The leader of the armed group of people who have taken over a federal building in eastern Oregon said government officials ignored their complaints and forced them to seize the building.
Ammon Bundy spoke to reporters Monday afternoon outside the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the headquarters of which he and other armed anti-government extremists seized this weekend. They are holed up in the building, calling for other anti-government extremists to join them in their plan to hold out there for years. Ammon Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who had a standoff with the government over grazing rights in 2014.
Bundy said he and his group, who call themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, were drawn to the remote eastern Oregon area by the cases of Dwight and Steven Hammond. The father and son duo were convicted of lighting a fire on federal land to cover up poaching and are set to go to federal prison Monday.
Bundy says the charges are really an attempt for the federal government to punish the Hammonds for not selling their ranch. He said it’s the latest in a number of intimidation tactics used by the government.
“They have multiple times refused the purchase of [the ranch] and because of that have been prosecuted for actions that ranchers have done for over 100 years in this county,” Bundy said, adding the Hammonds were “protecting their private property.”
The Hammonds have distanced themselves from Bundy and his crew, which media reports estimate ranges between 15 and 150 people.
Bundy says the Hammonds were lighting a controlled burn to clear undergrowth that spread to federal land.
The Hammonds were tried and convicted of burning the federal land to cover up poaching, but were initially given a sentence below what was required by law due to the judge’s discretion. The government appealed the sentence and the Hammonds are now set to serve five years in prison under anti-terrorism laws passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
Bundy and his group have called for a grand jury or an evidentiary hearing to take another look at all the evidence. It would be rare for a grand jury to examine the evidence in a case that a jury already has ruled on.
What the conflict really comes down to is the long-running dispute over land ownership between ranchers and the federal government.
The Hammonds and Bundys both claim the federal government does not control the land and doesn’t have the right to prosecute the Hammonds. The Bundys say the land in the West belongs to ranchers like themselves and not the federal government.
Bundy said Monday the federal government needs to abide by the Constitution.
“We have allowed our federal government to step outside the bounds of the Constitution. They are coming down into the states and taking over the land and the resources, putting people into duress, putting the people into poverty,” he said.
