April 19: A Schedule
April 19 is the most significant date on the antigovernment 鈥淧atriot鈥� movement鈥檚 calendar. It marks the day that the first shots were fired against the British in 1775 at Lexington and Concord, but it鈥檚 also the anniversary of the end of the 1993 FBI siege at Waco, Texas, as well as the .
This year, the day will be marked by feverish activity from the , whose ranks swelled from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 in 2009. Militias, which are the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement, also grew quickly, rising from 42 in 2008 to 127 in 2009.
Here is what the Patriots have planned for April 19:
鈥ongtime Georgia militia organizer reportedly has called on his fellow militiamen to discharge their weapons at midnight, thereby causing a flood of citizens to call 911 and overload emergency services. Stachowiak鈥檚 plans prompted the Alabama Fusion Center, which focuses on the prevention of terrorism, to issue an April 9 bulletin warning law enforcement agencies that 鈥渁n individual with militia ties in Georgia鈥� is 鈥渃oordinating a plan鈥� with the intent to 鈥渄isrupt emergency services.鈥�
鈥atriot leaders, for whom the specter of gun restrictions is a recurring theme, will join for a 鈥淪econd Amendment March鈥� in Washington, D.C. Speakers will include: , founder of Oath Keepers, a conspiracy-minded, antigovernment organization composed mostly of active-duty police and military officers and veterans; , a former Arizona sheriff who travels the country preaching about the evils of the federal government; , executive director of Gun Owners of America, who advocated the formation of citizen militias in the United States in the early 1990s; and , a Georgia Republican who has questioned President Obama鈥檚 citizenship and suggested the administration might use a pandemic or natural disaster as an excuse to declare martial law.
鈥n open-carry rally to 鈥淩estore the Constitution鈥� will be held at Ft. Hunt National Park near Mount Vernon, Va. Designated a 鈥渃all to muster,鈥� those rallying want the federal government to know that they 鈥渨ill not be ignored anymore.鈥� Daniel Almond, who believes the federal government is 鈥渂ringing totalitarian socialism to America鈥� and is a member of the Georgia chapter of the Oath Keepers, organized the event. Speakers will include Richard Mack and Larry Pratt, who will also speak to the D.C. rally, as well as , who ran the New Mexico militia in the 1990s and has more recently participated in border vigilante operations with the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, and , a longtime Alabama militiaman who recently called for his supporters to throw bricks through the offices of representatives who voted for health care reform. This past Tuesday, the head of the Oath Keepers withdrew as a speaker due to 鈥減ublished statements by a few outspoken participants.鈥� The group did not ask its members to stay away from the event.
鈥embers of the Patriot group We the People (WTP) plan to visit elected officials across the country as part of their 2010 鈥淧lan to Restore our Constitution.鈥� Led by radical tax protestor , the group helped launch in May when it held an organizing meeting in Jekyll Island, Ga., that included many leaders of the 1990s militia movement as well as several new recruits. The group is demanding that elected officials enact its radical 鈥淎rticles of Freedom.鈥� They call for the repeal of all social service spending, denounce 鈥渁 cartel of private banks,鈥� demand a currency alternative to the dollar, and insist on the end of taxation. Taking a page from the , the document calls for an end to driver's licenses, auto registration and insurance. And rejecting the existing legal system, it demands the creation of 鈥渞andomly empanelled citizens鈥� common law grand juries鈥� to determine when a trial will take place. Like the anti-Semitic hard-liners of Posse Comitatus in the 1980s, it also asks that Americans treat county sheriffs as the highest legitimate police authority.
