The Conflict

Militia movements—and militant individuals—have violently attacked people and groups in the United States. Government officials, especially the U.S. government, and specifically the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) have countered the militias' actions.

Religious

• The stated beliefs of the militia groups are often based in Christianity. The militia groups often regard the U.S. as overrun with and under the control of Jews and "godlessness."

Political

• The militia groups often believe that the U.S. government is unjustly taxing them, limiting gun ownership, and inflicting regulations and restrictions on them.

Economic

• Militias grew in the wake of the farm crisis of the early 1980s.

Ruby Ridge. Waco. The Oklahoma City bombing. Militia groups. "Patriot...