Randy Weaver, 1948-2022

Most readers of a certain age will recall the 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge in which Randy Weaver was wounded and his wife Victoria, his 14-year-old son Samuel, and U.S. Marshal William Degan were killed. The 11-day armed standoff with federal agents at the family’s wilderness home in northern Idaho was front-page news, and the fallout made headlines for some time thereafter. Weaver died on May 11 at age 74.

Not all memorial thoughts were benign. The Southern Poverty Law Center lamented that “in death, Weaver and Ruby Ridge are still inspiring some of the most dangerous political currents in America. … Far-right actors and conspiracy theorists took to social media to praise him as a hero and a martyr.”