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Arizona Mirror
Modern-day outlaws, ‘sovereign citizens’ threaten the rule of law
By Christine Sarteschi,
2024-06-18
(Photo by Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
In May 2024, an Oklahoma man was arrested and charged with kidnapping and murdering two women, becoming the fifth member of an anti-government group called “ God’s Misfits ” to face such charges.
My research into sovereign citizens has found they have long been active in the U.S. and other countries. At the core of their beliefs is the denial of the government’s legitimacy. They commonly do not register their vehicles, acquire driver’s licenses or car insurance, or pay taxes. And they pose a significant threat to the public.
Harassment and abuse
One threat they pose is “paper terrorism,” which involves harassing public officials with legal threats to intimidate them. Sometimes officials are targeted because they arrested or prosecuted someone from the movement.
This method involves filing fake deeds and liens against public officials the sovereign citizens think wronged them. County recorders are sounding the alarm .
In April 2024, a Utah man was charged in federal court with stalking after allegedly telling staff at the Salt Lake County Recorder’s Office that they had committed treason and the penalty was death.
Sovereign citizens have killed police officers and civilians . Darrell Brooks , who represented himself in court as a sovereign citizen, was found guilty in October 2022 of killing six people when he drove an SUV through a Christmas parade.
Traffic stops can be especially dangerous for police because sovereign citizens often will not comply with officers’ basic commands. At times, this tendency can lead to violence.
Over the past several years, a new variation of sovereign citizens has emerged, known as American State Nationals . In my research , I learned that they have been congregating on social media and gathering at seminars. Their leaders teach traditional sovereign citizen ideology along with new methods that supposedly let them live outside the law.
For instance, leaders teach their followers that driver’s licenses, marriage licenses, Social Security cards, car registrations and voter registrations are “contracts with the government,” which to them form the basis for requirements that they obey laws.
American State Nationals are urged to cancel or rescind these documents by filling out a set of forms, which are sold by the seminar leaders for about $250, in addition to the $150 seminar fee. Then they are told to submit the documents to county recorders and even the U.S. State Department. They are told that doing so will remove them from the reach of the U.S. government.
Paul Grice, the fifth member of God’s Misfits to be arrested in that Oklahoma kidnapping and murder case, reportedly sent his packet of paperwork by certified mail to Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state.
Perhaps paradoxically, American State Nationals are also told to acquire a federal document that group members call a “noncitizen national passport.” They believe this document gives them many special privileges , including no longer being a U.S. citizen and having immunity from U.S. laws. They believe this even though U.S. law applies to everyone within the borders of the U.S .
In reality, this document does none of what they think it does. The document, officially called a “ Certificate of Non Citizen Nationality ,” is really for use by people born in one of several U.S. possessions, such as American Samoa. Directly contrary to what sovereign citizens think, the document certifies that its bearer does “ owe permanent allegiance to the United States .”
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