QuoteWhile this month's images of camouflaged armed occupiers in rural Oregon are bizarre, almost comical, the small violent fringes of the Patriot anti-government umbrella movement to which they belong represents one of the most prominent extremist threats to the nation — and that's no laughing matter.



The Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism asserts that while the terror threat has now decisively shifted to foreign related extremism, since 9/11 more Americans have actually been killed, 48, in far right wing attacks, according to data from the New America Foundation.



As the armed occupation of Oregon's remote Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by anti-government extremists enters its third week, everyone from late night comedians to the local sheriff has weighed in on the confusing situation. The incarceration of two local Oregon ranchers for arson, along with other grievances, spurred the armed takeover of the refuge after peaceful protests on Jan. 2.



It's almost a stand-off, but not quite, but not quite a peaceful protest either. This rag tag assortment of armed dissenters have been dubbed YeeHawdists by their critics for their sometimes rifle toting appearance in cowboy hats and camouflage. They have been confronted not by an army of law enforcement as they had hoped, but by shivering media armed with parkas, video cameras, spiral notepads and questions.



The occupiers' plainspoken talk of God, the Constitution, ranching and the dangers of an overarching federal government are themes that would seemingly resonate with many patriotic Americans.



But their occupation has properly fallen flat even among mainstream conservatives.



Fox News Anchor Megyn Kelly rightly summed it up when she pointed out that the convicted ranchers' appeal was even rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. She asked occupation leader Ammon Bundy: "How is what you are doing not lawlessness?"



It is, and that's what makes the anti-government Patriot movement to which Bundy and his adherents more menacing than it may at first glance appear. Anti-government extremists are emboldened by confrontations when the response is too lax, and enraged when met with force. For now, however, law enforcement is using the most prudent method to de-escalate — by waiting a bit.



Ammon Bundy, who happily took over half-a-million dollars in loans from the federal government, was in an armed standoff in April 2014, along with "militia" supporters who blocked a state highway and confronted rangers enforcing a federal court order against his father for years of trespass on government land and refusal to pay grazing fees. Ammon also kicked a police dog and was tasered, while armed supporters pointed weapons at federal and local law enforcement. Two anti-government Bundy supporters, who were booted from the ranch area by the family, later went on two kill three, including two ambushed Las Vegas police officers.



Consistent with our analysis, the Anti-Defamation League reported that last year white supremacists, violent anti-abortion adherents and anti-government extremists were involved in the majority of fatal domestic extremist attacks. The Southern Poverty Law Center stated that in 2015 there were 276 militia groups in the United States, an increase of 37% from the previous year, but below 2011's peak of 334.



The difference between anti-government extremists and mainstream conservatives of good will, as well as populists: They want to change government through bullets and threats, not ballots. That is a distinction a civilized democracy must address, no matter where on the ideological spectrum the tactic falls.



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