The new gun culture
Michael Bane calls the latest generation of gun owners “Gun Culture 2.0,” which I find to be an exceptionally apt description. Much like the move from the “old” internet, to the current generation of interactive and social web sites was called “Web 2.0,” the Gun Culture 2.0 is a similarly remarkable change in our own community.
But the new generation of gun owners no longer fit the old-school sportsmen look of yesteryear. The new generation of gun owners are fiercely independent, yet socially active – especially in the online space. The new generation comes from urban centers as well as middle America. New gun owners are of all genders, colors, creeds and social strata. They are not Elmer Fudd.
Unlike the reserved approach to politics that the traditional firearms lobby has taken, the new generation is outspoken, unashamed and willing to fight for what they believe. They are educated on the origins of the Second Amendment and the fundamental right to be free. They do not advocate for the Second Amendment as a right to hunt, rather they perceive it as a guaranteed ability to resist an oppressive government.
But, why the shift? There are a variety of reasons, but I contend the internet is the primary reason for the revolution in the gun culture.
http://www.humanevents.com/2012/09/21/the-new-gun-culture/
Nationally and locally, civilian militias have a new look
Florida Charter Oaks militia instructor Al Rivero and lead
instructor Darren Wilburn watch as Tucker fires a handgun in June at the
Cecil M. Webb public shooting range.
Photo by Carla Varisco-Williams
Photo by Carla Varisco-Williams
By Lee Williams
Published: Sunday, September 23, 2012 at 1:00 a.m.
Last Modified: Saturday, September 22, 2012 at 9:43 p.m.
Amelia Foxwell is the new face of citizen militias in Florida. At
33, the Sarasota resident is younger than most militia members. She is
Web-savvy, eloquent and a mother who is working on a master's in
psychology.
Foxwell and fiancé Darren
Wilburn are founding members of the Florida Charter Oaks Militia, a
Sarasota- based group with about 25 active members who travel from
around the state each month to train in survival tactics and firearms
use.
Their group — and a
growing number of similar militia organizations across Florida and the
nation — does not want to be judged by the Oklahoma City bombing or
other crimes. Members see the group as a constitutional militia, based
on the Second Amendment principle of a well-armed and prepared
citizenry.
The couple
typify the new-style militia leaders. They are young, well-spoken and
physically fit — a far cry from past militia commanders known for
camouflage-clad beer bellies and outlandish statements. They are open to
scrutiny, are deft at public relations, and will soon be featured in
programs on MTV and the National Geographic Channel, focusing on their
firearms training.
Wilburn,
45, is a former Army Special Forces sergeant and decorated combat
veteran who is the group's lead trainer. He works as a private
detective.
For him, the
militia is all about personal empowerment: “We would like for every
person in the country to not be an easy victim, whether it's street
crime or political crime,” Wilburn said.
While
they still dress in camouflage and run around the Volusia County woods
with guns in monthly training exercises, they also aspire to perform
public service like participating in Neighborhood Watch and disaster
relief programs.
They led a
voter registration drive in Newtown, and plan to rent vans to help
residents of the community get to the polls on Election Day.
They decry the secretive tactics adopted by militias in the past.
“I hope we get infiltrated by the FBI,” said Wilburn, a former Green Beret. “They'll learn we've got nothing to hide.”
One of hundreds
The
Florida Charter Oaks Militia is one of the hundreds of militia and
patriot groups that sprang up across the country in the wake of the 2008
presidential elections.
Florida
had none before President Barack Obama took office. Now there are an
estimated 50, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.
The
center says patriot groups are marked by their belief in unfounded
conspiracy theories, and their heated anti-government rhetoric. They
advocate resistance, violent or passive, and strongly oppose law
enforcement, the United Nations and anything else they see as the “New
World Order.”
Militias are the armed wing of the patriot movement, the center says.
But
compared with militias in the 1990s — when the movement peaked — the
Charter Oaks militia is leaner and much more diverse. The Sarasota group
has African-American, Hispanic, Jewish and lesbian members, as well as
college students.
Members
also have diverse political views. While most are conservative, two
described their politics as far left. What unites them is a distrust of
government and a feeling they must prepare because something bad is
about to happen in America.
They also love their guns.
Mike
Brown is a new member. The former paratrooper was an infantryman in the
82nd Airborne Division. He lives in Newtown and is trying to reach out
to the African-American community. Brown, who is black, says he has not
experienced racism in the group. “It's very different from when I was in
the military,” he said.
Theories abound
Mark
Potok, editor-in-chief of the Southern Poverty Law Center's
Intelligence Report and its Hatewatch blog, is wary of Charter Oaks.
“Most
militias claim to be enlarged neighborhood watches, finding lost
children,” Potok said. “The public posturing is quite common. The bottom
line is, they may not harm anyone, but they're motivated by a
conspiratorial view of the world that borders on madness.”
A
common conspiracy theory: The federal government is about to impose
martial law with the aid of the United Nations and foreign troops who
will confiscate all privately owned firearms. Those who resist will be
shot or sent to concentration camps, which they believe are being built
by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Potok
said most patriot groups lump taxes, law enforcement, license
requirements and even the most mundane government actions into one
category: tyranny.
“For
some groups, overcoming tyranny means shaking your fist at the federal
government and making lots of noise on the Internet,” Potok said. “For
others, it involves blowing up federal buildings.”
The
Anti-Defamation League's Mark Pitcavage is a leading militia expert. A
historian by training, Pitcavage ran the ADL's Militia Watchdog website.
In the 1990s, the typical
militia member was a middle-aged man, often a laborer or small business
owner, Pitcavage said. Since the 2008 resurgence fueled by social
media, the movement has attracted younger members unfamiliar with the
Oklahoma City bombing or a spate of recent militia arrests.
Four
members of a Georgia militia were arrested last year, accused of
plotting to kill federal officials with explosives and the biotoxin
ricin. Eight members of a Christian militia, who believed the Antichrist
was coming, were arrested in Michigan in 2010 in connection with a plot
to kill police.
Younger members are drawn by the allure of exotic weapons, camouflage clothes and paramilitary training.
Foxwell,
the Charter Oaks founder, questions the research the Southern Poverty
Law Center used to classify her militia as anti-government.
She
suspects it was little more than a Google search. She notes that
several Airsoft teams — the game is similar to paintball — were listed
as anti-government when teenage members used the word “militia” in a
team name.
From arduous beginnings
Wilburn and Foxwell share a home on the edge of Newtown. They met at a gun range in Volusia County two years ago.
“I don't believe in love at first sight, but there was definitely interest and attraction,” Wilburn said.
The
pair shared more than their strong conservative beliefs. Both had
arduous childhoods, which forged them into strong individualists.
Wilburn
dropped out of high school and was “not headed down the right road,”
when at 19 he hitchhiked across the country, eventually ending up at his
grandparents' home in Ohio. His grandfather had fought in the Korean
War, and the two talked about a career in the Army.
“He told me I wasn't no momma's boy, and that I'd do fine,” Wilburn said.
Wilburn
enlisted in 1985, but ignored his grandfather's advice by volunteering
for airborne training and U.S. Special Forces. The trials he faced as a
child helped him survive the arduous training needed to earn the coveted
green beret.
“I was an
only child, and I don't have a clue who my father is, so I only had
myself to count on,” he said. “This caused me to challenge myself as
much as possible. When you grow up as the only boy, you never feel safe,
and I had to provide safety for myself and my mother.”
Wilburn excelled in Special Forces, which has been described as an army within the Army.
“There's
definitely a different set of rules. A lot of time we never referred to
each other by rank. It's much more relaxed,” he said.
In his mid-20s, wearing the distinctive headgear, it was difficult for him not to swagger a bit and become cocky.
“The
Army really was my first family — the first time I had brothers,” he
said. “It's Amelia's philosophy that that was the reason I started this
militia group.”
Foxwell
grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore. She dropped out of high school in
10th grade and ran away from home, spending 10 years on the road.
She
wound up in the Florida Keys, running a restaurant with her mother and
stepfather until it closed in 2001. She later moved to Sarasota and
enrolled at the University of South Florida.
She
earned a degree in applied psychology, is working on her master's, and
hopes to get her doctorate eventually. Her dreams are lofty.
“I
would like to set up schools and counseling rehab centers in places
like the Congo, for child soldiers,” she said. “My primary focus would
be PTSD in children, but with learning and rehab therapy.”
Five missions
Wilburn organized Charter Oaks like a Special Forces “A-Team.”
Each
member has a specialty, a skill such as communications, first aid or
weapons training, and they share skills with other members.
The
members keep in contact with one another, and with seven other militia
groups throughout the Southeast through a secure website that features
announcements, forums, multimedia and a blog. While the site is closed
to the general public, it is open to anyone who emails a request to
Wilburn.
The site contains
documents and videos offering knife-fighting techniques, survival tips,
patrolling tactics and speeches by Ron Paul, the Republican Congressman
from Texas who recently ran for president, and other lawmakers. Many of
the group's videos have decided anti-government and anti-police views.
Under
Wilburn's tutelage, Charter Oaks trains for five missions: crime
prevention, counterterrorism, disaster relief, repelling an invasion and
resisting tyranny.
They
have put their tactical training to use. Wilburn and others patrolled
the Arizona-Mexico border last year armed with M-4 carbines and
handguns. They tried to thwart illegal immigration and narcotics
trafficking. While there, they found and turned in an 80-pound bale of
marijuana.
Jerry “Buz”
Sawyer, a 60-year-old former Navy radioman from North Port, is the group
communications officer. Sawyer wrote a training manual for the group,
which includes hand signals, radio operations and guidelines for overt
and covert communications.
While
patrolling Arizona's Vekol Valley, Sawyer said the team found a “rape
tree” in the desert, a macabre trophy created by the “coyotes” who
smuggle aliens. Sawyer said that after a coyote rapes a woman in his
group, he will hang her underwear on the tree. The group found a small
pair of panties that could only have belonged to a small child.
“Why
am I involved? I've got a 3-year-old grandniece,” Sawyer said. “I look
at her and try to imagine the world that will be waiting for her when
she turns 18 — a world without the freedoms and liberties we had at 18.”
‘They come to us'
Last
month, the Cecil M. Webb public shooting range near Punta Gorda was the
scene of one of Charter Oak's outreach missions. The militia group
offers firearms training free to anyone interested in learning how to
shoot.
There was no
preaching during the class, although there would not have been much
need: The students were all like-minded. Several were considering
joining the group.
“We don't proselytize,” said Sawyer, “They come to us.”
Jim
Johnson, who came for training from Port Charlotte, was handing out
copies of the Constitution as well as books by Ron Paul and Thomas
Jefferson before class.
Wilburn
never mentioned politics during his firearms class, which consisted of
the fundamentals: stance, grip, sights and trigger control, coupled with
a heavy dose of safety throughout.
When
“Tucker,” a 30-year-old waitress from Sarasota who did not want to be
fully identified, adopted an improper shooting stance with her
strong-side leg forward rather than back, Wilburn quickly caught the
mistake and made a correction that improved her shooting.
Tucker,
who said she is considering buying her first handgun for self-defense,
had no experience with guns before the class. Now, she is comfortable
with everything from a 9mm pistol to a 12-gauge combat shotgun or an M-4
carbine.
“I am extremely
grateful, particularly for the confidence they've given me,” she said.
“I have gained a lot of knowledge, politically. I like the fact they
don't take an extreme stance on anything.”
Membership and rights
Local law enforcement was reluctant to talk about Sarasota's militia group. Sheriff Tom Knight declined comment.
Sarasota
Police Det. James LaPlante, who serves on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task
Force, and who has twice tried to interview Wilburn, also declined to
discuss Charter Oaks.
A
spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which has its
own domestic security task force, referred all militia questions to the
FBI.
Supervisory Special
Agent Michael McPherson, who coordinates the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task
Force in Tampa, pointed out it is not illegal to be a member of a
militia. Membership is a right guaranteed by the First Amendment.
McPherson
said what the FBI and his anti-terrorism task force are worried about
are “militia extremists,” or those that believe in violence.
The
FBI uses a three-pronged test to determine whether a group poses a
threat: Is there a political or social agenda, coupled with a violation
or potential violation of federal criminal law, plus some type of
threatened use of force or violence.
“If all three are met, I would be interested in investigating this type of case,” McPherson said.
Wilburn said LaPlante, the Sarasota detective, hoped to turn Wilburn into an informant.
“He
wanted us to snitch. He said I was more likely to come into contact
with dangerous people first, and asked if I would please call him,”
Wilburn said. “I told him if we have that issue, we would handle it
ourselves.”
Foxwell, a
co-founder of Charter Oaks, has been questioned by the FBI, once while
supervising an outing of fellow college students. “We consider it
standard operating procedure for an out-of-control government,” she
said.
Wilburn and Foxwell
plan to introduce themselves to Sheriff Knight, Manatee County Sheriff
Brad Steube, and other law enforcement officials.
“We want them to know that any time spent investigating us is a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Wilburn said.
Nationally and locally, civilian militias have a new lookBy LEE WILLIAMS
Amelia
Foxwell, 33, is a mother who is working on her master's in psychology.
She is also one of the founding members of the Florida Charter Oaks...
HeraldTribune.comSeptember 22, 2012 9:43 PM
<p>Amelia
Foxwell is the new face of citizen militias in Florida. At 33, the
Sarasota resident is younger than most militia members. She is
Web-savvy, eloquent and a mother who is working on a master's in
psychology.</p><p>Foxwell and fiancé Darren Wilburn are
founding members of the Florida Charter Oaks Militia, a Sarasota- based
group with about 25 active members who travel from around the state each
month to train in survival tactics and firearms
use.</p><p>Their group — and a growing number of similar
militia organizations across Florida and the nation — does not want to
be judged by the Oklahoma City bombing or other crimes. Members see the
group as a constitutional militia, based on the Second Amendment
principle of a well-armed and prepared citizenry.</p><p>The
couple typify the new-style militia leaders. They are young, well-spoken
and physically fit — a far cry from past militia commanders known for
camouflage-clad beer bellies and outlandish statements. They are open to
scrutiny, are deft at public relations, and will soon be featured in
programs on MTV and the National Geographic Channel, focusing on their
firearms training.</p><p>Wilburn, 45, is a former Army
Special Forces sergeant and decorated combat veteran who is the group's
lead trainer. He works as a private detective.</p><p>For
him, the militia is all about personal empowerment: “We would like for
every person in the country to not be an easy victim, whether it's
street crime or political crime,” Wilburn said.</p><p>While
they still dress in camouflage and run around the Volusia County woods
with guns in monthly training exercises, they also aspire to perform
public service like participating in Neighborhood Watch and disaster
relief programs.</p><p>They led a voter registration drive
in Newtown, and plan to rent vans to help residents of the community get
to the polls on Election Day.</p><p>They decry the
secretive tactics adopted by militias in the past.</p><p>“I
hope we get infiltrated by the FBI,” said Wilburn, a former Green Beret.
“They'll learn we've got nothing to
hide.”</p><p><B>One of
hundreds</B></p><p>The Florida Charter Oaks Militia is
one of the hundreds of militia and patriot groups that sprang up across
the country in the wake of the 2008 presidential
elections.</p><p>Florida had none before President Barack
Obama took office. Now there are an estimated 50, according to the
Southern Poverty Law Center.</p><p>The center says patriot
groups are marked by their belief in unfounded conspiracy theories, and
their heated anti-government rhetoric. They advocate resistance, violent
or passive, and strongly oppose law enforcement, the United Nations and
anything else they see as the “New World Order.”
</p><p>Militias are the armed wing of the patriot movement,
the center says.</p><p>But compared with militias in the
1990s — when the movement peaked — the Charter Oaks militia is leaner
and much more diverse. The Sarasota group has African-American,
Hispanic, Jewish and lesbian members, as well as college
students.</p><p>Members also have diverse political views.
While most are conservative, two described their politics as far left.
What unites them is a distrust of government and a feeling they must
prepare because something bad is about to happen in
America.</p><p>They also love their
guns.</p><p>Mike Brown is a new member. The former
paratrooper was an infantryman in the 82nd Airborne Division. He lives
in Newtown and is trying to reach out to the African-American community.
Brown, who is black, says he has not experienced racism in the group.
“It's very different from when I was in the military,” he
said.</p><p><B>Theories
abound</b></p><p>Mark Potok, editor-in-chief of the
Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Report and its Hatewatch
blog, is wary of Charter Oaks.</p><p>“Most militias claim to
be enlarged neighborhood watches, finding lost children,” Potok said.
“The public posturing is quite common. The bottom line is, they may not
harm anyone, but they're motivated by a conspiratorial view of the world
that borders on madness.”</p><p>A common conspiracy theory:
The federal government is about to impose martial law with the aid of
the United Nations and foreign troops who will confiscate all privately
owned firearms. Those who resist will be shot or sent to concentration
camps, which they believe are being built by the Federal Emergency
Management Agency.</p><p>Potok said most patriot groups lump
taxes, law enforcement, license requirements and even the most mundane
government actions into one category: tyranny. </p><p>“For
some groups, overcoming tyranny means shaking your fist at the federal
government and making lots of noise on the Internet,” Potok said. “For
others, it involves blowing up federal buildings.”
</p><p>The Anti-Defamation League's Mark Pitcavage is a
leading militia expert. A historian by training, Pitcavage ran the ADL's
Militia Watchdog website. </p><p>In the 1990s, the typical
militia member was a middle-aged man, often a laborer or small business
owner, Pitcavage said. Since the 2008 resurgence fueled by social media,
the movement has attracted younger members unfamiliar with the Oklahoma
City bombing or a spate of recent militia
arrests.</p><p>Four members of a Georgia militia were
arrested last year, accused of plotting to kill federal officials with
explosives and the biotoxin ricin. Eight members of a Christian militia,
who believed the Antichrist was coming, were arrested in Michigan in
2010 in connection with a plot to kill police.
</p><p>Younger members are drawn by the allure of exotic
weapons, camouflage clothes and paramilitary
training.</p><p>Foxwell, the Charter Oaks founder, questions
the research the Southern Poverty Law Center used to classify her
militia as anti-government.</p><p>She suspects it was little
more than a Google search. She notes that several Airsoft teams — the
game is similar to paintball — were listed as anti-government when
teenage members used the word “militia” in a team
name.</p><p><B>From arduous
beginnings</b></p><p>Wilburn and Foxwell share a home
on the edge of Newtown. They met at a gun range in Volusia County two
years ago.</p><p>“I don't believe in love at first sight,
but there was definitely interest and attraction,” Wilburn
said.</p><p>The pair shared more than their strong
conservative beliefs. Both had arduous childhoods, which forged them
into strong individualists. </p><p>Wilburn dropped out of
high school and was “not headed down the right road,” when at 19 he
hitchhiked across the country, eventually ending up at his grandparents'
home in Ohio. His grandfather had fought in the Korean War, and the two
talked about a career in the Army.</p><p>“He told me I
wasn't no momma's boy, and that I'd do fine,” Wilburn
said.</p><p>Wilburn enlisted in 1985, but ignored his
grandfather's advice by volunteering for airborne training and U.S.
Special Forces. The trials he faced as a child helped him survive the
arduous training needed to earn the coveted green
beret.</p><p>“I was an only child, and I don't have a clue
who my father is, so I only had myself to count on,” he said. “This
caused me to challenge myself as much as possible. When you grow up as
the only boy, you never feel safe, and I had to provide safety for
myself and my mother.”</p><p>Wilburn excelled in Special
Forces, which has been described as an army within the Army.
</p><p>“There's definitely a different set of rules. A lot
of time we never referred to each other by rank. It's much more
relaxed,” he said. </p><p>In his mid-20s, wearing the
distinctive headgear, it was difficult for him not to swagger a bit and
become cocky.</p><p>“The Army really was my first family —
the first time I had brothers,” he said. “It's Amelia's philosophy that
that was the reason I started this militia
group.”</p><p>Foxwell grew up on Maryland's Eastern Shore.
She dropped out of high school in 10th grade and ran away from home,
spending 10 years on the road.</p><p>She wound up in the
Florida Keys, running a restaurant with her mother and stepfather until
it closed in 2001. She later moved to Sarasota and enrolled at the
University of South Florida.</p><p>She earned a degree in
applied psychology, is working on her master's, and hopes to get her
doctorate eventually. Her dreams are lofty.</p><p>“I would
like to set up schools and counseling rehab centers in places like the
Congo, for child soldiers,” she said. “My primary focus would be PTSD in
children, but with learning and rehab
therapy.”</p><p><B>Five
missions</b></p><p>Wilburn organized Charter Oaks like
a Special Forces “A-Team.”</p><p>Each member has a
specialty, a skill such as communications, first aid or weapons
training, and they share skills with other
members.</p><p>The members keep in contact with one another,
and with seven other militia groups throughout the Southeast through a
secure website that features announcements, forums, multimedia and a
blog. While the site is closed to the general public, it is open to
anyone who emails a request to Wilburn.</p><p>The site
contains documents and videos offering knife-fighting techniques,
survival tips, patrolling tactics and speeches by Ron Paul, the
Republican Congressman from Texas who recently ran for president, and
other lawmakers. Many of the group's videos have decided anti-government
and anti-police views. </p><p>Under Wilburn's tutelage,
Charter Oaks trains for five missions: crime prevention,
counterterrorism, disaster relief, repelling an invasion and resisting
tyranny.</p><p>They have put their tactical training to use.
Wilburn and others patrolled the Arizona-Mexico border last year armed
with M-4 carbines and handguns. They tried to thwart illegal immigration
and narcotics trafficking. While there, they found and turned in an
80-pound bale of marijuana.</p><p>Jerry “Buz” Sawyer, a
60-year-old former Navy radioman from North Port, is the group
communications officer. Sawyer wrote a training manual for the group,
which includes hand signals, radio operations and guidelines for overt
and covert communications.</p><p>While patrolling Arizona's
Vekol Valley, Sawyer said the team found a “rape tree” in the desert, a
macabre trophy created by the “coyotes” who smuggle aliens. Sawyer said
that after a coyote rapes a woman in his group, he will hang her
underwear on the tree. The group found a small pair of panties that
could only have belonged to a small child.</p><p>“Why am I
involved? I've got a 3-year-old grandniece,” Sawyer said. “I look at her
and try to imagine the world that will be waiting for her when she
turns 18 — a world without the freedoms and liberties we had at
18.”</p><p><B>‘They come to
us'</b></p><p>Last month, the Cecil M. Webb public
shooting range near Punta Gorda was the scene of one of Charter Oak's
outreach missions. The militia group offers firearms training free to
anyone interested in learning how to shoot.</p><p>There was
no preaching during the class, although there would not have been much
need: The students were all like-minded. Several were considering
joining the group.</p><p>“We don't proselytize,” said
Sawyer, “They come to us.”</p><p>Jim Johnson, who came for
training from Port Charlotte, was handing out copies of the Constitution
as well as books by Ron Paul and Thomas Jefferson before
class.</p><p>Wilburn never mentioned politics during his
firearms class, which consisted of the fundamentals: stance, grip,
sights and trigger control, coupled with a heavy dose of safety
throughout.</p><p>When “Tucker,” a 30-year-old waitress from
Sarasota who did not want to be fully identified, adopted an improper
shooting stance with her strong-side leg forward rather than back,
Wilburn quickly caught the mistake and made a correction that improved
her shooting. </p><p>Tucker, who said she is considering
buying her first handgun for self-defense, had no experience with guns
before the class. Now, she is comfortable with everything from a 9mm
pistol to a 12-gauge combat shotgun or an M-4 carbine.
</p><p>“I am extremely grateful, particularly for the
confidence they've given me,” she said. “I have gained a lot of
knowledge, politically. I like the fact they don't take an extreme
stance on anything.”</p><p><B>Membership and
rights</b></p><p>Local law enforcement was reluctant
to talk about Sarasota's militia group. Sheriff Tom Knight declined
comment.</p><p>Sarasota Police Det. James LaPlante, who
serves on the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, and who has twice tried to
interview Wilburn, also declined to discuss Charter
Oaks.</p><p>A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement, which has its own domestic security task force, referred
all militia questions to the FBI.</p><p>Supervisory Special
Agent Michael McPherson, who coordinates the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task
Force in Tampa, pointed out it is not illegal to be a member of a
militia. Membership is a right guaranteed by the First
Amendment.</p><p>McPherson said what the FBI and his
anti-terrorism task force are worried about are “militia extremists,” or
those that believe in violence.</p><p>The FBI uses a
three-pronged test to determine whether a group poses a threat: Is there
a political or social agenda, coupled with a violation or potential
violation of federal criminal law, plus some type of threatened use of
force or violence.</p><p>“If all three are met, I would be
interested in investigating this type of case,” McPherson said.
</p><p>Wilburn said LaPlante, the Sarasota detective, hoped
to turn Wilburn into an informant.</p><p>“He wanted us to
snitch. He said I was more likely to come into contact with dangerous
people first, and asked if I would please call him,” Wilburn said. “I
told him if we have that issue, we would handle it ourselves.”
</p><p>Foxwell, a co-founder of Charter Oaks, has been
questioned by the FBI, once while supervising an outing of fellow
college students. “We consider it standard operating procedure for an
out-of-control government,” she said.</p><p>Wilburn and
Foxwell plan to introduce themselves to Sheriff Knight, Manatee County
Sheriff Brad Steube, and other law enforcement officials.
</p><p>“We want them to know that any time spent
investigating us is a waste of taxpayer dollars,” Wilburn
said.</p>
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