albany in New York. In 2014, members formed their own patrol in Ferguson, Missouri, after the killing of an unarmed Black man in 2014, and they provided security to an Infowars reporter during the anniversary protest a year later. Well, I think what we have to realize is that, you know, Trump actually failed. As part of a December 2014 plea agreement, Irish admitted to lying to authorities. In 2015, an Oregon chapter of the Oath Keepers acted in support of Rick Barclay and George Backes, two Oregon gold miners whose operations the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) alleged were in violation of government regulations. Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, and 10 alleged accomplices charged with seditious conspiracy stemming from January 6 Capitol riot . The popularity of Oath Keepers social media accounts illustrates clearly that many more people support the Oath Keepers without ever officially joining (which requires paying dues). In June 2017, Oath Keepers participated in March Against Sharia rallies organized by ACT for America, an anti-immigrant hate group. In January 2016,Jon Ritzheimer, a member of the Oath Keepers and participant in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, surrendered to authorities. This aid includes providing bottled water and food, clearing roads and helping with rescue missions. Impending Martial Law: One of the most prominent Oath Keeper theories is that a large scale pandemic, natural disaster or terrorist attack will give the government an excuse to impose martial law resulting in (but not limited to) door to door gun confiscation, the ban of interstate travel and detainment of citizens in concentration camps. But the Oath Keepers made fools of themselves that day, excitedly telling Bundys rag-tag army that they had received intel that President Obama was about to attack the Bundy ranch with drones. According to the local Oath Keepers chapter,at least 700 individuals responded, setting up perimeter security teams, providing armed escorts for outside members of the press and blocking off the entrance road to the mine. mike santelli related to rick santelli, maytag top load washer error codes e2 f6,