..."Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Paul Revere. On the 18th of April in '75, hardly a man is now alive who remembers..."

April 19, 1993, Branch Davidian compound, Waco, TX:
"It started just a few minutes ago. As you can see, in this 40-mile an hour wind, it seems to be spreading quite rapidly."

Senator ARLEN SPECTER (R-PA) (Hearing on militias):
"To what extent are Americans joining the militia because they feel, rightly or wrongly, that the federal government poses a threat to their constitutional rights."

JAMES JOHNSON, Ohio Unorganized Militia (at hearing):
"You're pushing people's backs against the wall out there."

JOHN TROCHMANN, Militia of Montana (at hearing):
"At the present time, we view the militia movement as a giant neighborhood watch."

Senator SPECTER:" To what extent, if at all, do the militia post a threat to public safety and the federal government?"

Rep. CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): "These groups are sending a chill through sections of this country. People are afraid to participate in town hall meetings, express their views publicly or take part in the political process."

DEBORAH J. KOTTEL, State Representative, Montana: "No one person should ever be allowed to further their political agenda through the threats of violence."

NARRATOR: Private citizens are organizing, arming, and training in military-style units with the intent to resist what they believe is excessive federal interference in their lives. Are they a legitimate expression of citizen concern or a dangerous tear in the social fabric of the nation?

Admiral JOHN SHANAHAN: I'm Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, director of the Center for Defense Information.

The militia of the 1776 era earned a glorious place in the history of our great nation. Contemporary private militias, on the other hand, are attempting to undermine one of our fundamental principles: That we are a nation of people governed by the rule of law and not by the rule of man. We, the people, need to guard against any attempt to alter that fundamental principle.

..."A hurry of hoofs on a village street. And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark. The fate of the nation was riding that night. And the spark struck out by that steed in his flight kindled the land into flame with its heat..."

NARRATOR: Probably every American child knows of the midnight ride of Paul Revere and the Minutemen of Lexington and Concord who "fired the shot heard 'round the world."

Comparing themselves with Revolutionary era militias, the modern paramilitary movement tries to appropriate for its own ends the echoes of the patriots of 1775.

MILITIA Speaker: "Do you want to take this nation back, think about eating an elephant. You don't eat it all at once. You just grab hold and start gnawing where you are. And I say to you that we can take back Michigan and we can take it back county by county.

"We can establish 83 strong constitutional and legal brigades in this state. And when we do, and when our numbers rise, and when we're organized, and when we're legitimate, and when we are visible before all, then perhaps one day -- one day we won't have to go groveling to the politicians begging. They'll come to us asking us, 'What do you want me to do?' And that'll be a change, won't it, a refreshing change. Jefferson -- (Applause.)

"Jefferson said that when the government fears the people, you have what? Liberty. But when the people fear the government, you have tyranny. You know the words. You know the words."

NARRATOR: In the 1760s and 1770s, American colonists felt their rights were being taken. British troops camped on Boston Common in peacetime and Boston residents were stripped of their firearms. In London, Parliament decreed that a special license was needed to ship arms and powder to the colonies.

Years later, in considering the proposed federal constitution, these and other affronts to liberty produced the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."

Fear and prudence underscored this amendment. The fear was of a future standing army that might be used against individuals and even individual states. James William Gibson, author of "Warrior Dreams: Paramilitary Culture in Post-Vietnam America," connects this fear to the rise of the modern militia movement.

JAMES WILLIAM GIBSON: There's a sense of retreat, that the social contract between the individual and government and society has collapsed, and that the only world that you can count on is the world within reach of your weapon.

NARRATOR: Since police forces were rare in the 1700s, well-regulated militias provided local community self-defense, as well as a corps of trained men upon which to build a national military force when required. Americans have struggled ever since to balance the rights of individual citizens to be free of oppressive government with the need for a governing structure within which the rights of all are recognized and protected.

Senator SPECTER (at hearing on militias):
"We have seen substantial numbers of men and women in uniform, under arms, organizing, all of which is within their constitutional rights. But with the growth of the militia in many states, there is at least some reason to raise an inquiry as to whether there is a threat to public safety."

NARRATOR: The immediate cause for the Senate hearing was the bombing of the Oklahoma City Federal Building on April 19th, 1995. On the same date, two years earlier, FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents attempted to forcibly end the standoff at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas. Over 75 people died.

Militias saw Waco as a call to arms in their struggle against what they perceive as a government intent on curtailing their constitutional rights.

Mr. GIBSON: Certainly with paramilitary culture and the militia movement, it's the beginning of the end. And they see this as a breaking of a covenant, that the Second Amendment is seen as a covenant between God and the American people, and that all of our freedoms and all of our prosperity and the entire American way of life, in effect, rests upon individual ownership of any combat weapon the person so desires. (Pledge of Allegiance recited at militia meeting.)

NARRATOR: Waco triggered a rapid growth of modern militias in virtually all states, with some estimates as high as 100,000 members nationwide.

For eight years, Daniel Junas has studied and written extensively about the militia movement.

DANIEL JANUS: The unifying ideology, to the extent that there is one in the militia movement, is anti-federalism. So, there is a fear of the federal government and a hatred of the federal government that we see motivating a lot of the militias.

NARRATOR: While many Americans are unhappy about aspects of federal policy, most use nonviolent methods to express concerns to elected officials. But not all.

Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA) (Hearing on militias):
"I have a great deal of problems with the self-called military -- paramilitary organizations who train for the purpose of insurrection, or attack on law enforcement officials, or assassination of individuals."

NARRATOR: Although emphasizing gun ownership as a "God-given" right, many militias connect this position to a much larger issue: Whether armed private citizens have the constitutional right to meet and to conduct military-style training without authority or direction from state governors and legislatures.

Sen. FEINSTEIN: "Well, I've been reading our Constitution. I see nothing in the Constitution which provides for these kinds of private armies. And militia is rather well-defined in the Constitution."

NARRATOR: The first clause of the Second Amendment clearly links the right to engage in military-style maneuvers to authorized militias. Citizens can bear arms as part of a state- organized force whose duty is collective defense.

The Constitution, together with subsequent laws, refers to three different authorized military or quasi-military entities: The National Guard, state defense forces, and the unorganized militia.

Major General John F. D'Araujo, director of the Army National Guard, traces today's Guard to 17th Century militias and explains how they differ.

Major General JOHN D'ARAUJO: The major difference is the regiments in Massachusetts in 1636 were purely state, no federal connection. In 1903 and 1916, the major shift is we are now a primary federal reserve of the Army.

NARRATOR: In peacetime, governors command their state's National Guard. Should this body be federalized for any reason, governors have the option to organize a replacement force.

GEN. D'ARAUJO: Each state is authorized by law to organize a state defense force, complete and distinct from the National Guard of the United States. That state defense force answers directly to the state, has no relationship to the federal government and is not supported by the federal government in any way.

NARRATOR: Lastly, federal and state laws refer to an "unorganized militia" which has no inherent structure, but could be organized by governors in case of an overwhelming disaster.

GEN. D'ARAUJO: Then you have the unorganized militia which, by ancient statute, identifies all males between the ages of 17 and 45 years of age. No other structure other than to identify all the able-bodied males in the country.

NARRATOR: What the Constitution doesn't recognize, and what alarms many, are modern privately organized armies, the self-proclaimed militias.

GEN. D'ARAUJO: Now we have the next category, which has been receiving a lot of notoriety recently. And these are private individuals who call themselves militia, some organized along the paramilitary structures, answers to no government, state or federal, and is not affiliated with the other three in way, shape or form.

NORMAN OLSON, Northern Michigan Militia (at hearing):
"I'm afraid that America has grown lazy, America has fallen asleep at the controls. America has allowed liberty and freedom to slip through its fingers, and now we are in a very dark and ominous time. And I am afraid that unless the attitude and unless the spirit of our land changes, and unless we esteem liberty and freedom highly, that armed conflict will be inevitable."

NARRATOR: Heedless of the rights of others, private militias claim for themselves the right to resist federal and local authorities who, they say, are intent on taking their weapons, land, livelihood, and ultimately their freedom.

To many this sounds bizarre. But Idaho's Representative Helen Chenoweth, a member of the Republican Firearms Legislative Task Force, supports the concept of privately organized militias.

Rep. HELEN CHENOWETH (R-ID): It's still there on the books, that all men who are of legal age or not convicted felons and who are not insane should be members of the militia.

NARRATOR: While militias probably exist in all states, groups in the west appear more numerous and vocal.

Mr. GIBSON: Now it seems to have more appeal in the west where the notion of a warrior -- which is the key concept in paramilitary culture, the warrior who fights outside the military or police -- can kind of resonate with the frontier heritage of the cowboy or the frontiersman who's not a member of any organization either.

NARRATOR: Daniel Junas emphasizes the perception of economic decline as a major cause inducing citizens to join private militias.

Mr. JANUS: There's been a great deal of economic distress with the globalization of the American economy and the decline of manufacturing jobs. In the western states, we've had a lot of economic dislocations because of the playing out of natural resources and environmental restrictions or perceived problems because of environmental restrictions and these grievances have not really been addressed by our political system.

NARRATOR: Militia representatives were invited to air their grievances at a Senate hearing which also included testimony from federal and local law enforcement officers on how they viewed armed militias.

Senator HERBERT KOHL (D-WI) (at hearing):
"Would you describe them as useful, benign, disturbing or dangerous? Mr. Bryant?"

ROBERT BRYANT, Federal Bureau of Investigation: "I would describe them as disturbing and some parts of them very dangerous."

Sen. KOHL: "Mr. Brown?"

JAMES BROWN, Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms: "Disturbing and dangerous, as well."

Sen. KOHL: "Mr. Mills?"

COL. FRED MILLS, Superintendent, Missouri Highway Patrol: "I'd say the same thing. We're seeing them become more hateful and more violent than we ever had in the past. So, I -- they're dangerous."

Sen. KOHL: "Mr. Romley?"

RICHARD ROMLEY, County Attorney, Maricopa County, Arizona: "Disturbing and dangerous with a fanatic fringe."

Sen. KOHL: "And, Mr. Bowman?"

JOHN BOWMAN, County Attorney, Round-up County, Montana: "Dangerous. They are too apt to interfere, ready to interfere with any law enforcement."

NARRATOR: But "disturbing" and "dangerous" seem mild descriptions compared to the testimony of witnesses at a subsequent hearing on militias chaired by Representative Charles Schumer.

ELLEN GRAY, Washington State Audobon Society: "A man I did not recognize reached under his seat, pulled out a hangman's noose and shook it in my face, and said, 'This is a message for you.' Immediately afterwards, another man I did not recognize approached me. He leaned toward me and he said, 'We have a militia of 10,000 and if we can't beat you at the ballot box, we'll beat you with a bullet.'

DEBORAH KOTTEL, Montana State Representative: "One man of many called me a traitor and threatened to kill my children."

KAREN MATTHEWS, Clerk-Recorder, Stanislaus County, CA: "I was attacked and beaten by two men. I was knocked to the floor, slashed with what I believe to be a knife, kicked repeatedly, punched and, finally, a gun was placed to my head and the trigger was pulled several times. My assailant said that I was a messenger to all recorders, that if we did not begin to do our jobs and record their documents, this would happen to them, too."

NARRATOR: Not all the threats to freedom that militias cite are confined to state and federal governments. Their conspiracy theories also demand an external enemy. Having lost the Soviet Union and the communist threat, militias now focus on the notion of world government.

MILITIA OF MONTANA Spokesperson: "If it was planned and organized and put together by people 30, 40 years ago, right after they created the United Nations to do what they're doing to you today and to your grandchildren next year, it's not a conspiracy freak, that is a conspiracy, folks. Open up your eyes and let's find out what's happening. And it's time to call these people on the carpet that are continuing the movement into one world government.

"These are reconnaissance units for chemical and biological weaponry. You can get a look at this, it's amazing. This goes on and on. If you'll notice, half of them or some of them now at this point in time have been painted the friendly United Nations white.

Mr. GIBSON: If you look at this idea of the enemy, it's very similar to the way communism was conceptualized during the Cold War. It's a notion of an intrusive totalitarian organization that's going to destroy American identity and destroy American freedom.

JOHN TROCHMANN, Militia of Montana (at hearing):
"When government allows our military to be ordered and controlled by foreigners under presidential order, allowing foreign armies to train on our soil, allowing our military to label caring patriots as the enemy, then turns their tanks loose on US citizens to murder and destroy or directs a sniper to shoot a mother in the face while holding her infant in her arms, you bet your constituents get upset."

Mr. JANUS: Much of the militia propaganda revolves around a fear of what they call the "new world order," which is supposed to be an international conspiracy or a conspiracy of international elites which is working through the United Nations.

NARRATOR: Despite their extreme fears and distortion of facts, militias have influenced government actions. One expensive example saw the state of Indiana forced to replace road signs because militias claim to have found secret codes on the back of them telling invading UN forces where to go.

While the road sign saga may appear humorous, militias are deadly serious about responding to the use of excessive force by federal agents with their own threats of force. Militias point to Ruby Ridge, Idaho, where Mrs. Vicki Weaver and her son were killed, and the Branch Davidian siege at Waco as examples. Where at worst some might see these as tragic government mistakes, the militia movement sees a conspiracy of government terror.

Representative Chenoweth faults FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents for using excessive force in both cases and suggests that they are an unrecognized "standing army."

Rep. CHENOWETH: Our Founding Fathers warned us very carefully about a national police force and that police and law enforcement activities should be geared towards the local levels.

NARRATOR: For the militias, Orwell's 1984 has finally arrived. Although they claim affinity to colonial militias, the modern paramilitary phenomenon is a post-Vietnam development fueled by a much older philosophy of hate.

Militia leaders loudly proclaim that they're not racists or hate mongers and point to the fact that non-whites have joined their movement.

JAMES JOHNSON, Ohio Unorganized Militia (at hearing):
"What this militia is now, it's a mindset. It's the civil rights movement of the 90s. It's people sitting there with 'Don't Tread on Me' stamped across their forehead. There's people drawing a line in the sand."

NARRATOR: But those tracking militias point out that many in the movement have ties to white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups.

As for their make-up, militia members are former military personnel, tax resisters, gun enthusiasts, war veterans and others who crave the excitement of "living on the edge," even if only for a weekend. And then there are those who feel the government has stacked the deck of opportunity against them.

Mr. GIBSON: We've seen defeat in Vietnam in the 70s, crises in government, such as Watergate, beginnings of deindustrializa- tion in the American economy and significant economic changes in 25 years. We've seen a racial order change considerably from overwhelming white dominance to a white dominance with much more mobility by blacks, and Hispanics, and other non-white groups. And at the same time, also a tremendous feminist movement, where traditional masculinity has been under criticism in many ways.

NARRATOR: Time, law and philosophy separate modern paramilitaries from the colonial militias and the spirit of the Constitution. These modern militias more resemble vigilantes.

When sheriffs were few and far away, vigilante groups formed to deal with specific local threats, such as rustlers or robbers. Too often, however, the "law" they enforced was their own. Acting as sheriff, judge, jury, executioner, vigilantes clearly were little more than armed mobs.

One militia witness talked in terms that could easily describe a modern vigilante.

NORMAN OLSON Northern Michigan Militia (at hearing):
"The primary defense of the state rests with the citizen militia bearing its own arms. Fundamentally, it is not the state that defends the people, but the people who defend the state."

Rep. CHENOWETH: Because the Great Plains and the west were the last to be settled, we still guard the -- or regard the sheriff as the highest law enforcement officer in the nation, or in the county. And, militia, as I understand it, are there to be deputized and to help the sheriff when he calls on them.

NARRATOR: As the nation matured, public safety gradually became the responsibility of government. In the militia's version of history, this transfer of power also increased the possibility of the federal government subverting individual rights. According to militia thinking, legislation such as the Brady Bill and the crime bill are direct threats to the right to bear arms.

James Gibson disagrees.

Mr. GIBSON: The so-called assault rifle ban though is, in many ways, a misnomer. Contrary to what most people think, no guns disappeared from the shelves of American gun stores. The ban said no new domestic manufacture or no new importation of 19 named weapons. However, all the weapons that were in the wholesale markets and on the retail shelves and in individual possession, those were all legal weapons.

NARRATOR: With some 223 million firearms already available to the general population, America is the most heavily armed nation on earth.

The bomb that destroyed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19th, 1995 killed 168 people. Militia groups all denied any connection and most publicly denounced it.

JAMES JOHNSON, Ohio Unorganized Militia (at hearing):
"We're not baby killers, we're baby boomers. We're not terrorists, we're taxpayers. We're not extremists, we're just extremely ticked off at the way the government is deviating away from what's going on around here."

NARRATOR: Nonetheless, the alleged bombers have histories of involvement in militia culture and formal military training. This raises the unsettling possibility that radical militia thinking and sentiment have penetrated active military forces. Joining militias is not prohibited by military regulations, but service members are prohibited from actively participating in militia activities.

GEN. D'ARAUJO: The same Department of Defense directives that are appropriate for the active services apply to the National Guard in that context. Therefore, any Guard member, National Guard member is prohibited from taking active participation, recruiting, training, rallying, organizing.
"...So, through the night rode Paul Revere, to every Middlesex village and farm, a cry of defiance and not of fear..."

NARRATOR: April 19th...Lexington and Concord...Waco... Oklahoma City are touchstones for the militia movement. Seeing themselves as freedom's final line of defense, militias are preparing to resist swarms of "black helicopters," federal "jackbooted thugs," and "invading UN soldiers."

Facts and official explanations of events are rejected out of hand because they don't fit the conspiracy and apocalyptic scenarios militias use to justify their rhetoric and actions.

Mr. JANUS: If you buy into the conspiracy theory, then you believe that the news media is part of the conspiracy and you believe that any information that contradicts your theory is part of the conspiracy.

NARRATOR: As Oklahoma City revealed, hate, suspicion and violence remain a very real part of modern America. Our response to these negative divisions in our society will loom large in the shaping of 21st Century America.

JAMES JOHNSON, Ohio Unorganized Militia (at hearing):
"The only thing standing between some of the current legislation being contemplated and armed conflict is time."

Mr. GIBSON: We are in an unstable period. There is no certain future for the militia movement as we speak in June '95.

NORMAN OLSON, Northern Michigan Militia: "When justice is removed from the equation, then the dynamic of revenge, retribution and retaliation will take place."

Rep. CHARLES E. SCHUMER (D-NY): (at hearing):
"For people in large parts of this country, violent muggings are rare, while violent militias are not."

ADM SHANAHAN: I would be a lot more comfortable if I could predict the future of these private militias. But barring that, I would like to see them banned. But then their right to get hot and dirty and play soldiers on the weekends is a right protected by the Constitution, the very document that some of them seek to undermine. As an alternative, we could put them under state or federal supervision, as we do the regular militias.

For "AMERICA'S DEFENSE MONITOR," I am Jack Shanahan.