Alaska Congressman Seeks Distance From Accused Militia Plotter

03-23-2011 • SPLC HATEWATCH

A Republican congressman from Alaska, who also is on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association, now is attempting to distance himself from a Fairbanks militia leader accused in a high-profile firearms, murder and kidnapping plot. In April 2009, with a video camera rolling, Rep. Don Young signed a “Letter of Declaration” being circulated by the Second Amendment Task Force/Alaska Peacemakers Militia, led by Francis Schaeffer Cox. The “declaration” called on “sovereign Americans” to “alter or abolish” any government that tries to “further tax, restrict or register firearms” or prevents individuals from exercising their “God-given right to self-defense [that] precedes all human legislation.” Cox apparently thought the Second Amendment also gave him the right to possess hand grenades, a silencer and an unregistered machine gun. He’s accused of keeping such an illegal weapons cache in a trailer in Fairbanks. The 27-year-old militia leader was arrested earlier this mon