Friday, April 30, 2010

Protecting the State’s Murder Monopoly

Will Grigg
LRC Blog -

The Oklahoma House of Representatives has passed a measure criminalizing “membership in an unauthorized militia or the Ku Klux Klan,” reports The Oklahoman newspaper.The relevant language was added to an existing bill, SB 2018, which would enhance penalties for “aiding or soliciting gang membership” from one year to five years in prison.

“In Oklahoma, we have seen the damage done by militia fanatics,” insists Democratic state Rep. Mike Shelton, referring to the 1995 Oklahoma City Bombing.

Shelton neglected to mention that Timothy McVeigh, the disgruntled former federal employee executed for that crime, was never a member of a private militia. He was, however, a veteran of the state’s officially sanctioned killing apparatus who learned his lethal skills during the orgy of state terrorism called the first Iraq War. (McVeigh’s un-indicted co-conspirators included several informant/provocateurs on the payroll of various federal agencies.)

If McVeigh is the embodiment of the “gang” threat Shelton seeks to address, he should sponsor legislation banning military recruiters from the Sooner State.

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