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I am a state-level leader in a firearms education group that the SPLC characterizes as a militia. Every individual instructor I've worked with has spoken out ag

I am a state-level leader in a firearms education group that the SPLC characterizes as a militia. Every individual instructor I've worked with has spoken out against this overreach.

rdl 13y ago
Now I'm curious, which group gets this honor?
- presidentender 13y ago
  It's called Project Appleseed. There certainly are some people involved with whom I disagree, but the stated goals of civic engagement, firearms safety, and political neutrality are things I can get behind.
  - rdl 13y ago
    Uh, wtf. That's approximately as threatening a group as the Boy Scouts. SPLC is crazy, now I have to question the rest of their work.
    - presidentender 13y ago
      As dragonwriter points out, I mislead you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6263959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6263959
      - rdl 13y ago
        Ah, makes sense. I guess I'm sensitive on the militia issue, because I think it would be awesome to set up a militia to provide the non-combat military services (communications, medical, maintenance, operating airfields, water, etc.) in a post disaster environment -- and doing it in a way with organic security, so you could go in directly to a place like Haiti or even Somalia without delay. The "light infantry fighting in the woods" militia is dumb, though.
        presidentender 13y ago
        >The "light infantry fighting in the woods" militia is dumb, though. Tell me about it.
dragonwriter 13y ago
The organization you identify later in the thread (Project Appleseed) does not appear to be on any list of militias, "patriot groups", or hate groups published by the SPLC that I can find [2]. The closest evidence thing I can find to anyone from the SPLC identifying Project Appleseed as a militia is a 2010 New York Times article [1] about Project Appleseed in which the article (not the SPLC) spends some time discussing Appleseed in the context of militia and Tea Party movements, and someone from the SPLC -- not labeling Appleseed a militia -- is quoted referring to the possibility that someone from an extremist group would come to Appleseed and learn to be a sniper in a paragraph about that being a threat to (not from) Appleseed. I do find lots of links to that article on right-wing, pro-gun blogs pointing to this article referring to it being the NY Times and/or SPLC and/or the Jews supposedly behind either or both of those organizations targetting Appleseed, but I don't see any evidence that the SPLC has actually labelled Appleseed a militia. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.htm... [2] Particularly, its not on this list of Patriot groups (of which militias are subset): http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/active-patriot-groups-in-the-united-states http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/br...
- presidentender 13y ago
  I stand corrected. My information came secondhand from a Border Patrol agent, who asserted that we were part of a list he'd seen, and from conversation with some of those folks who are posting on the forums you mentioned. I should've sourced it myself before speaking, and I apologize for my failure to do so. My point was not to impugn the SPLC specifically, but rather to indicate that a group that draws some criticism for its firearms association includes a whole lot of people who are very angry about NSA surveillance.

I am a state-level leader in a firearms education group that the SPLC characterizes as a militia. Every individual instructor I've worked with has spoken out against this overreach.

rdl 13y ago

Now I'm curious, which group gets this honor?

presidentender 13y ago
It's called Project Appleseed. There certainly are some people involved with whom I disagree, but the stated goals of civic engagement, firearms safety, and political neutrality are things I can get behind.
- rdl 13y ago
  Uh, wtf. That's approximately as threatening a group as the Boy Scouts. SPLC is crazy, now I have to question the rest of their work.
  - presidentender 13y ago
    As dragonwriter points out, I mislead you: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6263959 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6263959
    - rdl 13y ago
      Ah, makes sense. I guess I'm sensitive on the militia issue, because I think it would be awesome to set up a militia to provide the non-combat military services (communications, medical, maintenance, operating airfields, water, etc.) in a post disaster environment -- and doing it in a way with organic security, so you could go in directly to a place like Haiti or even Somalia without delay. The "light infantry fighting in the woods" militia is dumb, though.
      - presidentender 13y ago
        >The "light infantry fighting in the woods" militia is dumb, though. Tell me about it.

dragonwriter 13y ago

The organization you identify later in the thread (Project Appleseed) does not appear to be on any list of militias, "patriot groups", or hate groups published by the SPLC that I can find [2]. The closest evidence thing I can find to anyone from the SPLC identifying Project Appleseed as a militia is a 2010 New York Times article [1] about Project Appleseed in which the article (not the SPLC) spends some time discussing Appleseed in the context of militia and Tea Party movements, and someone from the SPLC -- not labeling Appleseed a militia -- is quoted referring to the possibility that someone from an extremist group would come to Appleseed and learn to be a sniper in a paragraph about that being a threat to (not from) Appleseed. I do find lots of links to that article on right-wing, pro-gun blogs pointing to this article referring to it being the NY Times and/or SPLC and/or the Jews supposedly behind either or both of those organizations targetting Appleseed, but I don't see any evidence that the SPLC has actually labelled Appleseed a militia. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.html?pagewanted=all http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/01/magazine/01Appleseed-t.htm... [2] Particularly, its not on this list of Patriot groups (of which militias are subset): http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2012/spring/active-patriot-groups-in-the-united-states http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/br...

presidentender 13y ago
I stand corrected. My information came secondhand from a Border Patrol agent, who asserted that we were part of a list he'd seen, and from conversation with some of those folks who are posting on the forums you mentioned. I should've sourced it myself before speaking, and I apologize for my failure to do so. My point was not to impugn the SPLC specifically, but rather to indicate that a group that draws some criticism for its firearms association includes a whole lot of people who are very angry about NSA surveillance.