On April 18, three members of a Liberal, Kansas militia group that called itself the “Crusaders” were convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and conspiracy to violate the civil rights of Somali residents of an apartment complex in Garden City, Kansas. A town of 27,000 residents, mostly non-white immigrants, Garden City is known as a non-union meatpacking center on the plains. Liberal, a slightly smaller town about 70 miles away, is 63.5% white.
The militia men, Gavin Wright, 49, Curtis Allen, 49, and Patrick Stein, 47, believed that Muslims were a “threat” to the United States, and they hoped that their bombing would set other militias in motion. A fourth member of the militia group became an FBI informant after he became concerned about the potential for murderous violence. He wore a recorder to meetings, some of which happened in open fields and others occurred in a Liberal business. According to prosecutors, they planned to filled four vehicles with explosives and park them on the four corners of the complex and then detonate them via a cell phone on the day after the 2016 elections.
This particular militia group was a so-called “constitutional” militia, and had links to “sovereigns” who believe their rights are greater than those of so-called Fourteenth Amendment citizens. There are other “constitutional” militias in Kansas, as well as those known as Threepers, who believe they only need 3% of the population to win their cause.
A jury in Wichita found them guilty as charged.
