Opinion
Fayetteville, AR – -(AmmoLand.com)- As the House of Representatives finally gets into serious motion investigating whether the executive branch has violated the law, members of a group that calls itself the Oath Keepers have declared that the United States is “on the verge of a HOT civil war.”
According to the group’s Twitter account, the country is in the same condition that we experienced in 1859, and Trump supporters will not accept his removal from office through the process of impeachment. One member of the group, “AlkireMike,” said that if Trump calls them out, he will have an army at his disposal, adding the congressional actions to “an uprising of radical Islamic terrorists in this country” as examples of things that the Oath Keepers will not tolerate.
The Oath Keepers identify themselves as current or former members of the military or law enforcement who swore—or affirmed, presumably—to uphold the Constitution. With that in mind, I invite them to read said document, particularly Article I, Section 3, and Article II, Section 4. Impeachment is initiated in the House of Representatives (Article I, Section 2), and the Senate holds the hearing to decide whether or not to convict a federal officer of “Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.” Misdemeanor in this case does not mean shoplifting or something similar, but instead refers to “ill-behavior, evil conduct, fault,” which has been a parallel meaning for the word since its origin.
All of this is to say that the process currently going on in the House of Representatives is according to the Constitution that the Oath Keepers claim to support. It is not a criminal proceeding, but is instead a performance review—the impeachment process does not invoke double jeopardy—with a high bar to cross before the person can be fired.
But America has a long history of violence to achieve political ends, having revolted from our mother country and then fought a civil war over our national identity. Nor are we strangers to individual violence against political rivals, as the assault on Senator Charles Sumner in 1856 illustrates. But as the Declaration of Independence suggests, if we are going to go down this particular road, we have to explain why we regard ourselves as justified in doing so.
In the Revolution, we made the argument that King George wasn’t considering the rights of the American colonists, though we ignored the reasonable claim that we ought to pay for the protection we’d been given by the British army in the Seven Years’ War—we call it the French and Indian War. The Civil War, about which the Oath Keepers seem to want a second chance—was a fight by the Union against southern conservatives who demanded that the government be too small to bring an end to slavery. We were attacked at Pearl Harbor and in several sites on 9/11, stirring us into action overseas. These are our good wars, the ones in which we have an easy time explaining ourselves—at least to ourselves. We have engaged in other acts of collective violence—Jim Crow and the Vietnam War come to mind—that were indefensible.
In the specific situation of what’s going on right now in America, the Oath Keepers have not offered a sufficient reason to propose violence. No one’s rights are being violated. We are not witnessing a case of the constitutionally defined process being tossed aside—by the Congress, anyway. And no, the will of the people is not being ignored, since any time we vote, we do so with the recognition that elected officials are subject to investigations, hearings, and potential removal if their behavior warrants that.
The Oath Keepers are only living up to the stereotype that gun control advocates have of gun owners: violent people itching to overthrow the government. This is not helpful either to the cause of gun rights or of the desire for good government.
About Greg Camp
Greg Camp has taught English composition and literature since 1998 and is the author of six books, including a western, The Willing Spirit, and Each One, Teach One, with Ranjit Singh on gun politics in America. His books can be found on Amazon. He tweets @gregcampnc.
Were this an actual impeachment, I would agree that a call to arms was premature. This is not an impeachment, this is a coup attempt. Actually the second coup attempt in 3 years. This coup is based upon falsehoods cooked up by democrat/antifa traitors Schiff, Brennan,and the mysterious “whistlblower”. The previous attempt was based upon falsehoods concocted by DNC/antifa traitors colluding with the governments of England Austrailia, and Italy(an act of war).
In light of these facts, it is time to cut the treasonous democrat/antifa cancer from the body of America.
Very dissapointed in Ammoland for publishing this tripe disguised as reason. The snarky leftist writing the article knows a lot less about Oath Keepers (I am a member) than he does about American history or the fight for liberty. OK’s abide by the law and expect others to as well. The attack on our constitution has been going on in this country over the past 3 years culminating in the attempted coup and travesty of Justice taking place in the House today. Granted, the Senate can deflect this attempt but I’m not so confident in that body to trust them… Read more »
Ok, to everyone, but most importantly the author…. Bias and opinion do not constitute facts. It is unfortunate that what I see here is a deliberate attempt to falsely identify what is being said. Note, the article at least did note that the Oath keepers did say America is on the “Verge”. The problem with that is that the author titled his article as saying they are calling for it. Unfortunately tensions in the country on both sides are very high, and very hot right now. Greg Camp, the way you presented this article was wrong and perhaps badly intentioned.… Read more »
WTF? Read the whole Twitter thread, there’s no call for civil war. The only ones saying that are leftists deliberately misinterpreting a warning against civil war. Read the tweets, “What I said wasn’t “calling for civil war” or inciting one, as many on the left are now claiming. But it was a warning that they are pushing us towards one by their refusal to accept the results of the 2016 election and their attempt to overturn it.” “I’m not inciting a civil war. And I don’t want to see that happen. I AM warning that the political divide and distrust… Read more »
I think that the “Oathkeeper” was simply making a common sense deduction. It has been obvious from the first day that Trump stepped into office that the Demoncrats were not happy with his win and have been doing everything they can to invalidate his election. They give lip service to the Constitution but ignore every provision as they can get away with it. I’m no fan of “big” government period, and I think the Constitution has been being ignored for generations in many areas, but to take an out of context statement of ONE “Oathkeeper” and suggest that all of… Read more »
Get it straight, Gregg. The war of northern aggression was wagged against the south and it’s civilian population because the southern States wished to secede from the Union. Slavery was a political argument. The real reason was that the southern States were being strangled by unfair trade restrictions and massive tariffs by the north. Furthermore, dishonest Abe only freed the slaves In the Rebel States. In the rest of the country, it was business as usual. As a matter of fact, most of the biggest Slave markets were in the north eastern States, and only 1% of southerners owned slaves.… Read more »
1. Bill Clinton sent his FBI murder squad to shoot, gas & burn alive American men, women, children and infants at a church in Waco. 2. Bill Clinton sent his FBI murder squad to Ruby Ridge to kill a family for cutting a barrel 1/4″ too short after an FBI agent paid Randy Weaver to do so. 3. All across the country anti-American totalitarian democrats institute unconstitutional ‘gun control laws’. 4. In Malheur Oregon, the communist democrats shot & murdered Americans. 5. The democrat’s fascist ‘antifa’ communist terrorists attack and beat Americans, drag people from their cars and beat them… Read more »
“All of this is to say that the process currently going on in the House of Representatives is according to the Constitution that the Oath Keepers claim to support.” What is going on in congress is not according to the constitution. There has been no official inquiry/investigation called and that is because then the Dems would be cross-examined by the Republicans in the house and there would be forced transparency. They are holding a mock trial behind closed doors, not allowing the Republicans in the house to be part of the investigation, and are leaking bits of info to the… Read more »
Saying, “Civil War is on the horizon,” is not the same as “Calling for Civil War.”
“No one’s rights are being violated. We are not witnessing a case of the constitutionally defined process being tossed aside” – I disagree. Red flag laws, arbitrary bans on scary-looking firearms and sensible magazines, disparate impact (aka ‘unequal treatment under the law’) of well-placed violators (Hillary and her server) vs what ‘regular’ people would receive, sanctuary states / cities, refusal to cooperate with federal agencies, rampant states and localities allowing – and profiting from – sales of schedule 3 controlled substances (RICO should apply to those governments), judicial activism preventing the enforcement of immigration laws, federal agencies (IRS, DOJ maybe)… Read more »