Greetings, MW reader! Since publication delays last month led to a no-send on last month’s MW Monthly, here’s a compounded bi-monthly update spanning September and October’s recent militia news updates. These include:
- More Virginia Militia musters
- Western NC drama
- Updates on the APIII leaks
Last Monthly is here if you’d like to read about August’s news:
County Musters Continue in Virginia, Amid Controversy
In early September, the Virginia Army National Guard announced an investigation into two noncommissioned officers who also moonlight as leaders of the Campbell County Militia. Staff Sergeants Daniel Abbott and Alexandra Griffeth jointly run the county militia group, which formed out of the County Militia pattern heavily pushed in early 2020 by the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL). The VCDL pushed these formations heavily in the wake of their highly successful 2A rally at the Virginia capitol in January 2020 (read about some of the fallout here, though).In the years since January 2020, the VCDL’s rallies have turned out much smaller contingents, but always feature armed militia on the sidelines.
More striking than the Lobby Day mobilizations, however, is the relative success of county militia organizing – while many county militias established in 2020 have since demobilized, militias in Appomattox, Bedford, Franklin, and Halifax Counties have all reported activity in the last two years. Some of these militias embody the notion of “county capture”–as expressed by Carolyn Gallaher and Priya Dixit–seeking and sometimes succeeding in receiving official support from county officials.
In early October, a month after the Virginia Army National Guard announcement that they were investigating him, Abbott played dress up and spoke at a muster for the newly-formed Lynchburg County Militia at Miller Park in Lynchburg. This muster turned out a decent crowd, bolstered by a heavy presence of Campbell County Militia members. Republican State Representative Bob Good, who lost his re-election primary in June, spoke to the crowd to denounce those who have expressed their discomfort with the muster.
The Lynchburg muster garnered an outpouring of opinion pieces in local outlets, including pondering ahead of the muster whether such a happening was legal or wondering why participants wouldn’t just join the National Guard (a fair bit of irony in that inquiry, given Abbott and Griffeth’s apparent dual roles). In reply, George Caylor, a Lynchburg-area conservative radio host, wrote a letter of fewer than 60 words, a hefty chunk of which directly quoted the Second Amendment. Perhaps not that ironically, Caylor highlighted the security clause of the 2nd Amendment, which many Constitutional scholars do not interpret as meaning the unorganized militia, much less these informal and often unlawful paramilitary networks. At least one reply to Caylor’s letter has hinged, for example, on questions of further regulation of firearms. The candidates for Lynchburg City Council even debated the Lynchburg County Militia in their final debate before Election Day.
In late October, another Virginia county held a muster to much less fanfare. This muster featured about a dozen attendees and included a PowerPoint presentation in Ivor City Hall. The self-declared commanding officer of the new militia, which names itself the “Southampton County Constitutional Militia” online, described the IRS, EPA, HHS, and SSA as akin to “standing armies”. The group intends to begin training in December.
Militia Groups Mobilize in Wake of Helene, Cause Media Confusion
In mid-October, the Washington Post published an article reporting on the claim that militias were “hunting” FEMA staff in Western North Carolina. The headline of the article has since been changed as details about the arrest of one unaffiliated man have emerged.
An opinion piece in the same publication would then describe a lot of the media environment in Western North Carolina as “rumormongering”–the spread of rumors in this environment did very little to stymie paramilitary groups from acting alongside relief efforts, but it did create a chaotic information environment.
Further reporting in the Washington Post has since overplayed the influence of a fringe militia group from Arizona (Veterans on Patrol, or VOP), describing their presence as a “foothold”–one writer went so far as to describe their actions as “taking charge of handing out aid”. In the wake of renewed attention but social isolation on the ground, the group announced on Telegram their intentions to attack “weather weapons” nearby. Naturally, further reporting quoted the unstable leader of the group but did not wait for comment from local officials or emergency management.
A few militia groups and affiliated influencers mobilized in the wake of the destruction of Helene. They mostly distributed food and toilet paper through local churches and left, avoiding confrontation with FEMA and mostly treating their strategic engagement as an opportunity for photos and lightly testing out some of their gear. These groups, while concerning for the potential they have for escalation, have come in waves and most have not stayed on the ground longer than a week. More militia groups have indicated their interest to continue to come to Carolina, but donations to support their presence have slowed in recent weeks.
As with all scenarios such as these, MilitiaWatch highly recommends that journalists on this beat familiarize themselves with Whitney Phillips’s “The Oxygen of Amplification” and Joan Donovan’s “The Lifecycle of Media Manipulation”. Both resources are nearing a decade old but hold up in our current media environment nonetheless.
Quick Stories:
Remainder of APIII Leak Released
Following up on the exceptional reporting from ProPublica on the American Patriots (the) III% and Scot Seddon data leak, Unicorn Riot and Distributed Denial of Secrets revealed the remainder of the leak from an infiltrator of the militia movement. This reporting is thorough regarding the remaining information in the Telegram leak and focuses on threats against journalists and 2022 ballot box planning. One APIII member named Elias Humiston (reported previously as part of several earlier United Patriot Party news reports earlier this year on MW) bragged in the chat about his plans to monitor ballot boxes in Arizona in 2022, which was apparently quite controversial to APIII leadership.
J6 Updates
Two recent probation sentences are worth highlighting:
- In late October, a federal judge sentenced Caleb Berry, an Oath Keeper from Tampa, to three years of probation after his significant testimony against his fellow militia members. Berry was an early plea deal accepter and has cooperated with the government since July 2021.
- Similarly, a federal judge sentenced Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer to three years of probation as well. The metal guitarist has expressed his deep regret for joining the riot.
Tactical Civics Garners Local News Coverage
Tactical Civics, a Patriot Movement social group that has been attempting to recruit and network since 2020, has been buying ads in small local publications like Coffee News and conservative Fairfield Journal. These low-content, low-design ads feature the contact information for the regional coordinator for Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont as well as a link to a common 11 minute recruitment video. Likely a surprising thing to see juxtaposed between the horoscopes and graduation announcements.
Michigan Gun Guys/Gals Host Annual Rally
In mid-September, pro-gun activists, government officials, and militia members convened on the steps of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing for their annual Second Amendment March. Four State Representatives spoke at the rally and one of the men acquitted for charges related to the 2020 Whitmer kidnapping plot floated his intention to run for Governor of Michigan in 2026.