Rancher’s son: ‘Weapons needed to intimidate’ feds during Nevada cattle seizure standoff

A show of force was necessary to stop the government seizure and sale of embattled cattle rancher Cliven Bundy’s cows, his son said on Sunday, a day after an armed standoff between federal agents and hundreds of Bundy’s supporters. “We were dedicated to opening those gates and peacefully walking through to retrieve those cattle,” Ammon Bundy said in an interview. “The presence of weapons was needed in order to intimidate them.” The Clark County sheriff Doug Gillespie had delivered a bureau offer to leave, but keep the cows, and then helped negotiate the eventual end to the standoff, Bundy said. “When we went up there, they knew we were serious,” Ammon Bundy said. “They wanted to go. This thing was building and building and was going to continue.” Bundy said about 350 of the ranch’s cows were recovered from bureau holding pens. Some of the animals were injured and a handful of calves, some so new their umbilical cords remained attached, were being bottle fed, he said. About 100 Bundy supporters, many wearing camouflage and carrying firearms, gathered on Sunday with the family for an informal church service at a makeshift protest command center. Speakers offered a mix of prayer and religious testimony, denounced the federal government for excessive oversight on several issues, and called for the preservation of individual constitutional rights. An Arizona state representative in attendance, David Livingston, said the battle over the Bundy cows would serve as a unifying event for lawmakers across 11 western states working on state sovereignty issues. “This was a major tipping point,” Livingston said. Cliven Bundy...said he had been touched by the supporters who stood by his family over the past week. “I was really quite humbled to the fact that there are so many good people,” Cliven Bundy said...more