May 22, 2010
Arkansas Cop-Killers Were Sovereign Citizen Extremists
The two police officers gunned down in Arkansas Thursday were killed by a father and son that were part of the radical sovereign citizen movement.
The Arkansas State Police on Friday identified the pair — killed Thursday during an exchange of gunfire with the police — as Jerry R. Kane Jr., 45, of Forest, Ohio, and his son Joseph T. Kane, believed to be 16.About 90 minutes before the shootout with the police, Sgt. Brandon Paudert, 39, and Officer Bill Evans, 38, were killed with AK-47 assault rifles after stopping a minivan on Interstate 40 in West Memphis, Ark., the authorities said.
Jerry Kane, who used the Internet to question federal and local government authority over him, made money holding debt-elimination seminars around the country. He had a long police record and had recently complained about being arrested at what he called a “Nazi checkpoint” near Carrizozo, N.M., where court records showed he spent three days in jail on charges of driving without a license and concealing his identity before posting a $1,500 bond.
Sheriff Gene Kelly of Clark County, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he had issued a warning to officers on July 21, 2004, saying that Mr. Kane might be dangerous to law enforcement officers. Sheriff Kelly said he had based his conclusion on a conversation the two men had had about a sentence Mr. Kane had received for some traffic violations.
Sheriff Kelly said that Mr. Kane complained in 2004 about being sentenced to six days of community service for driving with an expired license plate and no seat belt, saying that the judge had tried to "enslave" him. Mr. Kane had added that he was a "free man" and had asked for $100,000 per day in gold or silver.
I have never seen or heard of a "sovereign citizen" that wasn't a chronic screw-up that was drawn to the movement to excuse their own chronic bad decision-making. Many—like Joe Stack, the man who flew a plane into IRS offices earlier this year in a vengeful murder/suicide—are tax cheats and scam artists with great disdain for government and law-enforcement officers. They feel the law is the cause of their problems... not their own corruption and moral turpitude.
The world is better off without such people.
It is a shame that they sometimes take good people with them when they self-destruct.
The late Kanes, Sr and Jr. seem to share a philosophy, hating banks, with,let us see, ACORN, from where Barack Obama graduated, SEIU, from where Obama gets money and rent-a-thugs and Obama himself, who has expressed hatred of banks, and cops.
Posted by: DavidL at May 22, 2010 05:50 PMThe "sovereign citizen" movement bears some resemblance to another organization that had heavy criminal membership, took a political stance that questioned the legitimacy of many laws and many of whose leaders wound up in violent confrontations with law enforcement: none other than the Black Panther Party.
I think that California's ban on open carry of loaded long guns was in reaction to the Panthers' doing so.
Amen.
Though not a great fan of government, I realize the options are far worse. At least this government, to this time, may be mitigated by elections, lawsuits, and other civil tools. If I may not always be happy with things as they are, I also know I would probably never be completely happy with any situation, owing as much to my own difficulty with imperfection of which I am as culpable as the next man. Though too, a government is merely a collection of men, so the errors of each are added, then multiplied, so I would be grateful at seeing government much more limited.
Bah!
Posted by: Doom at May 23, 2010 09:21 AMHow much do you want to bet that the fact that AK-47's were used will be used as a "rallying cry" for the "assault weapons" ban crowd?
Glad those two nut cases have had their gene stock removed from the pool. Too bad they had to take a couple of good guys out first, though.
Posted by: Gray Wolf at May 23, 2010 10:44 AMThis is the first I've heard of these criminals. Where are the blood dancers, screaming for more gun bans? This crime seems tailor made to suit their agenda.
Is the lack of reaction another sign of the death of the anti-gun crusade?
Posted by: Brad at May 24, 2010 05:44 PM
