Militias in the United States are often depicted as dangerous and extreme right-wing groups that warrant significant monitoring and control. The sense of danger associated with the militias is perhaps exacerbated by the tendency to think of these groups as an unprecedented social phenomenon. Early reports of U.S.militias in news reports tended to neglect the historical forerunners of this movement, and this omission promoted the view that militias are unique developments.
Over the past few years, the militia movement has been associated with a number of nefarious events and has been depicted by some observers as a dangerous, right-wing, extremist movement in need of close monitoring.
The U.S. militia movement has been linked to the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, which Dees and Corcoran (1996) declare as "the most destructive act of domestic terrorism...in our nation's history," they caution that if the movement is not contained, "it could lead to widespread destruction or ruin" (p. 2).
Mark Pitcavage (1998), founder of the group called the Militia Watchdog, informs readers that militia members commonly collect illegal weapons and explosives, adding that "some members go further than collecting weapons and actually plan to use them....As a result...[the militia movement]includes many people willing to commit criminal acts" (pp. 15-16). Hilliard and Keith (1999) concur, explaining that "since the 1995 Oklahoma City terror, bombings have increased throughout the United States; many of them attributed to right-wing militia organizations" (p. 5). Indeed, Robert Snow (1999). a former detective in the Indianapolis Police Department claims that:
Only skillful, painstaking work by law enforcement agents has prevented other radical militia members from committing other devastating tragedies such as we saw in Oklahoma City....The militia movement presents a very real and imminent threat to everyone (pp. ix-x).........
