The militia movement in the US believes citizens must train in armed militias to defend their constitutional rights. They interpret the Second Amendment as allowing them to fight against the government if it oversteps its limits. Some groups believe in a New World Order conspiracy or are motivated by religion or racism. Not all groups are violent, with some focusing on public forums or conflicts with law enforcement.
The militia movement refers to the belief that citizens of the United States must train in armed militias to defend their constitutional rights. This idea experienced a sudden surge in popularity during the mid-1990s in response to what its proponents perceived as a change in the nature of American government. Many different groups are part of this movement, but the single unifying idea among them is distrust of the federal government.
The Second Amendment to the United States Constitution is what makes militia movement possible. This law protects the right of American citizens to bear arms and refers to the existence of well-regulated militias. Members of the militia movement interpret this law to mean that citizen militias are needed to fight against the American government if it oversteps its constitutional limits or threatens the rights of its people. There is no single consensus within the militia movement as to what these boundaries are, with different militias having different beliefs about which laws or actions violate the Constitution.
A common belief among militia movement groups is that they must organize to defend the Constitution against what they call the New World Order. These militias believe that this is an international conspiracy that has taken control of most of the world’s governments and deprived those citizens of their rights and freedoms. Militia members drawn to this idea believe that this conspiracy is trying to take over the United States and that they must train to fight the conspiracy’s soldiers when they inevitably attack.
Some particularly religious militias believe that the attack of the New World Order will coincide with the arrival of the apocalypse. Each of these groups tends to form around the ideas of an individual who claims to have had a special spiritual revelation. Religiously motivated militias differ in their exact beliefs and goals because these are formed around the various ideas and philosophies of different individuals.
Racism is another idea around which some militias form. Such groups believe that the American government has been pushed away from its constitutional foundations by non-white citizens. These people often justify acts of violence against minorities by defending the ideas underpinning the Constitution.
Groups within the militia movement are not necessarily violent. Some militias focus on organizing public forums to discuss libertarian political philosophy. Others create or provoke conflicts with law enforcement when they plan acts of violence or stockpile illegal weapons.
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