Militias and their "patriot" supporters are operating throughout Florida in the following counties: Alachua, Duval, Clay, St. Johns, Marion, Orange, Brevard, Highlands, St. Lucie, Martin, Volusia, Indian River, Okeechobee, Pinellas. Sarasota, Pasco, Polk, Hillsborough, Palm Beach and Monroe. Robert Gene Pummer, formerly of Martin County and once the key organizer of the Florida State Militia, has moved to Mayfield, Kentucky.

On December 3, 1994, outside Melbourne, a collection of anti-government activists and militia groups organized a "Patriot Alert Rally." Martin "Red" Beckman, a tax protestor from Montana, told the gathering, "The lied to us about Pearl Harbor and Vietnam and Korea and the energy crisis and the Kennedy assassination. We don't want to have to go to the militia if we can help it. But if we don't have truth in this country, part of the judgment that's going to come on this country is going to come from the militia."

Literature for sale at the rally included copies of The New Federalist (a publication of political extremist Lyndon LaRouche), The Spotlight (the organ of the anti-Semitic Liberty Lobby), literature from the St. Lucie-based Florida State Militia, 2nd Regiment, and a handbill from the Brevard County Militia proclaiming: "Wake up America, Your country is being taken over bit-by-bit. Join Your fellow PATRIOTS to STOP this MOVEMENT."

The same month, the Gainesville City Hall briefly flew a United Nations flag. Members of militias from around the state and the nation, including then-Michigan Militia leader Norman Olson. issued a flood of complaints and threats to the city and local business leaders. The flag was removed. Gainesville's city manager stated, "The city commission meeting that we had regarding the U.N. flag was probably the meeting at which I felt more personal fear than any other public meeting I've ever attended in 20 years."

On the airwaves

In Pensacola, militias are promoted by Chuck Baldwin, the pastor of Crossroads Baptist Church. Baldwin hosts a radio show on the Christian Patriot Network and invites listeners to call in: "We're talking about citizens' militias, federal government's encroachment on individual rights, New World Order, United Nations, gun control, it's all related." Militias are also promoted on the public access channel in Alachua County, which airs a pro-militia video produced by the North Florida Patriot Association.

ADL Fact Finding Report, "Beyond the Bombing: The Militia Menace Grows," Anti-Defamation League, 1995.

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