Violence and Sovereign Citizens

Abstract

Despite the fact that there is very little empirical research about sovereign citizens, a narrative has developed that they rarely engage in violence. Perhaps this is because of their well-known association with committing acts of paper terrorism, a term that refers to the use of legal loopholes to attempt to circumvent the law (Southern Poverty Law Center 2017). Chapter three challenges the view that sovereign citizens are seldom violent by exploring acts of violence committed by sovereign citizens in furtherance of their antigovernment agenda.

For reasons that are not entirely evident, a narrative has emerged that characterizes sovereign citizens as being rarely involved in violence. While they are better known for committing paper terrorism, they have undoubtably committed a considerable number of violent acts. Lest we forget that the deadliest domestic terrorism incident in U.S. history was in part, carried out by Terry Nichols, an accomplice of Timothy McVeigh, and a self-described sovereign citizen (Challacombe and Lucas 2019).