A peaceful protest has become unlawful and gritty as the Oregon Militia Standoff enters its third active week. At the beginning of this month, militants seized the Malheur Wildlife Refuge after a rancher and his son received a federal arson sentence for setting fire to parts of the refuge to cover up poaching of the protected deer and and birds within it on multiple occasions. The offenders, Dwight and Steve Hammond, are responsible for putting volunteer firefighters in significant danger. Oregon militants are outraged by the sentencing of five years in prison, claiming that mandatory minimum sentencing was unjustified and not proportionate to the offense. Now, militants are taking a stand against the so called “tyranny” of our federal government. They will refuse to stand down until the Hammonds are released and the federal government hands over the land to local authorities to do as they wish with it. The militants are armed and test the patience of everyone, from their local sheriff to the FBI. They have been destroying parts of the national refuge by paving roads through it and knocking down fenced to allow livestock to graze upon the federally protected land. It is highly unlikely the Oregon militia will get what they demand. If need be, the military will be sent in. The members of this protest could receive up to more than ten years in prison.