Ammon Bundy, who once led an armed seizure of a wildlife refuge in Oregon, is now warning he will defy coronavirus stay-at-home orders and hold a large gathering at his Idaho ranch on Easter.
“Our goal is to get enough people together and secure our rights,” Bundy said. “We are not trying to provoke. We want people to be able to worship.”
The New York Post reported Bundy is planning to assert his “constitutional right” to assemble and appeared unconcerned about the virus.
He said: “I actually want the virus… I’m healthy, my family is healthy. I’d rather have it now so my body is immune to it.”
The New York Times reported that a few dozen people gathered last week to hear Bundy. The newspaper said the meeting appeared to violate an order by Gov. Brad Little to avoid group gatherings.
And the New York Post noted Little has made Idaho one of 42 states to implement stay-at-home legislation.
Boise police are aware of Bundy’s Easter plans.
“Officers have been focused on gaining voluntary compliance, said spokesperson Haley Williams. “As a last resort, if we are unable to do that, then we would refer the report to the prosecutor’s office for possible misdemeanor charges authorized by the governor’s order.”
In 2016, Bundy led the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The seizure was a flare-up in the so-called Sagebrush Rebellion, a decades-old conflict over the U.S. government's control of millions of acres of territory in the west.
Protesters claim they were defending the Constitution.
Jeffrey Rodack ✉
Jeffrey Rodack, who has nearly a half century in news as a senior editor and city editor for national and local publications, has covered politics for Newsmax for nearly seven years.
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