The FBI considers them one of the nation’s topdomestic terror threats. Their members include cop killers and a convicted Oklahoma City bomber. They call themselves “sovereign citizens,” and have taken various measures to fight the U.S. government. But now, the government is fighting back.
Sovereign citizens are a loosely organized group of people who claim they are not subject to government laws. Estimates suggest there are as many as300,000 sovereign citizens in the U.S. Sovereign citizens have been known to oppose taxes, file liens against public officials, sign documents with a red thumbprint, and use homemade license plates.
Some sovereign citizens focus on the role of government, a relatable, much-debated issue in the U.S. Alfred Adask told “60 Minutes,”"I think the government has gone far beyond its Constitutional limits.” The problem is where they draw the line. Adask once said, “We have the right to keep and bear arms in order to shoot our own politicians." The violence used by some sovereign citizens is cause for serious concern.
“60 Minutes” recently reported on Jerry Kane Jr. and his 16-year-old son, Joe. A divorced, out-of-work truck driver, Kane and his son began pushing a debt reduction scam around the country. At one seminar, Kane spoke out against members of authority, saying, “I don't want to have to kill anybody. But if they keep messing with me, that's what it's going to have to come out, that's what it's going to come down to is I'm gonna have to kill. And if I have to kill one, then I'm not going to be able to stop.”
On May 20, 2010, Kane and his son were pulled over on a highway by police officers. A dashboard camera shows that his son then shot and killed both officers. “60 Minutes” reports that the men were hit with a collective 25 bullets. One of the dead officers was Sgt. Brandon Paudert, West Memphis Police Chief Bob Paudert’s son.
Following his son’s death, Chief Paudert has become fixated on sovereign citizens. Paudert told "60 Minutes" correspondent Byron Pitts, "They're willing to die for what they believe in. These international terrorists that bombed the twin towers, they were willing to die for their beliefs. The sovereign citizens, the Kanes, are the exact same thing." Since the shooting, Paudert has traveled the country, educating law enforcement officers on sovereign citizens.
Some actions are now being taken against sovereign citizens. The News Virginian reports that sovereign citizen Michael Creath Jones, 31, was arrested and charged with five misdemeanors last week after a state police officer pulled the man over for having a fake painted license plate. Jones allegedly locked his doors, refused to identify himself, and later resisted arrest.
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