The
Ballots Not Bullets Coalition, concerned with the increasing use of
violence as a tool to affect public policy, announced its launch on May
19. The organization's launch comes on the heels of the standoff in
Bunkerville, Nev., between cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and the federal
government over unpaid grazing fees, which escalated to an armed
confrontation. The dispute came to an inconclusive end after the
government backed down to avoid bloodshed.
The coalition advocates three principles:
First, the Second Amendment does not provide any individual the right to
shoot government officials upon personally concluding that the
government is behaving in a "tyrannical" manner. Second, there is no
legitimate role for violence in American democracy. Third, the rule of
law must be enforced to avoid setting a dangerous precedent that
threatens American freedoms.
One year after the Bundy stand-off, we again find ourselves amidst a conflict where some Americans opt for metal barrels and silver bullets as the mechanism for objection to governmental policies.
Last month, a group of armed constitutional
activists swarmed to the Sugar Pine Mine in Oregon to guard property
against a stop-work order from the Bureau of Land Management. The
dispute escalated when the mine's co-owners asked for assistance from a
local chapter of the Oath Keepers, an insurrectionist group that
encourages law enforcement and military service members to disobey
orders they deem "unconstitutional." The Oath Keepers' presence at the
mine has steadily expanded over the past month as more anti-government
extremists flock to the site from all over the country. Most concerning
is that no one seems to be paying attention.
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