The decision by a group of
activists to seize a small, remote federal building in a
corner of Oregon has roots that burrow into a lot of political and social
threads. There are gun rights issues, religious overtones, broad strains of
anti-government sentiment and even the tactics of the Occupy Wall Street
movement.
But
there's also the very particular question of how much land the government
controls in the state -- the same question that animated the dispute with rancher
Cliven Bundy in Nevada two years ago -- and that helped
motivate Bundy's son Ammon to take a lead role in the Oregon standoff.
As we noted Sunday,
the Oregon dispute began with the government's push to ensure that Dwight and
Steven Hammond, a father and son who were convicted of arson in 2012, served
the minimum sentences that their convictions mandated. (Both already have
served time, but less than the five-year minimum.) The Hammonds set a fire in
2001 that spread out of control on federal land. The government argued that the
two were trying to cover up an illegal deer hunt.
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