Militia label misleading

Your coverage of the Freedom Festivals (“A passion rising,” Dec. 6) was disappointing. You attended the latter event, and had access to video from the first event, yet characterize this as a militia movement. You twice quote Shaeffer Cox, a minor speaker, ignoring the headline speakers. I did not see Michael Shaw’s quote, “This is not a battle that we can win with guns …  If Americans start shooting, we lose.”

When Cox was invited at the last minute, we believed he would speak on the Continental Congress. None of the organizers knew he would mention the word militia.

As constitutional scholar Edwin Viera has stated, private militias are unconstitutional and a large part of the reason the word militia has been tarnished. Just because private militias often applaud freedom-loving patriots like Sheriff Mack does not mean everyone who supports freedom believes in private militias.

The vast majority of 1,200 attendees in November and 800 attendees last Wednesday were not there as part of a militia movement but in a grass-roots effort to restore freedom through abiding by constitutional restrictions on government tyranny. It is curious how Freedom Festivals received no local coverage until a minor speaker used the word militia.

Christopher Bass

Liberty Lake