Posted on 10/17/2003 10:29:17 AM PDT by FourPeas
Militia member 'filled with rage,' plotted ambush Friday, October 17, 2003 By Ed White
It was a rural arsenal fit for war. After the peaceful arrest of a Cadillac-area man, authorities who searched his 40-acre compound discovered a stunning collection of firepower, including an anti-aircraft gun capable of firing 550 rounds per minute up to four miles away. A van and a Jeep Cherokee, described by the suspect as his "war wagons," had machine guns inside, with one "locked, loaded and ready to go," Assistant U.S. Attorney Lloyd Meyer said. Agents found an underground bunker, thousands of rounds of ammunition, hundreds of pounds of gunpowder and manuals on guerrilla warfare, "booby traps" and explosives. There were chilling pictures of President Bush and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld with the cross-hairs of a high- see MILITIA, A4 powered rifle scope drawn over them, Meyer said. Norman Somerville, 43, was arrested last week on federal gun and drug charges as he shopped at Home Depot in Cadillac. Authorities then spent the weekend combing his property in Wexford County's Antioch Township, about 20 miles northwest of Cadillac. Details of the search were disclosed in a court document filed Thursday in federal court in Grand Rapids, four days before a judge will decide whether Somerville should remain in jail while his case is pending. Somerville was "filled with rage and intended to ambush people, mowing them down in a hail of machine-gun bullets," Meyer said, quoting informants. He belongs to a "self-styled radical militia unit" whose members are upset over the death of Scott Woodring, the prosecutor said. Woodring was the Newaygo County man fatally shot by state police during the summer, days after a trooper died while trying to serve him with an arrest warrant. State police were told in September that Somerville wanted to cause a car accident, then "ambush and kill" any responding officers with a machine gun mounted in his Jeep, Meyer wrote in the court document. An unidentified source, described as one of Somerville's "trusted associates," feared he had become "mentally unbalanced and would kill an innocent person or be killed," Meyer said. Somerville may face additional charges linked to the search of his property, although Meyer declined to elaborate. Two years ago, Somerville moved to Wexford County from elsewhere in northern Michigan. He served in the Army from 1978 to 1984 and was trained as an intelligence analyst assigned to the elite Special Forces. During a brief court appearance last week in Grand Rapids, Somerville said: "The people will have their day. ... There's a quiet civil war going on in the country." In Antioch Township, five miles outside Mesick, neighbors said he is not the type to share a cup of sugar. "We told our kids to stay off his property. There was gunfire a lot," said Lynda Sherburne, a former township clerk who lives nearby. "Who knows where the stray bullets are going. "He got angry very easily. No contact with him was the best contact." Sherburne said her nephew's house shook as state and federal authorities detonated explosives found on Somerville's property. "I don't think anyone realized he was stockpiling back there," she said.
The Grand Rapids Press
This is relevant to gun control how?
The Second Amendment enumerates the right to keep and bear ARMS. The examples you mentioned are not arms. According to the Federalist Papers, "arms" can be defined as what the typical infantry soldier of any given time might carry. According to this definition, the Assault Weapons Ban is an unconstituional piece of garbage, and IMO there is simply nothing immoral about breaking it.
He apparently did do something with it that we don't like. His "plan," and the fact that he was evidently working to carry it out, constitutes a conspiracy to commit murder.
Got yer buzzword bingo cards laid out, I see....
But do you mean to tell me you don't have "JBT"?!?
His point is the same one used by gun-grabbers, confusing "arms" with "artillary" and "ordinance" be it intentional or not.
Stay Safe !
Of course, you aren't trying to make sense. You just wanna try and equate small arms ownership with weapons of mass destruction. You are only making yourself look like an idiot.
Where in the Constitution does it say "small arms" ?
You already have two. Why do you want so many more ?
Or have you found that passage where they state they can decide what "arms" means?
Get a grip gun grabber.
Arms!
Well, most of us do.
Yes, your position is there is no Constitutional power for the Federal government to restrict your access and use of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons.
People who think like you are one reason we need gun control.
That would be a reasonable definition if you then vetted or restricted the use of such weapons to non-criminals. Israel has both widespread access to weapons among trustworthy citizens and gun control.
Call me radical, but I disagree with that too. My opinion is that if someone is so dangerous that they should not own arms, they should not be released from prison.
That is a valid point, although it does not cover the spectrum of people I would want to restrict. Technology has advanced so far beyond the 1700s. Imagine a single company with automatic weapons and adequate supply would have done in the Revolutionary War.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.