THE HISTORY OF MILITIA GROUPS

This report is going to cover the history of militia groups.

There is a pretty long history of militia groups here in Ohio, and

through out the U.S. and the world. Most of these militia groups are fairly

harmless and don't pose a real threat to anyone. Most of these militias

simply play paint ball games for training and practice shooting real guns at

the shooting range. They say that they are getting ready for war, some of

these militia groups think that they are going to over throw the

government, which I don't think will ever happen.

In Sept. 1989 a group of 19 concerned members of the Ohio Military

Reserve-�OMR-�resigned upset over the way that things were headed

within that organization. They felt that they were not being used properly

to help the people of Ohio and they wanted to be more than parking valets.

Desiring to fill a void within the community and desiring to help Ohioans,

this group of people created the Southeastern Ohio Defense Force as a

non-profit, non-political State Militia in Sept. 1989. Shortly after its

inception, members of SODF were called to action when a flash flood

occurred on Pipe and Weegee creeks in eastern Ohio near the town of

Shady Side. The SODF was the first civilian group on the scene of the

flood. SODF scuba divers and search dogs were very important in the

search and rescue of many victims.

Last year the SODF participated in a county wide disaster drill at

Frazeysburg Ohio, in co-operation with a tri-county rescue force.

Now this type of militia could actually work for the better of the public. But

here are some examples of the types of militias that pose a threat to

society.

In Ohio several militia groups have arisen in scattered communities

in the state of Ohio. One such militia has been meeting and conducting

paramilitary training exercises in Pike County in rural South Central Ohio.

Among the Pike County militias are the neo-Nazi SS Action Group and the

Ku Klux Klan (kkk). Other militia groups have arisen in Franklin County

and Warren Country. A militia type group called "Patriots" meets in

Cincinnati and conducts paramilitary exercises in rural Clearmont County.

In Missouri militias are active but don't appear to be as well

organized as in other states. They operate in at leas five Southern Missouri

Counties: Crawford, Green, Barton, Dade and Cedar, and number

collectively approximately 130 members. The militias hold irregular

meetings to view training videos, discuss paramilitary techniques and

exchange literature reflecting right-wing views.

Most every state can say that it has at least a couple militias that are

forming. Militia groups have been around for quite sometime and it is only

now that they get so many headlines because the public sees what is

happening in other countries around the world and they are afraid that

those things will happen in the United States. As history has shown us the

chance for an actual militia uprising in America is slim to none. Even if a

militia were to try to take over a part or all of the United States the U.S.

armed forces would smash their little get together before they even knew

what happen to them. These militia groups haven't been able to get there

hands on the same top quality weapons that the U.S. Government has.

There fore as the government keeps a firm hold on what types of weapons

that these militia groups have, then the pose a very minimal risk to the rest

of the public.

Montana is know for their abundance of militia groups who also tend

to be the most threatening. They are not threatening because of their

power, but they seem to be the groups that are talking about a new

government, and taking over the U.S. the members of these groups often

state that they have high power weapons of mass destruction but we as the

public can be almost sure that they have basically noting because they

would have shown off their power by know by at least bombing a building

and taking credit for it, this tells me that there are no weapons of mass

destruction.

In the past the states have not paid much attention to the threats of

the militia groups but as times get worse and after the Oklahoma City

Bombing the States and the Federal Government will start to pay more

attention to what is going on out on the back roads of their country.

Given the revolutionary posturing of so many of the militias, and the

role in them of hatemongers of long standing, the better part of wisdom

dictates that close attention be paid to them. There is a role here for the

press and for citizen organizations that monitor extremism. The Anti-

Defamation League is pledged to do it's part. The chief responsibility for

keeping on top of the militia threat, however, plainly rests with the law

enforcement branch of the government.