Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia

Ohio's militias are armed and ready, with good intent they say

The Plain Dealer
By Brian Albrecht
July 28, 2019

But there are militias that say they support the government and exist to serve as a citizen’s defense force in the historical sense of these groups. Armed, yes, but also prepared and trained to respond to disasters or local community needs.

Members of the Irregulars of Ohio Reserve Militia take a break for a photo with personnel of the Life’s Little Adventures Farm in Wooster, where militia members cleared fallen trees and foliage in May to help the facility that uses rescued animals in therapeutic programs for children, and veterans recovering from PTSD. (Brian Albrecht/The Plain Dealer)

CLEVELAND, Ohio — This is the militia: Men and women clad in camos, carrying semi-automatic rifles, stalking the woodlands, shredding targets, prepping for worst-case scenarios.

And this is the militia: Two militia members arrested and charged in Cincinnati earlier this year for allegedly making bombs; a militia leader arrested and charged with firearms possession by a felon in April after a video showed his group detaining migrants in New Mexico at gunpoint; two members of a Illinois militia pleading guilty in January to bombing a Minnesota mosque; three Kansas militia men convicted last year of plotting to blow up an apartment complex where Somali refugees lived.

And this: Chainsaws, shovels and muscle brought to bear by an Ohio militia to help clean up tornado-ravaged areas of Dayton, and an overgrown farm in Wooster that offers therapeutic programs to treat traumatized families and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.

The recent history of private militias in Ohio and the United States has been fraught with confrontation and violence.
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