3 Percenters

The "Nyberg Three Percent Flag"

The Three Percenters (also styled "3%ers", "III%ers"; also "3 Percenters Club", "3 Percenters Movement") are a part of the United States paramilitary patriot movement,[1] which pledges armed resistance to fight measures to restrict firearm ownership[1] They have described themselves as a group whose primary purpose is to protect constitutional rights.[2] They have been characterized as being ideologically similar to the Oath Keepers.[1]

The group's name is based on the supposed size of the active faction in armed resistance, relative to total population, in reference to the historical Patriots in armed resistance against the British in the American Revolution.[3][4][5][6]

Foundation and aims

The movement was started in 2008, developing during the early years of the Obama administration, in reaction to a perceived trend towards an increasingly overreaching federal government, particularly a perceived trend towards stricter gun control.[7] The movement was co-founded by Mike Vanderboegh from Alabama, a member of the Oath Keepers, a group with whom they remain loosely allied,[8] and who publicized the movement on his blog "Sipsey Street Irregulars" beginning November 2008.[9] Vanderboegh claims to have formerly been a member of Students for a Democratic Society and the Socialist Workers Party, but abandoned left-wing politics in 1977 after being introduced to right-wing libertarianism.[10] The "Three Percenters Club" website was established in 2011 by one Michael Graham.[7]

Vanderboegh self-published a serial novel online, Absolved, in 2008, described as "a cautionary tale for the out-of-control gun cops of the ATF".[11][12][13]

The "Nyberg Three Percent Flag", designed by Gayle Nyberg in 2008, is based on the Betsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral III inscribed in the circle of thirteen stars.[14][15]

Activities and reception

Vanderboegh and his novel Absolved first received wider media attention in 2011, when four suspected militia members in Georgia were arrested for an alleged plan for a biological attack which had supposedly been inspired by the novel.[16][17] Vanderboegh distanced himself from the alleged plot.[18]

In 2013, Christian Allen Kerodin and associates were working on construction of a walled compound in Benewah County, Idaho "for three percenters", designed to house 7,000 persons following a major disaster, an initiative which local law enforcement has described as a "scam".[19]

In April 2013, a group of Jersey City police officers were disciplined for wearing patches reading "ONE OF THE 3%".[20][21]

On January 8, 2016, the "3 Percenters of Idaho" militia announced it was sending some of its members in support of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, allegedly in order to "secure the perimeter" and to preclude a "Waco-style situation".[22] They left several hours later after being told their assistance wasn't needed.[23] Two days previously, Vanderboegh had described the occupiers as "a collection of fruits and nuts".[24]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 Sunshine, Spencer (January 5, 2016). "Profiles on the Right: Three Percenters". Political Research Associates. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  2. ↑ Tritten, Travis (July 22, 2015). "Army to recruiters: Treat armed citizens as security threat". Stars and Stripes. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  3. ↑ "What is a "Three Percenter"?". sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com. Sipsey Street Irregulars. February 17, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2016. [T]he active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists. They were in turn actively supported by perhaps 10% of the population. In addition to these revolutionaries were perhaps another 20% who favored their cause but did little or nothing to support it [...] Three Percenters today do not claim that we represent 3% of the American people, although we might. That theory has not yet been tested. We DO claim that we represent at least 3% of American gun owners, which is still a healthy number somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 million people. History, for good or ill, is made by determined minorities.
  4. ↑ "The Tea Party's Military Wing". Mother Jones. Retrieved January 3, 2016. [T]he 3 percent of colonists said to have raised arms against the British.
  5. ↑ Bossick, Karen (June 22, 2015). "Ketchum Gun Supporters March on Newspaper". Times-News. Retrieved January 3, 2016. [T]hree percent of the people will stand up for their constitutional rights.
  6. ↑ Bill Morlin (May 16, 2013). "Behind the Walls". splcenter.org. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved January 14, 2016. [T]he minority of the population that they believe will be ready in the event of a national economic implosion.
  7. 1 2 "About Us". threepercentersclub.org. Three Percenters Club. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  8. ↑ Avlon, John (March 31, 2010). "Anti-government hate militias on the rise". CNN. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  9. ↑ "All about the Sipsey Street Irregulars & Absolved". sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com. Sipsey Street Irregulars. November 15, 2008. Retrieved January 14, 2016. Welcome to the website for the Sipsey Street Irregulars, a merry band of Three Percenters who are fans of the upcoming novel by Mike Vanderboegh, Absolved.
  10. ↑ Mencimer, Stephanie (December 14, 2011). "Meet the Former Militiaman Behind the Fast and Furious Scandal". Mother Jones. Retrieved January 3, 2016.
  11. ↑ Bill Morlin (May 16, 2013). "Michael Brian Vanderboegh". splcenter.org. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  12. ↑ Vanderboegh, Mike (July 2008). "Absolved Chapter Links". waronguns.blogspot.com. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  13. ↑ Mike Vanderboegh (July 23, 2008). "The Internet Introduction to 'Absolved'". westernrifleshooters.wordpress.com. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  14. ↑ Reported at Flags of the World in December 2010, based on mention at Sipsey Street Irregulars in September 2009, according to which the flag was first used in December 2009.
  15. ↑ "Threeper Battle Flags: Get 'em while you can.". sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com. Sipsey Street Irregulars. September 18, 2009. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  16. ↑ Bluestein, Greg (February 11, 2011). "Georgia Militia Plot: Feds Arrest Four Suspected Group Members For Alleged Biological Attack Plan". huffingtonpost.com. Associated Press. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  17. ↑ Kellogg, Carolyn (November 3, 2011). "'Online novel' allegedly inspired Georgia terrorism suspects". latimes.com. Jacket Copy blog. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  18. ↑ Gertz, Matt (November 2, 2011). "Fox "Authority" Vanderboegh On His Book Allegedly Inspiring Terrorism: "Did I Mention It Is Fiction?"". mediamatters.org. Retrieved January 14, 2016. Absolved is fiction. I hope it is a 'useful dire warning.' However, I am as much to blame for the Georgia Geriatric Terrorist Gang as Tom Clancy is for Nine Eleven.
  19. ↑ Morlin, Bill (May 16, 2013). "Behind the Walls". splcenter.org. Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved January 14, 2016. But there's no sign that the latest fantastic plans from antigovernment extremists will ever come to much. Dave Resser, the sheriff of sparsely populated Benewah County, calls the whole thing a 'scam.'
  20. ↑ Conte, Michaelangelo (April 29, 2013). "Jersey City police brass identify a pro-militia clique in the department and say they've been stopped". nj.com. The Jersey Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  21. ↑ Zeitlinger, Ron (April 29, 2013). "Jersey City police brass identify a pro-militia clique in the department and say they've been stopped". nj.com. The Jersey Journal. Retrieved January 14, 2016.
  22. ↑ Hammill, Luke (January 8, 2016). "Oregon standoff: Idaho group arrives to 'secure perimeter, prevent Waco-style situation'". The Oregonian. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  23. ↑ "More armed men visit site of Oregon wildlife refuge standoff". San Francisco Chronicle. Associated Press. January 9, 2016. Retrieved January 11, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Experts: Oregon standoff may be small, but it's tip of militia iceberg". McClatchy News Service. January 6, 2016. Retrieved January 6, 2016.

External links

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