Southern Poverty Law Center’s Bogus Listing of III% United Patriots Of Virginia

by John Crump

Southern Poverty Law Center's Bogus Listing of III% United Patriots Of Virginia
Southern Poverty Law Center’s Bogus Listing of III% United Patriots Of Virginia
AmmoLand Gun News
AmmoLand Gun News

USA –  -(Ammoland.com)- Every year the Southern Poverty Law Center releases it’s list of extremist organizations. This is a long list that includes everyone from, Youtube personality, Mark Dice to the Constitution Party.

This year III% United Patriots Of Virginia was included in that list. Not only was 3UPVA included, but 3UPVA was also falsely called a militia.

3UPVA is NOT a Militia

This came to the surprise of many of the members and leadership of 3UPVA who’s guiding principles are to better their community and spread the ideas of the forefathers of our country. Members of 3UPVA believe in keeping true to the US Constitution.

How can someone want to adhere to the Constitution and the ideas that the founders of the country had laid out and be extremist?

A few of the leaders of 3UPVA were out in Richmond campaigning with Corey Stewart who is running to be the Republican candidate for the upcoming Gubernatorial race in Virginia. Does supporting a major party candidate make someone anti-government, or is it supporting a non-liberal candidate make someone anti-government?

Members of 3UP have also attended border operations where they have helped border patrol agents patrol the border to stop the flow of illegal drugs and cartel members from entering the US while aiding support to people abandoned by the human traffickers known as coyotes. Is helping federal agents anti-government, or is it only anti-government when it is in support of laws that the SPLC doesn’t agree with?

III% United Patriots Of Virginia Recognition from Walk Like M.A.D.D
III% United Patriots Of Virginia Recognition from Walk Like M.A.D.D

Maybe if the Southern Poverty Law Center noticed when 3UPVA did their blanket drive for homeless veterans they wouldn’t call them extremist. The veteran community is very near and dear to 3UPVA’s heart since a good portion of our membership is former military. They also held a tattoo-a-thon to raise money for scholarships for children of fallen soldiers, and have received a letter of recognition from the local VFW for their efforts. These are not 3UPVA’s only Charity events.

This is just one charity event that 3UPVA does. They were also the top fund raiser for the “Walk Like M.A.D.D” walk-a-thon held this past summer in the DC area. They were recognized by M.A.D.D with a plaque for their fundraising efforts. We recognize the damage drunk driving causes people and work to combat drunk driving to safeguard the community.

Also every Christmas members of 3UP purchases a number of bikes which other members then take and customize. The bikes are then donated to underprivileged children. They dress as Santa and elves.

When was the last time you have seen anti-government militia members dress is the jolly elf to give bikes to underprivileged and inner-city kids?

These are just a few examples of the charity that 3UPVA does. Charity is a big part of the mission of 3UPVA. They believe in helping others in need. At any given time there is some type of charity event happening or being planned by 3UPVA around the state of Virginia. They do not ask for praise, but also do not want to be slandered by being called extremist which directly affect them working with charity groups.

One of the other mission of 3UPVA is to respond to natural disasters. Members do this and pay for their expenses out of their own pockets. Members will go wherever that they are needed to help others. They have never asked for payment or thanks from the people that they have helped in their time of need. It is all about helping the community for 3UPVA.

Members of 3UPVA have responded to the flooding in Ellicott City, MD. These members helped local businesses and residents clean their stores and houses. All supplies were purchased by the members with no cost to the community. These members took time off from work and time away from their families to help complete strangers with the clean up.

3UPVA members responding to the flooding in Ellicott City, MD
3UPVA members responding to the flooding in Ellicott City, MD

During the historic flooding in West Virginia last year members responded by renting trailers and driving food, water, and cleaning supplies to the people who were affected by the flooding. Members also helped clean and repair damaged homes caused by the flooding. The community was grateful and probably didn’t think they were being helped by an “extremist militia.”

Flooding isn’t the only type of natural disasters that 3UPVA responds to. When an EF-3 tornado hit Waverly, VA in February of 2016 3UPVA showed up ready to help anyway possible. They were able to help in the recovery effort and clean up effort through donations and manual labor. Over and over again 3UPVA responds to help others in their time of need.

The members of 3UPVA has also have held public classes for members of the community. After the Orlando shooting at the Pulse night club 3UPVA felt that they needed to do something. They worked with a local LGBT community group to provide firearms training by certified instructors for anyone who wanted to learn and get their concealed handgun permit. This is just one example of what 3UPVA does on a daily basis.

Also the designation of a militia is somewhat puzzling. How did the writers of this poorly researched list determine that 3UPVA was a militia?

Militia’s require their members to own guns. There are members of 3UPVA who do not own firearms. Just because the majority of the membership do own guns doesn’t mean that every member has to have fired a gun to join.

There are no formation, uniforms, or even physical fitness standards. These are things that most militias require. The SPLC would have you believe that 3UPVA is running around in the woods planning the overthrow of the government or planning to fight the Illuminati. This couldn’t be farther from the truth. The 3UPVA organization is not, and never has been, a militia of any type.

Another thing that is puzzling is why 3UPVA was labeled a militia in the first place. There are other 3% groups that are very similar to 3UPVA. Those groups were not labeled as a militia. This brings up the question on how the SPLC determined that 3UPVA was a militia? Did they confuse 3UPVA with someone else? Since the SPLC doesn’t cite any of their sources, it is something we may never find out.

The membership of 3UPVA would also like to know why there aren’t any left wing groups labeled as anti-government. For example “Black Lives Matter” during the run up to the presidential election tried to prevent candidates from both sides from speaking. The BLM movement has also advocated for violence against police officers by chanting “Pigs in a blanket. Fry them like bacon”. This came to ahead when 5 police officers were shot in Dallas, Texas during a BLM march. Although the BLM claims it has nothing to do with them there is little doubt the shooter shared the same hatred for police.

The Nation Of Islam is another group that is suspiciously missing. The Nation Of Islam is a vile racist organization that has called for the overthrow of the US government. How could you call for the overthrow of the US government, something 3UPVA has never done, and not be considered anti-government? The funny thing is that there are not any left wing groups listed as anti-government.

The leadership of 3UPVA would like to issue a challenge to SPLC.

They would like to meet with the SPLC and see what they are all about. The leadership of 3UPVA would like to sit down and find out how you determined that they are a dangerous anti-government militia. They would like you to see what they really do. Maybe an open and honest dialog is what is needed between the two organizations.

The leadership of 3UPVA are not looking for an exchange of “gotcha” questions, or even a debate. They honestly just want to have an exchange of ideas. The SPLC will find out that the membership of 3UPVA are not extremist. They will find out that 3UPVA members are from every walk of life. They will find out that 3UPVA doesn’t discriminate. Membership for 3UPVA is open to every American who believes in the Constitution. They are your neighbors, your doctors, the police officers that keeps you safe, the fire fighters and EMTs that respond to your emergency, and just about everywhere else.

To sum up. The 3UPVA organization does not believe in a “New World Order”, they are not conspiracy theorists, and they do not “advocate or adhere to extreme anti-government doctrines.” That is of course unless you think the Constitution is an “extreme anti-government doctrine.” The leadership of 3UPVA is willing to meet on the SPLC’s terms. It is your move, SPLC.

III% United Patriots Of Virginia can be found on the web at https://www.3upva.com and on twitter at @3upva.

**************

Links

  • Article started it all : https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2017/active-patriot-groups-us-2016
  • Mark Dice (Also listed by them) : https://www.youtube.com/user/MarkDice
  • Walk like MADD : https://www.walklikemadd.org/
  • Legacy Scholarship Fund : https://www.legion.org/scholarships/legacy
  • 3UPVA : https://www.3upva.com

About John Crump

John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.

John Crump
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TRUTH BE TOLD

Burn this terrorist org to the ground

Enough of these scumbags

VT Patriot

Knowing the SPLC, I would consider it an honor to have them hate me and label me a part of an ‘extremist’ organization. They’ve been pulling this crap for many years. They are joke except in their own minds.

James Bailey

Why don’t y’all just sue the sorry pricks at SPLC? Every pro-gun organization who is denigrated (libeled) by them needs to sue them, and bankrupt the worthless pricks.

CountryBoy

WHEN are people going to understand that the SPLC is an Extremest Group in its own right……..

That_GUY

In what way is the SPLC an extremest group? Honestly asking, Because they have views that are different from yours? What about any of there work is extremest?

VT Patriot

Get back to HuffPo. They have an alarm out that their village idiot is missing. And the SPLC claims you’ve been hijacked by Ammoland. Hurry up, quick..

John Crump

Probably their demonization of anyone that isn’t left wing.

diamondearthday57

The SPLC is not interested in talking to you. Why would you even have the stupid idea that they are interested in talking to you? You boys and girls need to know something, these people HATE you and are ding all in their power to destroy you. Talk my ass, just keep pounding them in the press and showing how RACIST they are.

Talk? Yeah right……

Notalima

Even if they were. They’d ‘creatively edit’ audio/video footage to make it appear 3UP were extremeists. Similar to Katie Couric and the VCDL.

Jim S

Yet the SPLC has the ear of mainstream media and the story will be published as they released it. And when we complain the “correction” will be mentioned briefly if at all. I do get tired of this very one sided view of the world…

Gregory Romeu

With the mainstream media having pretty much trashed their credibility over the last few years I don’t think that the general public will run and hide in fear from whatever the SPLC is capable of getting published.

People write on bathroom walls all over the place all the time and that doesn’t seem to shake the pillars of the earth either.

FACT-CHECKER_MCGEE

Fact check your own work. SPLC is not calling III% VA a Militia. It has called other III% groups in other parts of the country Militias but not VA’s group. https://www.splcenter.org/active-antigovernment-groups-united-states. If your looking for fake news look in the mirror. Some might call this nit picking but this is a major part of your argument and anger yet it is 100% misplaced. And I agree with you I think the SPLC should note why each group on its list is on it. A quick hyper link listing what attributes got each group on the list would go more to… Read more »

John Crump
John Crump

Their not there., but you get it.

Travis

As a 3up member . I call your BS.

D.Murray

When is the Southern poverty law Center going to list “Blackman lives matter”as a extremists organization? Never,would go against their prejudice liberal extreme socialist beliefs.

circle8

Anything the Southern Poverty Law Center says is probably a lie and at least the accuracy or legality of it is questionable. I would not trust these POS with taking out the trash.

Janek

If the term “Fake News” was in the dictionary there would be a picture of Mark Potok next to it!