This is a story from the Saint Louis Post Dispatch in which we find that if you want to help protect people’s lives and property from an out of control mob, the police will use all of the force at their disposal to prevent you from doing so. A group of citizens known as the Oath-keepers have been trying to provide security in Ferguson for property owners, but the state, which seems incapable of stopping the rioters or maintaining order, seems quite eager to stop people from defending themselves or their property and has forced them to cease and desist. It is a sad day in our nation when the police protect the mob from the law-abiding citizens.
In fact, they are volunteers affiliated with a 35,000-member national organization called Oath Keepers. Yale Law School graduate and libertarian Stewart Rhodes said by telephone from Montana that he founded the group in 2009 to protect constitutional rights, including those of protesters confronted by what he described as overly militarized police.
Police questioned group members early in the week and allowed them to stay. But Saturday, after media inquiries, St. Louis County police officers ordered the Oath Keepers to leave the rooftops.
Threatened with arrest for operating without a license, the volunteers argued but eventually left their positions early Saturday, Rhodes said.
