Armed border militia confronts 'smugglers' that turn out to be camping biologists [View all]

[eridani]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/09/04/1327208/-Armed-border-militia-confronts-smugglers-that-turn-out-to-be-camping-biologists

Who would have thought that having roving bands of heavily armed conspiracy theory freaks roaming the desert looking for "justice" to dish out would lead to problems.

A group of heavily armed militia surrounded and confronted a group of people near the U.S.-Mexico border who they thought were illegal migrants or smugglers, but who turned out to be a group of conservationists conducting a wildlife population survey. [...]

Santa Cruz County Sheriff Tony Estrada told TNN that the militia men — who are civilian volunteers and not actual federal border patrol agents — were riding ATVs, wearing camouflage and brandishing weapons when they came upon the group of scientists.

“Obviously, they mistook them for smugglers or illegal entrants,” said Estrada.

Aside from surrounding and "confronting" the camping biologists (they were doing a study of the local bat population), there was no gunplay—presumably because the scientists spoke English and so therefore could swear at the dumbasses in their native language.

Estrada said that one of the border militia apologized to the angry and frightened scientists, but they “weren’t having any of it.” [...]

Gardner Canyon is a popular spot for camping and hiking and people are often there at night, said the biologists. The militia are needlessly putting people’s lives at risk, they sa