Bundy Group Names Itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom

The leader of the Oregon militia standoff at a wildlife refuge says his group has a new name: Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

The group announced it will not stand down until the government stops violating the Constitution.

“We have allowed our federal government to step outside the bounds of the Constitution. They have come down upon on the people,” Ammon Bundy said in a press conference Monday. “They are coming down into the state and taking over the land and the resources, putting the people into duress.”

Bundy is holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside of Burns, Oregon alongside an estimated dozen other armed anti-government types. He introduced a supporter who read a petition she said was supported by a slew of other western anti-government groups including the Oregon Bearded Bastards, the Oregon Oath Keepers, and the Central Oregon Constitutional Guard.

Bundy said he has spent two months trying to get county and state representatives to stand up for the Steven and Dwight Hammond who he believes were wrongly convicted of arson on federal lands. Bundy is calling on officials to put together what he termed an “evidentiary hearing board” to reexamine the Hammonds’ case.

Bundy is also alleging that the federal government was acting in retribution against the Hammonds who had refused to sell their ranch to the feds.

“Because of that refusal to sell their ranch, these federal agencies began an attack on this family,” Bundy said.