Federal agents raided a ragtag collection group of tent dwellers calling themselves the “Alabama Free Militia” and arrested them for conspiring to make a firearm.
Raids that resulted in the arrests of six alleged militia members and the seizure of hundreds of hand grenades and bullets were “much ado about nothing,” a defense lawyer said Friday. A cache of ammunition that was confiscated — 2,500 rounds — wasn’t that large, and the scores of homemade hand grenades that agents seized could be made with powder from fireworks and components readily available in military surplus stores, attorney Scott Boudreaux said.
Even prosecutors say the ragtag group called the Alabama Free Militia had no intended target and was simply stockpiling munitions, said Boudreaux, who plans to meet this weekend with his client, Raymond Kirk Dillard, 46, of Collinsville, a supposed major in the paramilitary group. “Frankly, I don’t think that’s a big deal,” said Boudreaux. “It seems to be much ado about nothing.”
Jim Cavanaugh, regional director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the raids eliminated a huge threat. The Anti-Defamation League, which tracks extremist organizations, said the weapons seizure was the largest in the South in years. “The arrests and the seizure of such an enormous arsenal are a compelling reminder that extremist groups continue to operate in otherwise peaceful communities filled with law-abiding citizens,” said Bill Nigut of Atlanta, ADL regional director.
Five men were jailed without bond on federal charges of conspiring to make a firearm after the raids, conducted early Thursday in four Alabama counties. They included Dillard; Adam Lynn Cunningham, 41; Bonnell Hughes, 57; Randall Garrett Cole, 22; and James Ray McElroy, 20. A sixth alleged member, 30-year-old Michael Wayne Bobo, was charged with being a drug user in possession of a firearm.
[…]
Dillard lived in a small camper without electricity or running water in northeast Alabama, and neighbors said McElroy lived in a makeshift tent nearby. Bobo lived with his parents in an upscale subdivision in suburban Birmingham.
A court document indicates Dillard, unknowingly met with an ATF informant at a flea market in Collinsville about four months ago, told him he was organizing a militia and later accepted him into the group as a sergeant major. The informant was at the home of Cole, an alleged militia lieutenant, about two months ago when he saw grenades, according to the document, a sworn statement by ATF agent Adam Nesmith. Investigators found more weapons as they monitored the group through the informant and with video and audio surveillance, Nesmith said.
During the raid, agents recovered 130 hand grenades, a grenade launcher, about 70 hand grenades rigged to be fired from a rifle, a machine gun, a short-barrel shotgun, 2,500 rounds of ammunition, explosives components, stolen fireworks and other items.
U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said the fireworks used to make the grenades were commercial grade, not the type sold in retail stores in Alabama. “Even to possess these fireworks without a license is a felony in Alabama,” she said.
So, basically, we have a collection of six yahoos who can’t afford decent housing–or even real tents–but have some weapons. They have no target in mind nor is there any particular suspicion that they are a threat to anybody. Yet, we’re sending federal agents in after them? After months of video surveillance?
For what? Why is it a crime to conspire to make firearms? Or to possess fireworks without a license?
Strangely, the commentary I’ve seen on this (here, here, and here) all refers to these guys as “terrorists.” Why? It’s some incredibly bad reporting on the part of AP’s Jay Reeves if there’s evidence of criminal intent and he doesn’t mention it.
Another AP account, published by CNN without byline, has this priceless quote:
“They just have a beef with the government, and they stockpile munitions,” U.S. Attorney Alice Martin said at a news conference in Fort Payne.
That describes about a third of the country, lady. The 1st and 2nd Amendments, respectively, protect those freedoms. It’s only a crime if they plan to use those guns against their fellow citizens.
That story also notes that “Federal authorities said [Dillard] was a federal fugitive wanted in an ATF case out of Mobile from the mid-1990s.” Obviously, if that’s true, he should have been arrested. I’m not sure that required a swarm of police vehicles, five bomb teams, and closing down the neighborhood school for a day. What’s with the BATF and their need for melodrama?
via Memeorandum
