3167 The Truth About The Oregon Rancher Standoff

While most of us were exchanging Christmas gifts and celebrating the start of a new year, Oregon Ranchers Dwight Hammond, Jr., 73, and his son, Steven Hammond, 46, were preparing for a return to prison on January 4th, 2016.Among other things, the Hammonds were charged with various counts of Arson on federal property – punishable by a five-year mandatory minimum sentence according to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. On January 2nd, an estimated 300 Hammond family supporters – including Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy – held a peaceful protest against what they called the unconstitutional treatment of the ranchers.While the peaceful protest continued, Ammon Bundy and other armed individuals left, entering and occupying the Bureau of Land Management’s Malheur Wildlife Refuge headquarters, which had been closed for the holiday.Following the occupation, Ammon Bundy said the refuge’s creation was “an unconstitutional act,” and called for the release of the Hammonds and for the federal government to relinquish control of the area. “This is about the federal government controlling the land and resources, and putting whole counties and whole states in economic duress, this is about violations of human rights, about the federal government not even caring about what is in the Constitution.”