To resolve the occupation peacefully. They had armed guards at the gates. They had armed patrols. They clearly intended to defend their position. Narrator tonight on frontlinthe inside story of an armed uprising and a movement that calls themselves american patriots. Frontlinis made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. And by the corporation for public broadcasting. Major support for frontliis provided by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. More information is available at macfound. Org. Additional support is provided by ford foundation, working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide at fordfoundation. Org. The park foundation. Dedicated to heightening Public Awareness of critical issues. The john and Helen Glessner family trust. Supporting trustworthy journalism that informs and inspires. And by the frontline journalism fund. With major support from jon and jo ann hagler. And Additional Support from the millicent and eugene bell foundation. Im the son of a rancher. Thats what i am, and i dont want to be anything more than that. My family established a homestead in the Virgin Valley in Southern Nevada in 1877, and they began to run cattle. I always dreamed about being able to ranch. But the federal government has turned its eyes, as modern conquerors, and focused on controlling the land and the resources. We are at a dangerous time, and im not just talking about ranchers. Im talking about all aspects of what this nation was built on. Narrator ammon bundy has been in jail for 16 months, and he could spend the rest of his life in prison. Hes been called a hero and a criminal, a patriot and a domestic terrorist. Ammon claims he never wanted to be anything more than a rancher, but last year, he lead the Largest Armed uprising against the federal government in a generation. A modernday range war is taking place right now in bunkerville. Cliven bundys fight against the feds has ignited a firestorm of debate. Dozens of armed federal officers are preparing for a showdown with a nevada cattle rancher. Rancher cliven bundy. Cliven bundy says other cattle ranchers were forced off the land, but he is refusing to leave. Narrator in the fall of 2013, ammon bundys family lost a decadeslong legal battle with the federal government. Theyd been refusing to remove their cattle from public land near bunkerville, nevada. And owed over a Million Dollars in fees and fines. For 20 years, the government had been trying to phase out ranching in bunkerville to deal with development and environmental issues. Some ranchers shut down, others took buyouts, but ammons father, cliven bundy, refused. My dad said no. And when they come and said theyre going to take it anyway, he said, hell no youre not going to take away what my grandfathers passed down to me. He said no. The issue with the bundy family started more than 20 years ago. Narrator steve ellis was a Deputy Director of the bureau of Land Management, the blm, which grants permits to ranchers to graze their cattle on public land. The u. S. Government is a huge landlord in the west. Inherently theres going to be conflicts and challenges for us in making decisions. Blm was making a change in mr. Bundys permit. Mr. Bundy rejected that and stopped paying his grazing fees and that started the whole thing. The blm was threatening to decrease his cattle operation to the point where thered be nothing left. But ranchers cant just stop paying their grazing fees. Even as a form of protest, its difficult to make the case that if you stop paying, you can still continue operating. So the only action the blm can take at that point is to impound bundys cattle. Narrator the bundys declared a range war, and the blm finally sent in armed agents to oversee the removal of the cattle. Rangers and agents from several federal agencies are preparing to move against rancher cliven bundy. The bureau of Land Management came in and began to build their compound, and it was built like a military base. Im, you know, saying, dad, i really want to be able to do something if you need me to do it. Narrator as the blm was impounding hundreds of the bundys cattle, ammons brother david began filming government convoys. indistinct voice on radio hey, sir narrator when agents ordered him to stop, he refused, as his older brother ryan tried to intervene. I am going to take him with me. Okay, hes a grown man. He can take himself, okay, sir . This is your first choice, sir, to leave, to leave . Im going to drag you out of the car, okay, here in a second. Sir, sir, leave now. Several men came down, threw him to the ground, and then they detained him and took him to the compound. 1608 turning camera off. Bundy has left the area. It was that night that my dad said, well, i guess its time for you to come. When i dropped down into the valley, i couldnt believe what i saw. I pulled into the protest site, and, uh, theres, like, 40 or 50 people there. It was quite amazing to see the people unite. Narrator as he arrived in bunkerville, he found that ranchers from across the state had rallied to his fathers defense. This bundy family, no more than just a good ranch family. Theres a good example of what theyve tried to do to them right here, on this deal right here, only the people have finally had enough. For the last 20 years, theyve been after the good guys. Yeah. Ranchers have been frustrated with the federal government for a very long time. They severely cut back the amount of time cattle can be on public lands. Ranchers are always having to look over their shoulder and wonder, when is my ranch no longer gonna be viable . The bundys are among the last ranchers in clark county. chanting no blm no blm narrator as the crowds grew, protesters confronted government agents. protestors shouting they bodyslammed my aunt margaret to the ground. shouting and they tased me. That was all caught on video. And then that video went viral and thats when more people started coming. I was very worried about the optics of it. I thought, wow, this is not good. I mean, the optics of this is going to be horrible. This skirmish quickly turned into an angry mob, and protestors were hurt. Then he tased me again. Probably because i didnt drop on the ground. We always knew the potential that they would not cooperate, but we did not anticipate those large numbers of people coming in. In the past, we saw similar activities of protest. But whats different about 2014 and bunkerville is that a bunch of people show up to support cliven bundy who are not ranchers at all. Narrator cliven was contacted by a Militia Group from montana, who asked to come to the ranch. And on facebook, his wife, carol, called for militias from across the country to come and support them. That caught the attention of ryan lenz at the southern poverty law center. We track antigovernment groups and extremist groups. We focus on both racial extremism and antigovernment extremism, both of which have been growing quite immensely in recent years. This image of ammon bundy tasered became sort of this rallying cry for antigovernment extremists everywhere. I dont have to explain myself, because this is america. And i want all. The first time i heard about bundy ranch was when the Youtube Video came out with the bundys getting tased and the aunt getting tossed by the federal agent. gunshots narrator Brandon Rapolla, a marine veteran, runs a small militia in oregon. To come in as a militarized force against your citizen like this, thats when we the people, we say, no, this is not what the constitution stands for, and we have to remind our federal government that we are the power. People are coming in from out of state now to hold off the federal rangers and many are armed. We bring you now the latest from the bundy ranch, where the militia has arrived in support of cliven bundy. Within less than a 24hour period, i got my gear ready and made an 18hour straight drive down there. And you had people from all over the country. And a lot of the people that i met were prior military, were still active military, and special forces, in different branches. Everybody had a purpose or a reason to come, but it was all based on the fact that they know somebody is being abused, and somethings not right. Narrator militias from around the country descended on bunkerville. The oath keepers, which is this group of former military and police personnel, the three percenters who believe that they are prepared to fight the federal government much like our, like the colonists were against the british. And so, bunkerville becomes this sort of petri dish of antigovernment extremist thought. Narrator the bureau of Land Management watched with increasing alarm as the situation escalated. Were surrounded by people with guns, these hundreds of militia people coming in. Many of them are heavily armed from around the country. Narrator on april 12, the blm said they would stop rounding up more cattle. But that wasnt enough for cliven. He wanted all his cows back. Good morning, citizens of clark county, nevada crowd cheers good morning, america crowd cheers cliven basically says, were about to take this country back. And lets go get my cattle. Were going to go and take the rest of them out of the compound corrals up here above the freeway. crowd cheers and boom, theyre off lets get er done narrator the bunkerville protest was becoming an uprising. Were taking back our county, thats basically whats going to happen, then were going to take back our state. Narrator ammon and hundreds of protesters headed for the lot where the government had impounded the familys cattle. Narrator we obtained video taken by Law Enforcement that day. Narrator some of it has never been shown before. They were all heading to this wash, where the main entrance was to the pen where the blm held his cattle. Narrator as the protesters converged on the cattle pen, Law Enforcement officers from a halfdozen agencies scrambled to hold them off. Where you going to set up a triage area . Behind the vehicles over here. Okay. No, thats what im saying. Once we were down there, they were in stacking position with their rifles up. Were afraid, because theyre telling us that if we dont disperse, theyre going to open fire, and thats what we believed that they would do. Narrator but the militias were in position, too. Anybody who went there was prepared for the federal government to take lethal action. I was thinking of how serious the situation had become, how we had a very volatile situation right then. Northbound lane has rifles. With scopes. Which one . Northbound the furthest bridge. The government had snipers and the militia put in place countersnipers. It was a level of tension and borderline violence. I was convinced it was going to go south, that it was that close. These swat teams knew these guys are out there, there to defend, and they will whip your ass, we will die. Bundy bundy, come here narrator at the head of the crowd, ammon bundy confronted blm agent dan love, demanding he release the familys cattle. Were staying here until theyre gone. Thats what were doing. Blm, go home what was going through my mind is, it is not worth it to have anybody hurt over 400 cows that they had impounded at that point. So i told them to pull out. And to pull out now. crowd cheering narrator the bundys and their militia supporters had led an armed standoff, in defiance of court orders, and no one was arrested. They even got their cows back. The bureau of Land Management was trying to root my dad off his ranch for 30 years now. For it to unfold the way it did was absolutely a miracle to us. And amazing. They can gloat all they want. But everyone went home safe. And i also knew that eventually the wheels of justice would start turning, that that was not the end of it. Narrator the federal government had backed down. But it would spend the next two years trying to bring the bundys to justice. Overnight, the bundys were thrust into the national spotlight. Welcome to hannity, and this is a fox news alert. The federal government may have surrendered in the battle against nevada rancher cliven bundy. cheering narrator the discussion was as divided as the country itself. The law breaking rancher named cliven bundy has literally put the bureau of Land Management in the crosshairs of sniper rifles. Frankly, i thought there was a lack of proportionality here by the government, and snipers and surrounding your ranch and taking your cattle, none of it made any sense. When the standoff at bunkerville happens, it is very much local battle and local relationship with the blm, but because of the coverage it draws from the media there are other people who will appropriate bundy and his cause and make it their own because it seems to support their larger message of outofcontrol, tyrannical federal government. Im worried about the lies that are told to us about the irs, about what happened in benghazi, and the lies that sold health care. Im concerned that the government is overreaching here. I dont think in any way cliven bundy wanted to be the poster child for sean hannity or the far right. I dont think he was particularly interested in any given political movement. Narrator the bundys wanted to use their new platform to talk about what mattered to them. Their belief that public land should be managed locally, not by the federal government. The fact is, the federal government have overstepped their bounds and taken. Narrator but within days, an interview with cliven making racist comments went viral. Cliven bundy, it turns out, is a racist. Narrator the backlash was immediate. Conservatives stampeded away from nevada rancher cliven bundy. I believe those comments are downright racist. They are repugnant, they are bigoted, and its beyond disturbing. Narrator from then on, ammon would be the voice of the bundy family. The people have the power. We want to unite. We have the power. crowd cheering ammon is smarter at not sticking his foot in his mouth. Cliven stays on the ranch, but ammon is slowly building up a Larger Network of supporters through the internet and other places. Who has heard the story of what happened . He is beginning to export the protest across the interior west. Narrator with word spreading on social media, ammon was in demand as a speaker. So i began to pray and i prayed longer than id ever prayed in my life. Narrator he and his family are devout mormons. And ammon spread his family message with the zeal of a missionary. He argued that under the constitution, the federal government has no right to restrict ranchers use of public land, even if they dont own it. If we didnt have the constitution, we wouldnt have the federal government. Narrator he was becoming a leader in the so called Patriot Movement. If people want to call me a leader, thats fine, but im doing what every person should do, and its that simple. Narrator in his travels, ammon learned of a family in Eastern Oregon whose battles with the federal government reminded him of his own. Twothirds of the way up on that mountain, where you see the snow, thats where our cattle are at. Narrator like the bundys, the hammonds were ranchers who repeatedly clashed with federal officers over the use of public land. Twenty years earlier, their fight with the government received national attention. Hammond has become a virtual martyr to many in the land rights movement. Narrator in 2012, the hammonds were prosecuted for settings fires that destroyed federal land and endangered peoples lives. They claimed the fires were to maintain their grazing land and had spread out of control, but they faced a mandatory minimum of five years. The hammonds are longtime ranchers in Eastern Oregon that had been charged with arson. Their case went to trial in pendleton, oregon, and that resulted in convictions. Narrator the jury found them guilty but the judge reduced their sentences. Three months for dwight, one year for his son, steven. But, that didnt satisy the prosecutors. The law wasnt followed. So, that matter was appealed and they were sentenced to the five year mandatory minimium. Two oregon ranchers must go back to prison for starting fires that burned on federal land. Narrator when ammon bundy heard the hammonds were going back to prison, he was outraged. We hear about the hammonds. This urge just filled my whole body. I felt a divine drive, an urge that said you have to get involved. Narrator so in the fall of 2015, ammon went to burns, oregon, a place, like the rest of Harney County, that had fallen on hard times. Chris briels used to be the fire chief here. I moved here in 1978. Burns was kind of cool; it was the place i wanted to be because it was away from the big city and all the extraneous crazy stuff that goes on in the rest of the world. And so it was a safe and wonderful place to raise my kids. I thought. The economy was booming. There were a lot of people working in the mill. There were a lot of loggers, a lot of truckers hauling logs. Ranchers were doing well. It was a nice place to be. But now its just a graveyard of industry, and its definitely not the same. But i love this area. My name is ammon bundy. I dont live in oregon. The first time that ammon came to Harney County, i heard on facebook, because we dont have a Radio Station here. If we were abiding by the constitution, the hammonds would never be in the position theyre in. If were abiding by the constitution, these ranchers would be able to ranch without being in fear. Ive always been involved with the community, and i thought, im going to go out and im going to find out what kind of weirdos we got in our backyard now, you know . And then, ammon got up and started talking. voice breaking the lord was not pleased with what was happening to the hammonds. And i apologize for being emotional, i hope you guys can get past that. And i listened and i was just kind of transfixed. Its like wow, this guy is sincere. You know, he had found out about the hammonds and he had some real concerns. Well, ill be danged; this is a real cowboy. Narrator ammon took to social media, trying to bring attention to the hammonds situation. What has happened to the hammonds will happen to more and more people. And it is that simple. And so i am asking you to come to Harney