Armed group wants inquiry of federal government

The FBI is “working with the Harney County Sheriff’s Office, Oregon State Police and other local and state law enforcement agencies to bring a peaceful resolution to the situation”, the agency said in a statement. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond.

Cruz would probably prefer we forget, but in April 2014, when the armed standoff between Bundy and federal officials first began in Nevada, the senator actually expressed sympathy for Bundy and his militant allies, and condemned President Obama for the dispute.

Dwight Hammond, 73, and son Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

Both men were ordered back to prison for four years each.

Instead, we in the media are calling the armed men who have taken over a building in a federal wildlife refuge in OR “protesters”, while they call themselves patriots.

Nevada rancher Ammon Bundy, a central figure in the group, went on to say the federal government launched an attack on the Hammonds when they refused to sell their ranch.

They’re demanding that the federal government return that land to private owners – to ranchers, miners, loggers and hunters to use as they see fit without interference. He said he hopes the takeover will prompt others to take action across the country to seize control of federally managed land.

Ammon Bundy told ABC News on Monday that members of his group were armed. “All of them”, Bundy said.

“I understand the land needs to be used wisely, but that’s what we as stewards need to do”.

Republican Congressman Greg Walden, whose district includes the wildlife refuge where the occupation is taking place, said the situation is very troubling and that it’s likely that no one would emerge a victor. They were to be sent back to prison after federal prosecutors won an appeal that resulted in their being re-sentenced to longer terms.

The Hammonds had earlier distanced themselves from the group in a statement through Schroeder.

Speaking with The Huffington Post on Monday, a man identifying himself as the Bundy’s “bodyguard” said the degree of resistance to the armed standoff is excessive when compared to the response to protests against racial inequality. It said it would not release details about the law enforcement response to ensure the safety of officers and those at the refuge.

But according to Billy J. Williams, the acting USA attorney in OR, the Hammonds were rightfully convicted after setting fire to about 130 acres of public land in an attempt to cover up poaching.

But Bundy doesn’t speak for the Hammonds, who have disavowed his protest. Ward says he does not think any other parts of the county are in immediate danger.

There’s Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, militia organizer Blaine Cooper, retired Marine Jon Ritzheimer and self-proclaimed leader of the group, Ammon Bundy, who is well-known around Phoenix.

“I want to talk directly to the people at the wildlife refuge”, Ward said during a news conference.

The standoff is at the headquarters building of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, some 300 miles southeast of Portland, in Harney County. “Their lands and their resources have been taken from them to the point that it is putting them literally into poverty”, Bundy said. “He said, ‘I don’t dare stand because I’m going to get a bullet through my head'”. The group said on Monday that it would continue to assist and represent them “solely through avenues that are in accordance with the law”.