According to Tucson News Now:
Authorities say, apparently, a group of heavily-armed border militia members mistook conservationists researching bats for illegal immigrants or smugglers.
It happened Aug. 23 in the Gardner Canyon area near Sonoita where the small group of conservationists was out in the middle of the night conducting a wildlife population survey, in this case, counting bats.
Nobody was hurt during the confrontation, but the incident has law enforcement taking notice.
Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada say the militiamen were on ATVs. They were carrying weapons and were wearing camouflage.
The idiots who indulge their Rambo fantasies in this fashion are not just idiots (although they are idiots); they pose a significant threat to law-abiding Americans going about their business. How long before these cretins actually kill someone because they 'looked like a terrorist', i.e. they were vaguely human-shaped?
One gets the distinct impression that Sheriff Estrada has had it up to here with these ill-disciplined, self-indulgent clowns:
Sheriff Estrada says Santa Cruz County does not welcome border militia groups.
"These people that are completely out of their environment. They really don't know the area. They don't know the terrain. They have little knowledge of the dynamics of the border. So it can be a real problem," Estrada says. "We really don't want them here."
"It can be a problem for them. It can be a problem for the people, just like in this particular case. Things could have gone terribly wrong," Estrada says. "They really don't accomplish anything. They really don't. With about 1,000 Border Patrol Agents here in Santa Cruz County, a little group of any militiamen are not going to make any difference at all. As a matter of fact, they're going to get in the way and they could get hurt. Or they could hurt somebody else."
And Sheriff Estrada wasn't the only one to be unhappy about these fools running around the border at night, armed to the teeth.
The official U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency issued a statement about the incident that read, in part, “On August 23, at approximately 10 p.m., Tucson Sector agents received a phone call from a member of a militia group reporting suspicious activity in the area of Sonoita, Arizona. Sonoita station agents responded and encountered a small group of biologists studying bats.”
“CBP does not endorse or support any private group or organization to take border security matters into their own hands,” the statement continued, “as it could have disastrous personal and public safety consequences. CBP strongly encourages concerned citizens to call the U.S. Border Patrol and/or local law enforcement authorities if they witness or suspect illegal activity.”
Get a clue, militia idiots: find a new hobby or join the damn Army. But enough, already with your stupidly dangerous, adolescent bully-boy games. OK?