FBI: ‘Sovereign citizens’ are ‘sovereign killers’

‘Sovereign citizens’ are extremists who pose a threat, says the FBI. The US authority argues the movement is not just about opposing the government by tax evasion – its members often turn violent.

­“Sovereign citizens” are people who voluntarily deny US citizenship and do not recognize government authority. Many followers of this movement are involved in so called “white-collar” crimes, such as tax evasion, the FBI explained on Monday at a press conference. These people also tend to believe that the United States went bankrupt by abolishing the gold standard.

However, the reason why the FBI started paying more attention to “sovereign citizens” is their alleged propensity to violence.

“We started to notice a heightened potential for violence,” said Stuart McArthur, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s counterterrorism division. Regular encounters with police can turn violent “at the drop of a hat,” he added according to Reuters....more