But in recent years, Cooter said, Michigan Militia has become a term for all militia groups in the state.
For the most part, she said, militia groups are united in their ideology, and that, in part, is why Michigan has been a place where they have thrived: a rural population, combined with beliefs attributed to individual freedom and self-reliance.
The militia groups, she said, tend to support Second Amendment rights, limited government and a strict — or literal — interpretation of the Constitution. They tend to be somewhat secretive, inwardly focused, and not much of a threat.
Modern militia groups, Cooter said, came into being in the early 1990s after sieges and standoffs that included a shootout at Ruby Ridge, in Boundary County, Idaho, in 1992, and in Waco, Texas, where the religious sect, the Branch Davidians, was based.
Most of the groups, Cooter added, are law-abiding......More
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