April 27, 2007
Stoner Militia Busted in Alabama
Sounds like they took the lyrics to Steve Earle's Copperhead Road just a little too seriously:
Federal and state agents swooped down Thursday morning on a group calling itself "The Free Militia" and uncovered a small arsenal of home-made weapons that included a rocket launcher, 130 hand grenades and 70 Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) similiar to the kind used by insurgents against American GIs in Iraq.[snip]
Officials said ATF agents encountered booby traps at one of the search sites.
The weapons cache also included a machine gun, a short barreled shot-gun, two silencers, numerous other firearms, 2500 rounds of ammunition, explosive components, and commercial fireworks. Agents also found more than 120 marijuana plants, Martin said.
I can only assume that the commercial fireworks recovered were used as components in the other explosive devices recovered.
Based upon the story so far, the now not-so-Free Militia sounds like it might be as much of a drug operation as much as an extremist group. Luckily, we have enough space in federal prisons that these gentlemen shouldn't be a problem for anyone for a very long time.
Do you think this is an isolated case or the tip of the iceburg. I feel that with the restrictions on liberty that have been imposed on us that a reaction is long over due.
Posted by: David Caskey at April 27, 2007 10:02 AMOnly 2500 rounds of ammunition? Hell, that's a slow
Tuesday..... I've got that much .22LR lying around :-)
They'll be locked up, and rightly so, but there is NO space in Federal prisons. In fact, the Federal Bureau of Prisons ("BOP") has a goal to reduce overcrowding to 30 percent (from the nearly 100% in some facilities, like FCI Miami) in few years, with new construction.
Posted by: Jay Hurst, Federal defender at May 2, 2007 05:41 AM
