Antigovernment Groups at a Record High, Claims SPLC

Must be time for another "scare the donors" fundraising letter

The number of militias and radical anti-government "patriot" groups operating in the USA reached an all-time high in 2012, a report Tuesday by the Southern Poverty Law Center finds.

The center tracked 1,360 radical militias and anti-government groups in 2012, a nine-fold increase over 2008 when the center recorded 149 such groups, the report says. The explosive growth began four years ago, sparked by the election of President Obama and anger about the poor economy, the center says.

"As President Obama enters his second term with an agenda of gun control and immigration reform, the rage on the right is likely to intensify," the center's senior fellow Mark Potok writes in the report.