The Southern Poverty Law Center, Extremist "patriot" groups and other armed militias

America’s armed militia on the rise

Extremist "patriot" groups and other armed militias have undergone a dramatic resurgence in America, their numbers more than doubling in the past year amid growing Right-wing fears over expanding federal power and gun control.

By Tom Leonard in New York
Published: 4:35PM GMT 31 Dec 2009

Such groups – a mix of libertarians, gun rights advocates and survivalists – appeared to be in terminal decline before the election of Barack Obama, according to monitoring bodies.

The Southern Poverty Law Centre, which tracks extremist organisations, says it has so far counted more than 300 patriot groups this year, at least double last year's total of 150. The real total will be much higher as many groups do not go out of their way to publicise their existence.

Extremist “patriotâ€