Freedom Movement Loses Important Voice with Passing of Mike Vanderboegh

By David Codrea

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Michael Brian Vanderboegh: July 23, 1952 – August 10, 2016
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

USA –  -(Ammoland.com)-  Mike Vanderboegh passed away peacefully early Wednesday following a long and devastating illness.

The Sipsey Street Irregulars blogger, self-described “smuggler” and patriot was perhaps best known as the founder of the Three Percent movement, and as a citizen journalist who first reported on a link between the murder of a Border Patrol agent and ATF’s criminal Fast and Furious “gunwalking” operation.

As a longtime friend and colleague, and as one who has reported on Mike’s deteriorating health and urged supporters to return value for value received in his time of need, it’s probably expected for me to say something profound about this man who had been such a great influence on my own work over the years.  Hell, I expect it of myself.

But the truth is, Mike wasn’t about being praised. He believed in letting the work and the ideas speak for themselves.

True, the man had a strong (some would say “cantankerous” at times) personality. But underlying it was a calling – I don’t know what else you’d call it – and fierce devotion for the truth. It was seeing others ignore that truth – particularly when doing so for gain at the expense and abuse of others – that brought his unyielding sense of justice to the fore.

Mike Vanderboegh
Mike Vanderboegh

It’s also true he could at times be impulsive in his response to perceived injustices. There are more affronts to liberty and wrongs to right than any of us could hope to even hear about, let alone do anything about. When one came across Mike’s transom, he was on it like a pit bull, even if already overburdened – and that tendency was something he would not ease up on until the weakness of the flesh stripped him of any choice – and even then he would do what he could to defy.

Where do I begin with a synopsis of all the areas where Mike’s efforts, knowledge, insights, talents and will made a real difference? It’s a bit like coming up with acknowledgments — I’m sure I’ll be forgetting some that others who were touched by the man’s work believe deserve being emphasized.

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Art by John Gara

We’ve already mentioned Fast and Furious: Seeing as how contemporary recognition for his achievements has not been forthcoming (it’s not like establishment media ever wanted to actually dig into that and the guy isn’t even mentioned in the Wikipedia entry), those will need to be the province of historians.

Perhaps the best place to start is with our Journalist’s Guides in which we attempted to influence widespread deliberate indifference, now relegated to the Wayback Machine Internet Archive, awaiting rediscovery or obscurity depending on how history works out. Another (surprisingly) fair synopsis was published a few years back on BuzzFeed.

Vanderboegh the Smuggler
Vanderboegh the Smuggler

We shouldn’t overlook Mike’s proud affinity for ”patriotic resistance” smuggling, bringing “banned” magazines into states like Connecticut, Colorado and Washington, and his leadership in the new (old, actually, just not something the rice bowl gun groups have vested interests in promoting) paradigm of the “I will not comply” movement.

We could talk about Mike’s leadership in the militia movement (he was a consulting authority for and subject of Prof. Robert H. Churchill’s “To Shake Their Guns in the Tyrant’s Face.”) We could reflect on his work getting to the hidden truths behind the Oklahoma City bombing, and his investigation into the cover-up behind the related murder of Kenneth Trentadue.

We could look at some of the individuals and groups that earned Mike’s wrath and contempt over the years, but there’s no point in naming names in a memorial. Suffice it to say he was proud to have earned reciprocal scorn, adhering to a maxim by colleague Kurt Hofmann:

“I believe that being despised by the despicable is as good as being admired by the admirable.”

Ultimately what drove Mike was evident in a fundamental question he posed continuously on his blog:

Does The Government Serve The People Or Do The People Serve The Government?

He knew what the answer to that question should be, but was also driven to ensure that those who called themselves “Three Percenters’ were committed to the principles of the movement he founded. Even while he knew his end was near, he was doing everything he could to emphasize the importance of his Three Percent Catechism, and to lay out his vision for those of us carrying on after him in his Valediction.

I could go on – I started this unsure of where it would lead and how to even frame things, and there are plenty of anecdotes about experiences and conversations that could be shared, but the truth is, it’s time for me to go and spend some quiet time reflecting on the loss of my friend, and dealing with a growing sadness that had to be kept at bay while there was this necessary task to be done.

Please join me in sending prayers and love to Mike’s family, his steadfast wife Rosey, his beautiful, strong daughters Hannah and Zoe, his capable and knowledgeable son and blog heir Matthew, and his wonderful mother, now facing a loss no parent should ever have to.

UPDATE: I just spoke with his daughter.

Services will be Saturday at 2 p.m., Kilgroe Funeral Home, 1750 Ashville Rd., Leeds, AL 35094.

The family requests in lieu of flowers donations be made to the American Cancer Society.

3% Movement Flag
3% Movement Flag

Also see:

David Codrea in his natural habitat.

About David Codrea:

David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.

In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.

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Diamondback

The 3% will live on in infinity! RIP Mike. Sorry I didn’t learn of this until today (not that I could’ve done anything).

Joe McNally

RIP Mike, you were a Teacher, Friend, and Inspiration to us all. Though your voice has been silenced, the ideals that you instilled in us will live on. – I pray that our Heavenly Father will assuage your family’s grief and leave them only the cherished memory of their loved and lost.

III% my brother.

Joe McNally, Glocester RI – [email protected]

Tionico

I never met the man but I did see and hear him speak, and watch him become a felon, at a We Will Not Comply Rally in Olympia, Washington, shortly after that wretched nanny Mikey Bloomburg bought our state a tyrannical antigun bill. The local Daily Zero claimed “a few hundred” folks showed up in dismal weather and stood about. What I was was at least two thousand patriots standing in light drizzle, most of us armed, some openly some concealed, on the Capitol Campus where we stood about passing firearms from one to the next… a clear and felonious… Read more »

Janek

Hopefully the movement Mike V started grows at 3% a year.

Martin

I never met Mike Vanderboegh, but have read his blog from time to time and received the support that I need to carry on the fight against the tyranny that is the political machine out of DC.
He will be the Guiding Spirit of the forces who are standing in defense of the Constitution and Bill of Rights!
I would say “Rest in Peace” but I think that would be against his nature as long as Freedom is to be defended!

PistolPaKnPopo

R.I.P. MV 3%

Sandy Davis

Prayers for his family and for you David. I know how much you admired him as a patriot and treasured him as a friend.

m catharine evans

I was and am a real nobody who got caught up in the Obama administration’s deadly Fast and Furious operation because of Mike V and sipseystreetirregulars. I blogged for American Thinker and started writing about it. At work one day I actually got a call from Mike V to talk about the hearings which were going on at the time. He wasn’t too confident the pols in DC would do anything(he was right). He said “the level of intimidation” coming from the administration was off the charts. I remember thinking after I hung up how great it was that people… Read more »

DrSique

Well said. And, I feel confident that he was welcomed into Valhalla by none other than Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Adams. Pretty sure they had a cold one waiting for him too. Along with his work on F&F, I will always remember his rousing speech on “smuggling”. RIP-Mike

Pantera Vazquez

R.I.P. Mike Vanderboegh.
3%