MONTGOMERY, Alabama -- In a new report, the Southern Poverty Law Center claims there's been a "tremendous increase" in the number of militia and anti-government groups in the United States inspired by the national discussion of gun control. The Montgomery-based organization said hate groups motivated in part by the immigration reform movement and the election and re-election of President Barack Obama are also prevalent.
There are now more than 1,360 "radical antigovernment groups" -- including 321 militias -- in the country, the SPLC says in a letter it sent to the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on Tuesday, and in a related report. According to the SPLC, that's an increase from 2008, when there were only 149-such groups.
"This latest count exceeds the high-water mark of the 1990s by more than 500," SPLC President J. Richard Cohen wrote in the organization's letter. "During that decade, the growth in the radical antigovernment movement was fueled in large part by anger over the passage of the Brady Bill in 1993 and the enactment of the assault weapons ban in 1994. Now that gun control is again being hotly debated, we are seeing a repeat of that anger, and it is likely to continue to swell the ranks of antigovernment groups."
The number of hate groups the SPLC has identified in the U.S. has actually decreased from last year's high of 1,018 groups. There are now 1,007 hate groups in the U.S., according to the report.
The SPLC has identified 30 hate groups in several categories in Alabama, and placed them on a map that can be viewed here.
In Cohen's letter, which is addressed to DHS Sec. Janet Napolitano and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the organization refers to the Oklahoma City bombing. Cohen notes that bombing occurred six months after SPLC issued a similar warning to former Attorney General Janet Reno.
"As in the period before the Oklahoma City bombing, we now also are seeing ominous threats from those who believe that the government is poised to take their guns."
Cohen urged Napolitano and Holder to "take a fresh look" at the issue of funding for countering radical antigovernmental groups.
The SPLC has seen some controversy over the way it labels hate groups in recent years. In 2010, some conservatives were angered when the organization listed the Family Research Council as an anti-gay hate group. Many anti-immigration groups are also listed, alongside neo-Nazis, neo-confederates, Ku Klux Klan-affiliated groups, and anti-gay organizations.
Poster Comment:
Prolly not a good time time to brag about mt RC model tanks, eh?