Clivan Bundy Is Breaking The Law And Militias Threatened Violence To Defend Him
Not only is Cliven Bundy breaking the law, but militias heading to his Nevada ranch to help him may be doing the same. Their threats of violence show a vehement disregard for the laws of the United States. Richard Rowe explains:
In 1848, Mexico ceded Nevada to the United States. after that, the U.S. declared that it held title to those lands, unless said lands were purchased from the government. In or about 1850, 67-year-old Cliven Bundy’s family bought a small ranch in the area, and began grazing cattle on the nearby public lands. But they did not OWN those lands, nor were they ever purchased from the government. But they were permitted to graze cattle on them.
In 1948, the Bureau of Land Management came into existence, and started monitoring the land to make sure it wasn’t being fenced in or over-grazed. In order to regulate use, they started issuing 10-year leases on the grazing lands. Those who owned the Bundy Ranch paid those lease fees all the way up until 1993, when Cliven Bundy decided he didn’t want to pay anymore. according to him, he had a “right to the land under preemption because [his] Mormon ancestors had always grazed there.” But, he had a different reason for not paying the lease.
In 1998, all Clark County, Nevada lands were declared off-limits for grazing when they became a designated habitat for federally protected desert tortoises. Most of the other ranchers in the area complied..but not Cliven. He claimed a “right” to the lands under “preemption,” and spent the next 15 years allowing about 400 of his branded cattle to illegally graze the 600,000 or so protected acres. The courts tried to work with him, gave him a decade’s worth of warning…and still he refused, while the leasing fees added up.
Now the government, as a last resort, after 15 years of negotiating, has come to remove 400 out of his 500 cows illegally trampling on turtle habitat. Which he has KNOWN would happen for more than a decade. And that’s when he put out the call for “help” from you, his militia friends from Texas, Florida, New Hampshire and all other parts unknown.
Preemptive rights means that if the government were to sell the land, Bundy would have first crack at it. But Bundy put a call out for help to anti-government groups, and the accompanying video shows how militias are preparing to do battle, violently, if necessary. They vow: “We’re going in there with force and we’re bailing these people out.”
