The sovereignist squatters at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge are much like the idiots who leave rounds in the chamber of their guns because Western quick-draw SYG situations happen all the time and aren’t we standing our ground every second in the unfenced 19th Century prairie. Even as there was a decline in defensive gun use last year, protecting property as theft of public land, like claim-jumping by force of arms seems to be de rigeur for the Captain and his Fluffy Unicornists.
Continuing the negotiations in the fourth week proceeds even as Ammo(ro)n Bundy and his scofflaw sidekick, Fluffy Unicorn, gird their loins for what could be months of a siege with in-and-out privileges.
Law-enforcement authorities are still trying to talk Bundy down. Bundy has said he’s going to stay at the refuge until the group’s demands are met—“several months at the shortest.” Bundy’s brother Ryan has reportedly said the protesters are willing to “kill and be killed if necessary.”
The Oregonian reports that the protesters have four demands from the federal government: Release the local ranchers, turn federal lands over to private ownership, void federal grazing permits, and allow Harney County to manage the wildlife refuge, rather than the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
www.theatlantic.com/…