Tom Mullins
Republican 3rd Congressional District candidate Tom Mullins says he wasn’t making a statement of support for the recently arrested members of a Michigan-based militia group when he wrote in a blog posting that the government is “after the militia” but “the citizen militia is not the problem.”
Mullins made this statement on Monday in the blog posting on his campaign Web site:
“Janet Napolitano and the Federal Government are after the militia now. Don’t fall for the media spin accusing Americans with guns as the problem. When you disarm the American people that will be tyranny. We are all citizen soldiers and we will protect our nation when our government fails us.”
Earlier this week, the Michigan militia members were arrested and charged with planning to kill police officers in the hopes of sparking an uprising against the government.
In his blog posting, Mullins stated that “the citizen militia is not the problem. We are the solution to many of the challenges that face our nation.” He encouraged people to “Please step forward to serve New Mexico and our great nation in whatever way that you can” and mentioned “volunteering in your local community” or church, donating blood or “assisting a political campaign.”
Mullins wrote in an e-mail that his blog posting shouldn’t be interpreted as support for those who were arrested. He said he was simply trying to convey his fear that the situation will be used to take guns out of the hands of law-abiding Americans.
“My point is that sensationalism sells,” Mullins wrote in the e-mail. “There are many instances where our government has gone after law abiding Americans for questionable reasons. I know of many folks who are concerned about being labeled domestic terrorists without due process.”
“Our law enforcement folks do a difficult job, but oftentimes law abiding Americans get corralled by the media as militia,” he wrote. “Owning a gun is not a crime. Training with guns in the woods is not a crime.”
“I believe this Michigan matter like many others will be used by the gun control believers to disarm law abiding Americans. That is my fear,” he wrote in the e-mail.