FBI warns of threat from "Sovereign Citizens" or "Extremist"

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:15 am » by **Jet17**

This is fucked up.

FBI warns of threat from anti-government extremists

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... 0V20120207

By Patrick Temple-West

WASHINGTON | Mon Feb 6, 2012 7:21pm EST

(Reuters) - Anti-government extremists opposed to taxes and regulations pose a growing threat to local law enforcement officers in the United States, the FBI warned on Monday.

These extremists, sometimes known as "sovereign citizens," believe they can live outside any type of government authority, FBI agents said at a news conference.

The extremists may refuse to pay taxes, defy government environmental regulations and believe the United States went bankrupt by going off the gold standard.

Routine encounters with police can turn violent "at the drop of a hat," said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director in the FBI's counterterrorism division.

"We thought it was important to increase the visibility of the threat with state and local law enforcement," he said.

In May 2010, two West Memphis, Arkansas, police officers were shot and killed in an argument that developed after they pulled over a "sovereign citizen" in traffic.

Last year, an extremist in Texas opened fire on a police officer during a traffic stop. The officer was not hit.

Legal convictions of such extremists, mostly for white-collar crimes such as fraud, have increased from 10 in 2009 to 18 each in 2010 and 2011, FBI agents said.

"We are being inundated right now with requests for training from state and local law enforcement on sovereign-related matters," said Casey Carty, an FBI supervisory special agent.

FBI agents said they DO NOT have a tally of people who consider themselves "sovereign citizens."

J.J. MacNab, a former tax and insurance expert who is an analyst covering the sovereign movement, has estimated that it has about 100,000 members.

Sovereign members often express particular outrage at tax collection, putting Internal Revenue Service employees at risk.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:45 am » by **Scarecro**

"sovereign citizen(s)" is an oxymoron. :bang;

So many labels... :sleep:

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:56 am » by **Jet17**

scarecro wrote:"sovereign citizen(s)" is an oxymoron.

So many labels...

This is strictly about the American Populous.

They even have the audacity to say that there is only 100,000 of us, like they can just take us out with a strikeforce or something.

I think their numbers are a little off, considering the congress approval ratings and Obama's rating.

The fact mixed with Occupy movement, and every other sovereign movement, I would say it is at least 1/2 of the American public, ignorant of reality or not.

People are just pissed off, some are so pissed off they don't know what they are pissed off at, but when they find out, it's going to piss them off even more

Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:02 am » by **Noentry**

WTF.
Shoot me now so I dont have to see anymore of this :bullshit:

If you exercise your rights you are now an extremist. FFS

This is so wrong on so many levels I need a stuff drink just to get over the shock of this actually being reality and not scifi

America what happened when did it all go wrong?

hey I just wiki it and guess what, I can f*cking believe it :bang;

The sovereign citizen movement is a loose network of American litigants, commentators and financial scheme promoters, classified as an "extremist anti-government group" by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.[1]

Self-described sovereign citizens take the position that they are answerable only to common law and are not subject to any statutes or proceedings at the federal, state or municipal levels, or that they do not recognize U.S. currency and that they are "free of any legal constraints".[2]

They especially reject most forms of taxation as illegitimate.[3] Participants in the movement argue this concept in opposition to "federal citizens", who, they say, have unknowingly forfeited their rights by accepting some aspect of federal law.[4

unf*cking believable

Anything they want to classify as extremism will be labeled Sovereign Citizens

The Sovereign Citizen movement in the US is a sham.

It's something that people claim that has no legal backing, as the courts uniformly disagree.

I have never seen a single case where a claim has been substantiated.
Source(s):
9+ years Law Enforcement

WTF is going on I have to say I am at a lost for words

sov·er·eign (svr-n, svrn)
n.
1. One that exercises supreme, permanent authority, especially in a nation or other governmental unit, as:
a. A king, queen, or other noble person who serves as chief of state; a ruler or monarch.
b. A national governing council or committee.
2. A nation that governs territory outside its borders.
3. A gold coin formerly used in Great Britain.
adj.
1. Self-governing; independent: a sovereign state.
2. Having supreme rank or power: a sovereign prince.
3. Paramount; supreme: Her sovereign virtue is compassion.
4.
a. Of superlative strength or efficacy: a sovereign remedy.
b. Unmitigated: sovereign contempt.

citizens is self evident. no need to show a definition.

How the f*ck are they allowed to make up new ways of classing people as extremist by giving words new meanings, that is a totally different meaning to the original use.

I am baffled WTF is going on :bang;

This is new to me Sovereign Citizens

What is Sovereign Citizenship? Sovereign Citizenship is the status held by our forefathers. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and everyone else who won their freedom from the British Empire had this status. It was the birthright of all Americans, and we were generous in extending this most important right to foreign-born persons through the naturalization laws. With this status, our unalienable rights of life, liberty, and property couldn't be infringed. During the Civil War a method was discovered by the leading attorneys, financiers, and politicians of the day to deprive us of this status. Fortunately, we can get it back.

This brings us to the question, "What are we getting back?" What does it mean to be a Sovereign Citizen?

The word "sovereign" is defined in the 6th edition of Black's Law Dictionary, published in 1990, as being, "A person, body, or state in which independent authority is vested; a chief ruler with supreme power; a king or other ruler in a monarchy." Prior to the War for American Independence, the British king was the sovereign and the American people were his subjects. The war's outcome changed all this:

The sovereignty has been transferred from one man to the collective body of the people - and he who before was a "subject of the king" is now "a citizen of the State."

State v. Manuel, North Carolina, Vol. 20, Page 121 (1838)

Thus, the people became Citizens of their respective states. But more importantly, for the first and only time in recorded history, the people were recognized as being the true sovereigns:

It will be sufficient to observe briefly, that the sovereignties in Europe, and particularly in England, exist on feudal principles. That system considers the prince as the sovereign, and the people as his subjects; it regards his person as the object of allegiance... No such ideas obtain here; at the revolution, the sovereignty devolved on the people; and they are truly the sovereigns of the country, but they are sovereigns without subjects... and have none to govern but themselves...

http://www.civil-liberties.com/pages/art1.html

When did it all go so wrong? :bang;

Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:27 am » by **Hotpot**

I think that this reaction reeks of desperation.

The bad guys are getting antsy and it may be because the good guys are moving in to remove them.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 7:32 am » by **Mrmcnuggets**

wow, we were just talking about sovereignty this week. :shock:

Glad I play by the rules for once. thats one list I can count on not being in. :peep:

Tue Feb 07, 2012 6:54 pm » by **Phooey**

Slowly but surely this country is becoming an Orwellian nightmare.. :scary:

Tue Feb 07, 2012 8:21 pm » by **Jeckk**

This is good news actually. It means they're desperate. Making a power play like this is going to get a LOT of attention from the opposition.

Tue Feb 07, 2012 9:37 pm » by **Jet17**

This is good news, but bad news at the same time.

If anything does happen, the FBI will use the "OH we warned about this, maybe you should listen to us to keep you safe" treatment.

I am pretty sure this also means that the FBI are now Domestic Terrorist, targeting their own citizens. We should be allowed to abolish that agency now because of this.

Fuck you Hoover! The mob formed into the FBI, the very thing they were supposed to take out.