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Previously: Militia Occupies Federal Building in Oregon After Rancher Arson Convictions
Russia Today reports:
Ammon Bundy, the leader of the armed group occupying a federal wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon, and four others have been arrested by law enforcement amid gunfire, according to the FBI.
At 4:25 pm on [January 26], the FBI and Oregon State Police "began an enforcement action to bring into custody a number of individuals associated with the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. During that arrest, there were shots fired", the Bureau said in a statement.
The FBI said one person who was "a subject of a federal probable cause arrest is deceased". He said they are not releasing any information on the person "pending identification by the medical examiner's office".
One person suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to a local hospital for treatment. He was arrested and is in custody.
The arrested individuals include:
- Ammon Edward Bundy, age 40, of Emmett, Idaho.
- Ryan C. Bundy, age 43, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
- Brian Cavalier, age 44, of Bunkerville, Nevada.
- Shawna Cox, age 59, of Kanab, Utah.
- Ryan Waylen Payne, age 32, of Anaconda, Montana.
CNN, NYT, Washington Post, BBC, OregonLive.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Arik on Thursday January 28 2016, @12:01AM
The complaint here is that charges were filed under *terrorism* laws for a couple of brush fires, set on their own land but in each case spreading over the line into the commons. There are disagreements as to some of the facts of the case, but no one disputes those basic facts. The first was set to destroy invasive vegetation, grew slightly larger than intended, and was put out by the ranchers themselves, though only after it had crossed that line. The second was a more complicated situation - a wildfire was burning on the commons land and threatening to take out the ranch. They burned fire breaks to protect their ranch. Those fires again appear to have crossed the property line, and they have been accused of endangering the firefighters currently active, though I have seen no evidence that is in fact true. Based on the 'terrorism' charge mandatory minimum sentences were invoked, leaving even the judge to express that the outcome was wrong but his hands were tied.
At worst perhaps a lapse of judgement, but this justifies using terrorism charges how?
Seen within context, the ranchers were in this area long before the government. BLM was given title to the land with the idea that they would conserve and protect these commons for future generations of ranchers. These days, BLM would prefer to be viewed as simply the owner, rather then the curator of a public trust. The terrorism charges were a firecracker thrown into an already volatile situation.
If these guys hadnt happened to be social conservatives the left would have raised a hue and cry in their defense on the issues raised - expansive use of terrorism to trump civil liberties, along with mandatory minimum sentences, both issues many leftists have written on. Instead they advocate lynching. A sad measure of how divided our society has become, and how little either the left or the right seems to have any meaning beyond bare tribal identification.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?