Nevada Rancher Cliven Bundy On Sons’ Arrest In Oregon: ‘Total Disaster’

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Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose armed standoff with the federal government paved the way for the ongoing showdown in Oregon, said the death of one militia member and arrest of several others Tuesday should “be a wake-up call to America.”

Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan, were among those arrested at a traffic stop Tuesday night, during which LaVoy Finicum was killed in a shootout with law enforcement. It remained unclear who opened fire, but there were reports that Finicum and Ryan Bundy, who was also wounded, refused to surrender to authorities.

“This is a total disaster to be happening in America, where we have federal people killing innocent people,” Bundy told the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

He continued: “My sons and those who are there are there to do good, no harm was intended, they never threatened anybody, they was trying to teach people about the Constitution, trying to help the Hammond family, trying to make sure this kind of abuse that happened to them tonight didn’t happen to America, and yet it did.”

The occupation began Jan. 2 as a protest of Dwight and Steve Hammond’s prison sentences for arson, which became a flashpoint in the long-simmering conflict over federal government control of public lands.

Watch Bundy’s full remarks over at the Review-Journal.

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