American militia movement

American militia movement is a term used by law enforcement and security analysts to refer to a number of private, generally far-right organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements, and whose members generally accept conspiratorial interpretations of politics, and view themselves as defenders of traditional freedoms against government oppression.^[1] These groups may refer to themselves as militia, unorganized militia,^[2] and constitutional militia.^[3] While groups such as the Posse Comitatus existed as early as the 1980s,^[4] the movement gained momentum after standoffs with government agents in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, such groups were active in all 50 US states, with membership estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000.^[5]