Nevada Officials Refuse To Take The Resident Endangering Bundy Militias Seriously

In spite of Republicans and conservative pundits beating a hasty retreat from their adoration and undying support of racist criminal Cliven Bundy, the so-called “American patriot” and his armed militia are still in the news and causing distress for Nevada residents. It was bad enough that Bundy summoned armed vigilantes to confront federal agents executing a federal court order to great cheering from patriots at Fox News, Koch brothers’ Americans for Prosperity, and Republican politicians, but the issue is far from settled and armed militias are still taking their call to arms very seriously. Unfortunately, Nevada officials are not taking the Bundy militias very seriously at all and they are obstructing justice as well as not protecting residents in and around Clarke County Nevada from armed vigilantes.

After receiving complaints from his constituents, Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV) sent a letter to Clark County Sheriff Douglas Gillespie urging he take action and respond to his constituents’ concerns about the out-of-state armed militia presence in Bunkerville and the surrounding area. In the letter to Gillespie, Horsford wrote to bring Gillespie’s attention to “the ongoing situation in northeastern Clark County which has caused many of my constituents to fear for their safety. Residents of Bunkerville and the surrounding area have expressed concern over the continual presence of multiple out-of-state, armed militia groups that have remained in the community since the BLM halted its actions earlier this month.” The sheriff received the same appeals for assistance from local residents, and lacking any response or relief had to appeal to United States Congressman Steven Horsford for respite from armed terrorists.

According to Horsford’s constituent’s complaints, armed militias “Have set up checkpoints where residents are required to prove they live in the area before being allowed to pass; established a persistent presence along federal highways and state and county roads; and established an armed presence in or around community areas including local churches, school, and other community locations.” Horsford ended his appeal for help saying “the residents of and visitors to Clark County should not be expected to live under the persistent watch of an armed militia. Their continual presence has made residents feel unsafe and maligned a quiet community’s peaceful reputation.” The reason residents feel unsafe and maligned is because Nevada Republicans, Sheriff Gillespie, and Governor Brian Sandoval coddled the armed militia as constitution-loving patriots exercising their dog-given right to terrorize not only local residents, but federal agents doing their constitutional duty.

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The county sheriff should have arrested the armed militia members, and Cliven Bundy, when they first gathered to start their vaunted 2nd revolution for sedition for interfering with federal agents in the execution of their duty instead of empowering them as some kind of American patriots. The sheriff’s office received the same complaints as Horsford that armed militias were setting up military-style checkpoints on county, state, and federal highways and if they were too terrified of confronting the militias, it behooved them to appeal to the Governor’s office for assistance from Nevada state law enforcement officials. However, it is not as if Sandoval, a Republican, is unaware of the continuing menace roving bands of heavily armed vigilantes is wreaking on the area, he is just either too much of a coward to challenge the militias authority over state officials, or a staunch supporter of out-of-state militias terrorizing residents.

One militia member from Oath Keepers attracted the attention of federal authorities for making threats against Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and they wonder why he called them “domestic terrorists.” There are also reports from Oath Keepers that were forced out of Bundy’s “compound” and other militia members that the armed “patriots” were fighting for supremacy “over the battlefield” that led to claims patriots were drawing down on each other and threatening to shoot other militia members (Oath Keepers) in the back for “deserting the battlefield” and “committing treason of the highest order” against the Bundy Ranch. This all occurred, like militias setting up military checkpoints on state and federal highways, long after the Bureau of Land Management left the area and is the direct result of county and state law enforcement not doing their jobs of protecting federal agents and community residents that should not be victims or terrorists masquerading as American patriots loyal to the Constitution’s 10th and 2nd Amendments.

The Republican leaders in Nevada are derelict in their duty to protect residents from being terrorized by “heavily-armed” militias who feel so empowered they set up checkpoints and demanding identification from motorists before they let them pass, or are sent packing because they do not meet the militia’s requirements to pass on state and federal highways. Where is the Nevada Highway Patrol, state police, or county sheriff doing their sworn duty to “serve and protect” Nevada residents? They are either cowering in fear of out-of-state armed militias, or turning a blind eye in support of what Republicans, Fox News, and conservative pundits labeled patriotic Americans panting to start the 2nd American revolution instead of what Harry Reid accurately described as “domestic terrorists.”

Rmuse

Audio engineer and instructor for SAE. Writes op/ed commentary supporting Secular Humanist causes, and exposing suppression of women, the poor, and minorities. An advocate for freedom of religion and particularly, freedom of NO religion.

Born in the South, raised in the Mid-West and California for a well-rounded view of America; it doesn’t look good.

Former minister, lifelong musician, Mahayana Zen-Buddhist.