Human rights groups warn Ammon Bundy is building an army

From Montana Human Rights Network

Since its start in Idaho earlier this year with a few dozen supporters, the so-called “People’s Rights” network has spread across the country and grown to over 20,000 members.

People’s Rights Montana District 1 started holding meetings in Havre in June.

The group’s founder and national leader is Ammon Bundy, a member of the far-right family that engaged in armed standoffs with the government in Nevada and Oregon. Beyond Bundy, there hasn’t been much known about People’s Rights. Until now.

The Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights and the Montana Human Rights Network are releasing Ammon’s Army: Inside the Far-Right People’s Rights Network, a report exploring the breadth and depth of Bundy’s latest creation. For the first time, the report reveals the names of its more than 150 state and local leaders, shining a light on this divisive and potentially violent organization and its national network.  

“This report shows how ‘People’s Rights’ is a misnomer of epic proportions,” says Devin Burghart of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. “Don’t be fooled. Whatever they choose to call it, it is Ammon’s Army, and it marches to a far-right drumbeat of narcissistic rage and insurrection.”

Ammon’s Army details how Bundy built a core of organizers through past armed actions and traces how protest against COVID-19-related health polices coalesced a network of far right paramilitary activists, anti-maskers, conspiracy theorists, preppers, anti-vaxxers and others into an army of followers.

“We know the Bundy Way leads to armed insurrection and creates division in our communities,” says Travis McAdam of the Montana Human Rights Network. “People’s Rights is nothing more than Ammon Bundy’s new army. The Bundy Way offers nothing of value, and we hope this report will help communities understand the true nature of People’s Rights and push back against it.”

Ammon’s Army details the influence on People’s Rights of the racist and antisemitic Posse Comitatus and documents its leaders’ own promotion of far-right conspiracy theories and racism. It maps how People’s Rights has chopped states into organizing districts in 16 states and provides a detailed assessment of its communications strategies, social media presence and on-the-ground structure.

The report features 100 pages that allow users to examine People’s Rights from the national level down to their local areas. Ammon's Army names 153 People’s Rights leaders and provides background on many of them, along with profiles of other key activists for the group. The information provided is well documented, with the report containing more than 300 footnotes. 

The full report can be viewed at https://www.irehr.org/reports/peoples-rights-report/ .