The document discusses sovereign citizens, a loosely organized anti-government movement. It provides background on the Posse Comitatus group that influenced sovereign citizen ideology. Members believe the US government is illegitimate and that they are not subject to most laws. The document identifies common identifiers of sovereign citizens, including homemade license plates, unusual vehicle modifications, signs directing officers from property, and verbal tactics used during traffic stops to challenge police authority. It notes that while identifiers should be noted for safety, they are not criminal indicators on their own.

2. Donald W. Reid 2012
Contents
What is a Sovereign Citizen
The Posse Comitatus
Sovereign Citizen foundation
Legal status of theories
Identifiers
Vehicular Identifiers
Residential Identifiers
Verbal Identifiers
Tactics: Terrorism and "Paper Terrorism"
Prominent Groups and Individuals
Incidents involving members
Defusing and Safety Techniques
Video

3. Donald W. Reid 2012
What is a Sovereign Citizen?

4. Donald W. Reid 2012
“The 'sovereign citizen' movement is a loosely organized
collection of groups and individuals who have adopted a right-
wing anarchist ideology originating in the theories of a group
called the Posse Comitatus in the 1970s. Members of the
Sovereign Citizens movement “openly reject their citizenship
status and claim to exist beyond the realm of government
authority”

5. Donald W. Reid 2012
Among other things, they believe that:
• The U.S. is “controlled by secret societies or foreign
financiers,”
• Certain constitutional amendments are invalid,
• That practices of financial institutions “are often
illegitimate and unenforceable,”
• That native-born U.S. citizens can “use their birth
certificates to access secret Treasury bank accounts,”
• That government agencies and law enforcement “have no
authority” over them,

6. Donald W. Reid 2012
• They are answerable only to common law,
• Are not subject to any statutes or
proceedings at the federal, states or
municipal levels,
• They do not recognize U.S. currency,
• They are "free of any legal constraints“,
• They especially reject most forms of
taxation as illegitimate. Participants in the
movement argue this concept in opposition
to "federal citizens" who they say have
unknowingly forfeited their rights by
accepting some aspect of federal law.

7. Donald W. Reid 2012
Its adherents believe that virtually all existing government in
the United States is illegitimate and they seek to 'restore' an
idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed. To
this end, sovereign citizens wage war against the government
and other forms of authority using "paper terrorism"
harassment and intimidation tactics, and occasionally resorting
to violence.“

8. Donald W. Reid 2012
The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation classifies
"sovereign citizens" among domestic terror threats as anti-
government extremists.
In 2010 the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) estimated
that approximately 100,000 Americans were "hard-core
sovereign believers" with another 200,000 "just starting out
by testing sovereign techniques for resisting everything from
speeding tickets to drug charges.”

9. Donald W. Reid 2012
The Posse Comitatus

10. Donald W. Reid 2012
The Posse Comitatus (from the Latin phrase meaning "force
of the county") is a loosely organized far right social
movement that opposes the United States federal government
and believes in localism. There is no single national group,
and local units are autonomous.

11. Donald W. Reid 2012
The key distinguishing characteristic of the sovereign
citizen movement is its extreme anti-government ideology,
couched in conspiratorial, pseudohistorical, pseudolegal
and sometimes racist language. Many extremist movements
in the 20th century have been anti-government in the sense
that they opposed governmental policies, but few have
been so purely anti-government that they challenged its
very legitimacy. In fact, a number of extremist movements,
from the Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s to the anticommunist
groups of the 1950s and 1960s, attempted with some
success to ally themselves with government.

12. Donald W. Reid 2012
However, beginning in the late
1960s, a number of right-wing
fringe groups formed that
questioned the authority and nature
of the federal government. Most
grew out of a recently emergent
right-wing tax-protest movement:
arguments about the illegitimacy of
income tax laws were easily
expanded or altered to challenge the
legitimacy of the government itself.
The most important of these
groups was the Posse Comitatus,
which originated in Oregon and
California around 1970.

13. Donald W. Reid 2012
Members of the Posse Comitatus
believed that the county was the true
seat of government in the United States.
They did not deny the legal existence of
federal or state governments, but rather
claimed that the county level was the
"highest authority of government in our
Republic as it is closest to the people."
The basic Posse manual stated that there
had been "subtle subversion" of the
Constitution by various arms and levels
of government, especially the judiciary.

14. Donald W. Reid 2012
There was, in fact, a "criminal conspiracy to
obstruct justice, disfranchise citizens and
liquidate the Constitutional Republic of these
United States."
The Posse wanted to reverse this subversion
and "restore" the Republic through
• Unilateral actions by the people (i.e., the
Posse)
• Actions by the county sheriff. The sheriff,
they argued, was the only constitutional law
enforcement officer.

15. Donald W. Reid 2012
Moreover, his most important role was to protect the people
from the unlawful acts of officials of governments like
judges and government agents. Should a sheriff refuse to
carry out such duties, the people (i.e., the Posse) had the
right to hang him. In fact, the two most prominent Posse
symbols to emerge became a sheriff's badge and a hangman's
noose.

16. Donald W. Reid 2012
The Posse reached its peak in the early 1980s when a farm
crisis in the Midwest allowed Posse leaders to recruit among
angry and desperate farmers. By this time Posse ideology had
developed into an elaborate theory involving an original,
utopian form of government based upon "common law" (the
"de jure" government) that had been subverted and replaced
with an illegitimate, tyrannical government (the "de facto"
government). Americans obeyed the de facto government,
because they had been tricked into believing it was legitimate.

17. Donald W. Reid 2012
Sovereign Citizen foundation

18. Donald W. Reid 2012
The concept of a sovereign citizen originated in the Posse
Comitatus movement as a teaching of Christian Identity
minister William P. Gale. The concept has influenced the tax
protester movement, the Christian Patriot movement, and
the redemption movement—the last of which claims that
the U.S. government uses its citizens as collateral against
foreign debt.

19. Donald W. Reid 2012
Gale identified the Fourteenth Amendment to the United
States Constitution as the act that converted sovereign
citizens into federal citizens by their agreement to a contract
to accept benefits from the federal government. Other
commentators have identified other acts, including the
Uniform Commercial Code, the Emergency Banking Act,
the Zone Improvement Plan, and the alleged suppression of
the Titles of Nobility Amendment.
Many of those in the movement consider the term
"sovereign citizen" an oxymoron, preferring to view
themselves as sovereign individuals "seeking the Truth".

20. Donald W. Reid 2012
Sovereign-citizen leader Richard
McDonald has established State
Citizen Service Centers around
the United States. Writing in
American Scientific Affiliation,
Dennis L. Feucht describes
McDonald's theory, which
claims that there are two classes
of citizens in America:
the "original citizens of the states" (or "States citizens") and
"U.S. citizens." McDonald asserts that U.S. citizens or
"Fourteenth Amendment citizens" have civil rights, legislated to
give the freed black slaves after the Civil War rights comparable
to the unalienable constitutional rights of white state citizens.

21. Donald W. Reid 2012
The benefits of U.S. citizenship are received by consent in
exchange for freedom. State citizens consequently take steps
to revoke and rescind their U.S. citizenship and reassert their
de jure common-law state citizen status. This involves
removing one's self from federal jurisdiction and
relinquishing any evidence of consent to U.S. citizenship,
such as a Social Security number, driver's license, car
registration, use of ZIP codes, marriage license, voter
registration, and birth certificate.

22. Donald W. Reid 2012
Also included is refusal to pay state and federal income
taxes because citizens not under U.S. jurisdiction are not
required to pay them. Only residents (resident aliens) of
the states, not its citizens, are income-taxable, state citizens
argue. And as a state citizen land owner, one can bring
forward the original land patent and file it with the county
for absolute or allodial property rights. Such allodial
ownership is held "without recognizing any superior to
whom any duty is due on account thereof" (Black's Law
Dictionary). Superiors include those who levy property
taxes or who hold mortgages or liens against the property.

23. Donald W. Reid 2012
Legal status of theories

24. Donald W. Reid 2012
Critics of sovereign citizen theory
assert that sovereign citizens fail to
sufficiently examine the context of
the case laws from which they cite,
and ignore adverse evidence, such
as Federalist No. 15, where
Alexander Hamilton expressed the
view that the Constitution placed
everyone personally under federal
authority.

25. Donald W. Reid 2012
Variations of the argument that an individual is "sovereign"
have been rejected by the courts, especially in tax cases such
as:
• Johnson v. Commissioner,
• Wikoff v. Commissioner,
• United States v. Hart,
• Risner v. Commissioner,
• Maxwell v. Snow,
• Rowe v. Internal Revenue Serv.,
• Heitman v. Idaho State Tax Commission,
• Cobin v. Commissioner,
• Glavin v. United States, and
• United States v. Greenstreet.

26. Donald W. Reid 2012
The Internal Revenue Service has included "free born"
or "sovereign" citizenship in its list of frivolous claims
that may result in a $5000 penalty when used as the
basis for an inaccurate tax return.

27. Donald W. Reid 2012
Identifiers

28. Donald W. Reid 2012
It must be stressed that extremist identifiers should be used
only to alert officers to take safety precautions. They are not
indicators of criminal activity and should not be treated as
such.
Visible extremist identifiers are often observed on motor
vehicles and may be noticed at a person’s residence as well.
Verbal identifiers may present themselves during conversations
with such persons.

29. Donald W. Reid 2012
Vehicles belonging to extremists often display clues as to the
ideological convictions of their owners or drivers. These
include, but are not limited to, the following identifiers.
Vehicular Identifiers

30. Donald W. Reid 2012
Bogus license plates or driver’s licenses
Many anti-government extremists do not believe the government
has the right to require items such as license plates or driver’s
licenses. Some even view such items as "contracts," the use of
which implies consent to the authority of the government.

31. Donald W. Reid 2012
As a result, many extremists create their own license plates,
either to make a political statement or simply to fool law
enforcement officers. These homemade plates range from
crude cardboard plates sporting terms such as "Militia" or
"UCC1-207" to realistic looking metal plates with fictitious
countries on them such as "Washitaw Nation" or "British West
Indies."

32. Donald W. Reid 2012
Many extremists may also have fake vehicular
documents such as bogus licenses and
registrations. Another identifier that sometimes
appears on driver’s licenses is the use of strange
phrases or abbreviations following someone’s
signature.

33. Donald W. Reid 2012
“Threat, Duress, or Coercion.”
“Under Duress”

34. Donald W. Reid 2012
Common terms used in this way
include "UCC1-207" and "TDC"
(the former indicates that they are
not giving up their rights by signing;
the latter indicates that they have
signed under "threat, duress, or
coercion"). Similarly, the complete
absence of plates, license and
registration might also be a sign.

35. Donald W. Reid 2012
A sticker affixed to a vehicle window referencing U.S. Code
which describes the penalty for hindering one's free exercise or
enjoyment of privileges secured by the Constitution--such as
being detained for a traffic stop. This warning claims an extra
"use fee" of $5,000 per person per day for violations.
An example of a U.S. Constitution
Ranger vehicle door insignia

36. Donald W. Reid 2012
Many people use bumper stickers
to indicate their political or
cultural beliefs. Extremists will
often do this to an unusual
degree, displaying so many that
they turn their vehicles into what
some call "ideology-mobiles."
They might also have offensive or
simply very unusual bumper
stickers, such as "White Power" or
"Americans Don’t Wear U.N.
Blue."
Bumper stickers, placards, stickers.

37. Donald W. Reid 2012
Officers should pay attention to strange or unusual
modifications to vehicles. Some extremists have been
known to turn the whole tailgate of their pickup truck into
the equivalent of a huge bumper sticker; others paint their
vehicles with homemade camouflage patterns. Some
vehicles may even display warnings to "government agents."
Any drastic and odd modification to a vehicle, especially in
order to express some political view, ought to be a warning
sign.
Unusual modifications to their vehicle.

38. Donald W. Reid 2012
Residential Identifiers
Just as extremists sometimes adorn
their vehicles with items that serve as
warning signs to law enforcement,
they can also do the same to their
residences. Officers who approach
such homes or apartments should be
appropriately careful.

39. Donald W. Reid 2012

40. Donald W. Reid 2012
Some extremists display "No
Trespassing" signs on their
property that are noticeably
different from normal "No
Trespassing" signs: they are
directed specifically at law
enforcement officers or
government agents. Sometimes
these notices are homemade, but
several places sell manufactured
versions of these signs. Officers
have also observed signs and
placards that included warnings
to burglars that the residence is
protected by the "militia."
Signs directed at law enforcement.

41. Donald W. Reid 2012
Obviously, Klan flags, Nazi flags,
"white power" flags, and similarly
blatant displays serve as clear
warning signs. Sometimes,
however, the banners or flags
may be a little more subtle.
Extremists may display a sign
with a red line through a United
Nations logo or an upside down
American flag. An upside down
flag is traditionally a sign of
distress and extremists sometimes
use it to indicate that the country
is in distress.
Unusual banners or flags.

42. Donald W. Reid 2012
Some extremists go so far as to turn their residences into
miniature fortresses. They may reinforce walls, store
weapons in every room of a house, or in other ways
prepare for some sort of violent conflict. Many such
measures will not be visible from the outside, although
some might be. Boarded up windows in an occupied house,
slits that could be used to fire weapons through, cleared
"fields of fire," metal plating on walls—these are all
possible signs of homemade fortifications.
Signs of "fortification."

43. Donald W. Reid 2012
Conversation with extremists, particularly during
situations such as traffic stops in which an
extremist might contest an officer’s authority, may
provide clues to officers that they are dealing with
a member of an extremist group or movement.
The extremists who are most likely to offer
identifying verbal clues are those involved in anti-
government movements or groups. Members of
such groups have evolved a wide variety of verbal
and other tactics to use against police officers
during traffic stops.
Verbal Identifiers

44. Donald W. Reid 2012
Some anti-government extremists will demand to see a law
enforcement officer’s "oath of office." Some may demand to
see other documents during a traffic stop such as "arrest
warrants."
Asking for "Oath of Office"

45. Donald W. Reid 2012
Some extremists have produced warnings, questionnaires, and
other items designed to be handed to police officers who
have pulled the extremist over. These include special
"Miranda Warnings" for officers as well as "Public Servants
Questionnaires" that list more than twenty leading questions
officers are ostensibly supposed to answer and sign their
name to. People who ask that officers read or sign certain
documents before agreeing to speak or answer questions may
be giving verbal clues that they adhere to extreme ideologies.
Giving particular documents to officers

46. Donald W. Reid 2012

47. Donald W. Reid 2012
Many anti-government extremists
have developed elaborate religious
or political justifications for why
they can ignore traffic laws and
regulations. A person without a
valid driver’s license or registration
who gives unusual Biblical or
Constitutional rationalizations for
his or her actions, such as "this
Bible is my driver’s license," may
be identifying themselves with
verbal clues.
Unusual/Inapplicable references to
Bible/Constitution.

48. Donald W. Reid 2012
Members of extreme anti-government groups believe in a
plethora of unusual pseudolegal theories. Officers who are
subjected to a torrent of language about the Uniform
Commercial Code, "martial law," "emergency war powers," the
common law, or similar topics should consider it as a warning
sign.
Use of strange/pseudolegal language.

49. Donald W. Reid 2012
Many extremists will simply tell an
officer who has pulled them over or
is at their front door that the officer
simply has no authority or
jurisdiction over them. Members of
extremist groups are often taught to
refuse to roll down windows for
officers, or only to roll windows
down an inch. Extremists may
demand that an officer provide some
sort of "proof of jurisdiction"
before the extremist will cooperate
Contesting authority or jurisdiction.

50. Donald W. Reid 2012
Tactics: Terrorism and "Paper Terrorism"

51. Donald W. Reid 2012
In the early 1990s, particularly
after the deadly standoffs at
Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992
and Waco, Texas, in 1993, the
extreme right experienced a
considerable resurgence. Many
older groups like the National
Alliance increased in number,
while entirely new movements
like the militias developed.
Moribund since the decline of
the Posse, the sovereign
citizen movement enjoyed a
significant rise in numbers and
activity.

52. Donald W. Reid 2012
This activity included acts of violence, usually
against representatives of the government that
sovereign citizens so hated. In October 1993,
extremist fugitives Linda Lyon Block and
George Sibley murdered an Opelika, Alabama,
police officer in a shootout in a shopping
center parking lot.
In early 1994, a band of extremists associated
with the group Juris Christian Assembly
viciously assaulted Karen Mathews, the
Stanislaus County, California, recorder, outside
her home.

53. Donald W. Reid 2012
In May 1998, sovereign citizen and Christian
Identity adherent George Wolf shot two
volunteer firefighters in Ashtabula County,
Ohio, because their vehicle blocked him.
Occasionally, sovereign citizen groups even
engaged in high-profile standoffs with
authorities.

54. Donald W. Reid 2012
In the spring of 1996, the Montana
Freemen held off federal authorities
attempting to arrest them (on a variety
of charges) for 81 days near Jordan,
Montana.

55. Donald W. Reid 2012
The following spring,
members of Richard
McLaren's faction of the
so-called "Republic of
Texas" initiated another
armed confrontation in
far-West Texas when they
kidnapped a local couple
in response to the arrest
of one of their members.
One member was killed
during the standoff.

56. Donald W. Reid 2012
Yet despite a pattern of violent activity, the
preferred weapon of members of the sovereign
citizen movement is what has come to be called
"paper terrorism." Paper terrorism involves the use
of fraudulent legal documents and filings, as well as
the misuse of legitimate documents and filings, in
order to intimidate, harass and coerce public
officials, law enforcement officers and private
citizens.

57. Donald W. Reid 2012
Many paper terrorism tactics originated
during the days of the Posse Comitatus,
but were refined and popularized in the
1990s and distributed in books, during
seminars and through the Internet.

58. Donald W. Reid 2012
One of the first tactics of the resurgent
sovereign citizen movement was the
formation of vigilante "common law courts."
Members of these courts used them as a
forum for grievances against the "de facto"
government or for assistance in attempts to
harass their enemies. A number of common
law courts issued threats of various kinds
against public officials.

59. Donald W. Reid 2012
One of the earliest and most visible
such courts was established in
Tampa, Florida, in 1993 by Emilio
Ippolito and various followers.
Calling itself the "Constitutional
Court of We the People," the court
moved in short order from granting
divorces to issuing arrest warrants
against judges. Eventually Ippolito
and six followers were convicted in
1997 for interfering with trials in
Florida and California and for
sending letters threatening to kidnap
and arrest judges and jury members.

60. Donald W. Reid 2012
Other common law courts were equally defiant; in
the Midwest, two leaders of a central Ohio
common law court became involved in violent
confrontations during traffic stops, resulting in one
death. Common law courts were especially active
from 1994 through 1997, but because of their
relatively high visibility, they were more vulnerable
to concerted action by law enforcement officers.

61. Donald W. Reid 2012
In Missouri and Illinois, for instance, dozens of
common law court members were arrested in
1996 on harassment-related charges related to
their use of bogus liens. This vigilance on the
part of law enforcement helped shut down the
common law courts in those states. More
generally, such vigilance caused sovereign citizens
to abandon common law courts as a preferred
tactic.

62. Donald W. Reid 2012
The filing of frivolous lawsuits
and liens against public officials,
law enforcement officers and
private citizens, on the other
hand, has remained a favorite
harassing strategy. These paper
"attacks" intimidate their targets
and have the beneficial side
effect of clogging up a court
system that sovereign citizens
believe is illegitimate.

63. Donald W. Reid 2012
Frivolous liens became such a problem in the 1990s that a
majority of states were forced to pass new laws to make
filing them illegal, their removal easier, or both. Today,
eager sovereign citizens can use the Internet to download a
variety of boilerplate forms and documents to wield
against the government. More adventurous types can
matriculate at "schools" such as the Erwin Rommel School
of Law; additionally, a number of activists, ranging from
David Wynn Miller to The Aware Group, hold seminars
around the country to teach people -- for a price -- about
the latest tactics and weapons.

64. Donald W. Reid 2012
Sovereign citizens also widely use fictitious financial instruments
such as phony money orders, sight drafts and comptrollers'
warrants. Believing paper money to be invalid, the movement
easily justifies the creation of entirely new forms of "money."
From "Public Office Money Certificates" in the early 1980s to the
money orders and warrants of the 1990s, this has been a
particularly popular tactic because it potentially allows the
sovereign citizen to get something for nothing whenever a
government agency, bank, business or private citizen mistakenly
accepts one of the bogus instruments. Groups like the Montana
Freemen, Family Farm Preservation and the Republic of Texas
put out billions of dollars (face value) of such instruments before
finally being shut down.

65. Donald W. Reid 2012
The most recent surge in the use of fictitious financial
instruments began in 1999 with the development of a
tactic called "Redemption" (sometimes known as "Accept
for Value"), based on the theories of Roger Elvick, a
sovereign citizen and white supremacist convicted on
fraud charges in the 1980s. Redemptionists argue that by
using a complicated process known as "regaining one's
straw man" they can establish special Treasury
Department accounts and issue bogus instruments they
call "sight drafts" to pay off debts or make purchases.

66. Donald W. Reid 2012

67. Donald W. Reid 2012
Should law enforcement officials or others interfere
with this activity, redemptionists are told to file falsified
I.R.S. Form 8300s against them, alleging that such
officials engaged in a suspicious currency transaction.
By the end of 1999, Redemption had swept across the
country. Sovereign citizen organizations like The Aware
Group, Rightway L.A.W. and the Republic of Texas,
among others, regularly hold Redemption seminars to
teach the tactic to eager audience members.

68. Donald W. Reid 2012
A number of practitioners have been
arrested since 1999 in Idaho, Ohio, Oregon,
West Virginia and other states for attempting
to pass the fictitious sight drafts or for
harassing public officials attempting to halt
the practice. In 2001, it is probably the single
most popular sovereign citizen tactic.

69. Donald W. Reid 2012
However, sovereign citizens have a number of
other weapons at their disposal. Many have
engaged in a variety of frauds and scams,
often targeting people with similar ideological
beliefs in what might be called affinity fraud.

70. Donald W. Reid 2012
A few of these schemes, most
notably those perpetrated by the
Colorado-based We the People and
the Florida-based Greater Ministries
International in the 1990s, took in
millions of dollars. Other sovereign
citizen groups, like the Embassy of
Heaven and the Washitaw Nation,
have specialized in the creation of
fictitious car-related documents
ranging from drivers' licenses to
license plates.

71. Donald W. Reid 2012
Still others, including the Civil Rights
Task Force and the Constitution
Rangers, have created fictitious law
enforcement agencies, complete with
fake identification cards, badges and
even raid jackets. People associated
with the Civil Rights Task Force
have advocated what they term
"reverse intimidation": interrogating
the spouses of law enforcement
officers who have had dealings with
members

72. Donald W. Reid 2012
Even when jailed, sovereign citizens often continue their
activities. They teach other prisoners their tactics; as a
result, a number of non-extremist prisoners have engaged
in such sovereign citizen stratagems as filing bogus liens.
Convicted drug dealer and prisoner Kenneth E. Speight,
for instance, filed more than $12 billion in liens against
federal judges and prosecutors in Connecticut. According
to federal officials, a fellow prisoner associated with the
Montana Freemen taught Speight how to harass people
with liens.

73. Donald W. Reid 2012
Prominent Groups and Individuals

74. Donald W. Reid 2012
Sovereign citizens constitute a large and energetic
extremist movement. Activity can be found in
virtually every state, from pirate radio stations in
Florida to secessionist groups in Hawaii. Well
over a hundred sovereign citizen Web sites have
been identified. This list includes some -- but by
no means all -- of the movement's notable groups
and leaders.

75. Donald W. Reid 2012
Former publisher of Anti-Shyster
magazine (now published via the
Web) and aggressive practitioner of
"guerrilla lawfare," the Dallas, Texas-
based Adask was especially active in
the 1990s in promoting the use of
bogus liens. In addition to his Web
site, Adask also hosts a satellite radio
show.
Alfred Adask.

76. Donald W. Reid 2012
Published from Central Point,
Oregon, by Robert Kelly, it is the
leading publication promoting
sovereign citizen tactics and
activities, especially Redemption.
The American's Bulletin

77. Donald W. Reid 2012
A Greenville, South Carolina,
sovereign citizen group led by John
Howard Alexander that is active in
marketing "common law" trusts and
Redemption over the Internet and at
seminars across the country.
The Aware Group

78. Donald W. Reid 2012
A small group led by Paul Revere
(formerly Craig Fleshman) and based
in Stayton, Oregon, the Embassy
markets bogus license plates and
other automobile documents to
followers nationwide. It was evicted
from its former location for
nonpayment of local taxes.
Followers -- called "Ambassadors of
the Kingdom of Heaven" -- disdain
obedience to any earthly authority.
The Embassy of Heaven

79. Donald W. Reid 2012
From Isabella, Missouri, Gordon
runs a "School of Common Law,"
which he also promotes on his radio
show, "The American Law Hour."
George Gordon

80. Donald W. Reid 2012
Host of the "American Sovereign" radio
show and, with Lee Parker, director of
Freedom Bound International, a
"common law service center," Johnson
holds seminars nationwide to promote
his books, trusts and other products.
Brent Johnson

81. Donald W. Reid 2012
This Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based
sovereign citizen is one of the most
unusual of the "common law gurus"
who travel the country holding
seminars and offering legal advice.
Miller has created his own unique
version of English grammar, one
that even many sovereign citizens
find hard to understand or accept.
He has also been active in Canada.
David Wynn Miller

82. Donald W. Reid 2012
The original “Republic of Texas,”
formed in late 1995, soon split into
several competing factions, which
later re-unified in 2002. Daniel
Miller, the leader of one of the
factions, is the “President” of this
sovereign citizen group, which
pretends that Texas is an
independent country.
Republic of Texas

83. Donald W. Reid 2012
With headquarters in Akron, Ohio,
this group is one of the most active
sovereign citizen groups in the
country, with 15 chapters in at least
10 states. Led by Rick Schramm, Jack
Smith, Jeanne Collins and Mary
Keane, it is one of the major
promoters of Redemption. Some
chapters also reach out to prison
inmates.
Rightway L.A.W.

84. Donald W. Reid 2012
Based in Burnsville, Minnesota, Weisman is
a prolific author on "common law" topics
like martial law, the right to travel
(unfettered by traffic laws or automobile
regulations) and so forth. A Christian
Identity adherent, he is also currently one
of the most visible white supremacists
promoting sovereign citizen doctrines.
Charles Weisman

85. Donald W. Reid 2012
The resurgence of sovereign citizen activity in the 1990s led
to an unexpected development: the appropriation of
sovereign citizen ideology and tactics by a variety of African
American groups. These groups, generally identifying
themselves as "Moors," combine standard sovereign citizen
theories with many new twists and additions of their own.
Some groups are, to varying degrees, Islamic in nature,
while others adhere to various New Age philosophies.
Examples include the Moorish Nation, the United
Mawshakh Nation of Nuurs and the Washitaw Nation. A
number of such groups have ties to "traditional" sovereign
citizen groups. Many of their tactics are the same, too, from
bogus automobile documents to Redemption.
Moorish groups

86. Donald W. Reid 2012
Incidents involving members

87. Donald W. Reid 2012
Convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator
Terry Nichols was a member of the sovereign
citizen movement, having asserted individual
sovereignty in at least three court cases.

88. Donald W. Reid 2012
In May 2010, two police officers in West Memphis, Arkansas
were shot and killed by Joseph T. Kane after Kane and his
father were the subject of a traffic stop. Kane and his father
were later identified as members of the sovereign citizen
movement.
The tragic incident occurred during a rise of sovereign citizen
activity nationwide in 2009-2010. In two incidents in April
and May, a Tennessee sovereign citizen, Walter Fitzpatrick
III, and a Georgia sovereign citizen, Darren Huff, were
arrested in connection with attempts to make “citizens”
arrests of various local officials in Monroe County. In April
2010, a sovereign citizen group calling itself Guardians of
the Free Republics issued ultimatums to all 50 governors to
vacate their offices within 72 hours.

89. Donald W. Reid 2012
In September 2010, David Russell Myrland, an associate of a
sovereign citizens group, sent emails and placed telephone calls to
various officials of the City of Kirkland, Washington, telling them
to "keep their doors unlocked", that they were going to be
arrested, and that they "should not resist". Myrland also reportedly
threatened federal judges and the chief prosecutor of King
County, Washington. Myrland's threat to arrest the mayor of
Kirkland came about after he was arrested by police. His vehicle
had been impounded after he was found driving with a suspended
license and expired vehicle-license tabs. An unloaded gun with
ammunition nearby had been found on the seat of the car.

90. Donald W. Reid 2012
Although he was not a law enforcement officer, Myrland
had claimed that he had the authority to form a group of
private citizens to arrest felons in public office "as
permitted by RCW 9A.16.020" (the state statute governing
lawful use of force). On December 2, 2011, Myrland was
sentenced to three years and four months in federal prison
after pleading guilty in connection with the threats he
made, including the threat to forcibly arrest the mayor of
Kirkland, Washington. Myrland is scheduled for release
from Federal prison on December 20, 2013.

91. Donald W. Reid 2012
In March 2011, a central figure in the sovereign citizen
movement named Samuel Lynn Davis pleaded guilty to 31
counts of money laundering in Federal district court in
Nevada. Davis was snared in a sting operation after he
agreed to launder more than $1.29 million in what he
believed to be illicit funds. Davis accepted $73,782 fees to
launder the money, not realizing he was dealing with Federal
law enforcement agents. In October 2011, Davis was
sentenced to four years and nine months in Federal prison,
and was ordered to pay over $95,000 in restitution. As of
late July 2012, Davis is classified as a fugitive, having failed
to surrender to authorities to begin his prison sentence in
June 2012.

92. Donald W. Reid 2012
On February 1, 2012, Timothy Garrison, an accountant from
Mount Vernon, Washington was sentenced to three and a half
years in federal prison after having pleaded guilty to tax fraud.
He admitted to having filed about 50 falsified tax returns.
Federal prosecutors contended that Garrison's actions cost the
Internal Revenue Service over 2.4 million dollars in tax
revenues. Prosecutors also stated that the sixty year old
accountant had described himself as a “sovereign citizen”
beyond the reach of state and federal law. Garrison had
previously served time in federal prison in the 1980s in
connection with fraud against investors in a cattle ranch.
Garrison is scheduled for release from Federal prison on July
16, 2014.

93. Donald W. Reid 2012
On June 18, 2012, Francis Schaeffer
Cox, who had asserted that he was a
sovereign citizen, was found guilty in
the United States District Court in
Anchorage, Alaska, of several felony
charges including conspiracy to
commit murder.
On June 20, 2012, Anson Chi was
arrested by federal authorities for
allegedly trying to blow up a natural
gas pipe line in a residential area of
Plano, Texas.

94. Donald W. Reid 2012
On July 19, 2012, Martin Jonassen, who had described himself as a
sovereign citizen, was found guilty by a jury in a federal court of
kidnapping his 21 year old daughter, who he allegedly had sexually
abused, and of obstruction of justice. During the incident, the
daughter escaped from a hotel room where Jonassen had been
holding her, ran naked into a store and begged for help. Jonassen
was caught on surveillance footage chasing her, dragging her out of
the store and pushing her into his car. The daughter reportedly "had
never been to school and only read books about religion, history and
the government approved by her father." She had seen a doctor only
once in her life.

95. Donald W. Reid 2012
On July 24, 2012, Shawn Rice was found guilty in federal
court in Nevada in connection with the same money-
laundering scheme that resulted in the conviction of Samuel
Lynn Davis. The guilty verdicts came on one count of
conspiracy to commit money laundering, thirteen counts of
money laundering, and four counts of failure to appear in
court in connection with time that Rice spent as a fugitive.
Rice, who had also falsely claimed to be a lawyer and a rabbi,
was described as "a leader in the anti-government 'sovereign
citizens' movement."During the trial, Rice tried to argue that
the presiding federal judge had no authority to render a
judgment against Rice.

96. Donald W. Reid 2012
Defusing and Safety Techniques

97. Donald W. Reid 2012
Officers who quickly recognize that the person with whom
they are dealing may be a member of an extremist group or
movement can take safety precautions near the outset of an
encounter. Often, however, law enforcement officers may not
realize the nature of the situation until it has already escalated
to some degree.
Because of their beliefs, extremists have the potential to
transform a minor situation into a major one. They may react
out of fear, mistrust, or simply anger. They may act in ways
that would appear to be self-destructive or self-defeating.
Their beliefs may provoke them into confrontations that
under ordinary circumstances would never occur. Officers are
often at risk when this happens.

98. Donald W. Reid 2012
There are some strategies that may lessen risks to
officers and help insure that no one is hurt or
injured in a confrontation. Most of these involve
defusing techniques. Defusing techniques are methods
commonly used to manage anger in a variety of
circumstances. Typically they are designed to help
halt increases in anger and to allow angered
individuals an opportunity to vent some of their
rage relatively harmlessly. Some of them can work
well when used with extremists in high tension
situations.

99. Donald W. Reid 2012
The two key defusing techniques are ventilation and
active listening. Ventilation essentially involves letting
the other person speak, giving him or her a chance to
"ventilate" and discharge their anger. When engaging in
ventilation, one should not argue with the individual,
offer advice, or defend oneself; the purpose is to let the
other person "blow off steam," thus decreasing their
anger because they have been given a chance to express
it.

100. Donald W. Reid 2012
Active listening can occur after ventilation. Once the other
person has calmed down somewhat, it is possible to use
active listening techniques to further disarm the person.
Active listening techniques include validation, whereby the
listener lets the speaker know that he or she understands the
speaker is upset or distressed; verification, by which the listener
indicates to the speaker that he or she understands what the
speaker is saying and how the speaker is feeling; and reflective
questioning, whereby the listener asks the speaker questions
about what he or she has just said, in order to draw the
speaker out and get the speaker to slow down and consider
what he or she is talking about.

101. Donald W. Reid 2012
For law enforcement officers, the goal in using defusing
techniques is usually to slow the pace of an encounter down
and keep the situation under control. Often this can be
accomplished simply by giving extremists an opportunity to
vent their anger and suspicion rather than have it build up
uncontrollably.
Officers can usually develop a variety of
such techniques to be used in these
circumstances and in other circumstances
involving stressed individuals.

102. Donald W. Reid 2012
In addition, there are other safety
techniques that can help insure an
officer’s safety during an unexpected
encounter with a person with extreme
ideologies
Safety Techniques

103. Donald W. Reid 2012
If an officer realizes that he or she is in a potentially dangerous
situation involving an extremist, one of the first things to do is
to call for backup. There is no point in proceeding with an
encounter when the officer may clearly be at a disadvantage
vis-à-vis the extremist. Moreover, once an officer has made the
decision to call for backup, that officer should wait until that
backup arrives before proceeding. Several violent encounters
have occurred where officers called for backup during a traffic
stop involving an extremist, but did not wait for the backup to
arrive before confronting the extremist.
Call for backup

104. Donald W. Reid 2012
Don’t get confrontational/Don’t argue their beliefs. When
an extremist spouts outlandish theories or makes outrageous
statements, it is entirely natural to try to argue against those
views. However, this is almost invariably counterproductive,
as there is little chance that the extremist will change his or
her mind, and a much greater chance of raising the agitation
level of that person. Similarly, even though extremists may
well act very disrespectfully towards law enforcement
officers, becoming confrontational in turn is
counterproductive and may worsen the situation.

105. Donald W. Reid 2012
This is a specialized defusing technique. Rather than
argue with extremists, officers can simply hear them
out or respond with noncommittal answers such as
"I never thought of it that way before" or "that’s a
little too complex for me right now." Officers
should always accept literature offered to them by
extremists.
Act dumb

106. Donald W. Reid 2012
Distract their attention/change the subject.
Sometimes an officer may spot an opportunity to
distract an extremist or derail their train of
thought. If an extremist hands literature to an
officer, the officer can start asking questions about
the literature and the group or movement that
promotes it. An officer can ask a person where he
or she learned his or her beliefs or theories.
Anything that can cause an extremist to explain
rather than argue will probably help lower the
confrontation level to some degree.

107. Donald W. Reid 2012
Because extremists often view law enforcement officers more
as symbols of authority or oppression, officers may have some
success in lowering confrontation levels by "humanizing"
himself or herself. If the extremist can come to see the officer
as an individual, perhaps just a person "doing his/her job,"
rather than simply as a symbol of oppressive or tyrannical
government, then the individual may be less confrontational.
Humanizing

108. Donald W. Reid 2012
One of the key strategies in confrontation avoidance is to
convince the extremist to decide not to pursue confrontation
at that time and place. If an officer, for instance, can convince
an extremist that the real place to argue his or her theories is in
the courtroom, not on the side of the road, then the officer
may have eliminated the chances for confrontation at that
moment.
Get them to postpone oppositional tactics

109. Donald W. Reid 2012
In the final analysis, if a situation looks too risky for the law
enforcement officer to proceed, then the officer should
simply decide to pursue the matter at another time. An
officer gains nothing by needlessly placing himself or herself
at risk; whenever possible, it should be the officer who
chooses the time and place for a confrontational situation,
not the extremist.
Back off

110. Donald W. Reid 2012
Video

111. Donald W. Reid 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_y-gLm9Hrw
This Southern Poverty Law Center video was created to
help law enforcement agencies better prepare for
encounters with "sovereign citizens." In the case of two
West Memphis, Ark., police officers, Brandon Paudert
and Bill Evans, a routine traffic stop of father-and-son
sovereign citizen duo Jerry and Joe Kane in May proved
fatal when son Joe, 16, leaped from the car firing an AK-
47, cutting down both officers. The Kanes died in a
shootout with police an hour later in a Wal-Mart parking
lot after wounding two more officers. SPLC estimates
that as many as 300,000 people may consider themselves
sovereign citizens — and the number is growing.

112. Donald W. Reid 2012
Information obtained from
Law Enforcement and Open
News Sources