Randy Weaver, still wiry after 10 years out of the
limelight, his dark hair turned silver, was signing autographs for fellow
survivalists at an Independent American Party convention in Elko, Nev., in
April when someone asked if he would act differently if he could relive the
horrible 11-day siege at Ruby Ridge.
"I would have put on my full camo," Weaver said, looking at his
questioner, "and shoot them in the back. As many as I could."
It has been a decade since Weaver, waiting for Armageddon while holed up in a
crude cabin in the Selkirk Mountains of Northern Idaho just 40 miles south of
the Canadian border, engaged in a firefight with federal law enforcement
agents.
The Aug. 21, 1992, shoot-out resulted in the deaths of three people - Weaver's
wife, Vicki, holding an infant daughter when she was shot through the head by
an FBI sniper; their 13-year-old son, Sammy; and Deputy U.S. Marshal William
Degan. It also raised serious questions about the use of force and abuse of
police powers by FBI agents and other law enforcement officials.
Weaver surrendered to authorities and, in July 1993, was acquitted of murder
charges related to Degan's death. The FBI wasn't as fortunate. Subsequent
investigations were critical of law enforcement's methods - gunfire occurred
before the Weavers were afforded an opportunity to surrender - and the federal
government in 1995 settled damage claims by paying Weaver and three surviving
daughters $3.1 million.
The incident helped spawn an American militia movement that continues today,
although its popularity appears to have waned. It also served, in the view of
many, as a prime example of the abuse of federal law enforcement powers. The
bombing of the federal government building in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh
in April 1995, leaving more than 150 dead, reportedly was motivated, at least
in part, by revenge for what is known as the Shootout at Ruby Ridge.
Gerry Spence, the legendary attorney who successfully represented Weaver at
trial, said the Idaho standoff and similar incidents, like the deaths of David
Koresh and his followers in Waco, Texas, show what can occur when police powers
are not properly checked.
"Where there is excess of power there will always be abuse of power,"
Spence said. "The people of this country are more and more acceding to the
intervention of government into their lives. They look to the government for
protection and more and more are willing to give up their rights in exchange
for promises by the government for protection.
"The question then, of course, is who protects them from the
government?" he said.
Spence said he and Weaver are "worlds apart philosophically" but he
felt compelled to represent a man who believes in racial separation with ties
to the Aryan nation because he was victimized by governmental abuse of power.
"We can expect increasingly more of it," he said.
Weaver and his family moved to Ruby Ridge in late 1983 to escape what they
viewed as a sinful world. The home Weaver built with his own hands had neither
electricity nor running water. Family members settled in and waited for the
second coming.
According to a Justice Department report, Weaver first came to the attention of
federal law enforcement personnel in 1985 after reportedly making threats
against then-President Ronald Reagan and Idaho Gov. John Evans. A Secret
Service investigation showed that Weaver mingled with members of the Aryan
Nation, a white supremacist group, and had a cache of weapons including
handguns and rifles and access to explosives and "an unlimited amount of
ammunition."
Weaver denied making the threats and told agents he had "no time for Aryan
Nation's preachers." But in July 1989, Weaver appeared as a speaker at the
World Aryan Congress and met up with Kenneth Fadeley, an undercover informant
for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. In October, after several
conversations, Weaver sold Fadeley a pair of sawed-off shotguns for $300.
It was this incident, and Weaver's subsequent indictment on weapons charges,
that led to the shootout. Federal agents initially tried to use the gun charge
as leverage to get Weaver to inform on the Aryan nation. He refused. On Aug.
21, 1992, three deputy U.S. marshals were on Weaver's Ruby Ridge property
trying to determine how best to bring him into custody when the shootout
occurred, leaving Degan and Sammy Weaver dead. An FBI sniper killed Vicki
Weaver the next day.
John Trochmann, a Weaver family friend and co-founder of the Militia of
Montana, witnessed the standoff and described it as "a sad time in our
lives when certain federal agencies exercised their might over the
people."
Like Spence, Trochmann believes an incident like Ruby Ridge can occur again,
noting that, "it happened again in Waco, Texas."
For a time, Trochmann said, it appeared the FBI and other agencies were using
more subtle tactics. In 1996, for instance, the FBI was engaged in an 81-day
siege involving about two-dozen heavily armed members of the Freemen group,
hunkered down in a Montana ranch. The Freemen, who reject governmental
authority, were wanted for passing bogus checks amounting to about $15 billion.
The incident ended without violence.
But Trochmann said in the wake of 9/11, the federal government's attitude might
be changing again.
"Based on past performance, I believe a mission creep is in
progress," Trochmann said. "There is a homeland defense force being
created that can do much the same thing."