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Posted: March 3, 2002
Militia Leader Facing Federal Firearms and Explosives Charges
Charlie Puckett, leader of the Kentucky State Militia (KSM), one of the most active militia groups in the country, was arrested on February 26 on federal weapons charges. The nine-count indictment accuses Puckett, a convicted felon, of possessing machine guns, nearly 35,000 rounds of ammunition, explosives and other items used to make pipe bombs.
The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms seized the guns and other weapons from Puckett's Lancaster, Kentucky, home on November 27, 2001. While it has been illegal since 1968 for felons to possess firearms, Puckett called the seizure a theft of private property and a violation of his rights. He has argued that the 1968 federal gun-control act prohibiting felons from owning guns does not apply to him because he was convicted of the felony two years prior to the law's enactment. Puckett pleaded innocent and is being held in the Fayette County Detention Center without bond.
According to his attorney, Puckett was arrested shortly after completing an interview for the television show "Unsolved Mysteries" about former KSM member Steve Anderson. Anderson is wanted by the Kentucky State Police for attempted murder of a police officer and by the ATF for explosives violations, and has been a fugitive since last October.
(Last year, the ADL warned federal and local law enforcement officials in Kentucky about statements by Anderson, broadcast on his pirate shortwave radio station, threatening force against law enforcement officers.)
Puckett has commanded the Kentucky militia group since 1997; under his influence it became one of the most active militias in the country, conducting extensive paramilitary training as well as multi-state networking. It has held trainings in other states and has hosted national militia. In April 2001, two Kentucky state legislators even addressed one of the gatherings, despite the fact that a Web site associated with the KSM had urged readers to "track down" another state legislator and "bring plenty of ammo."
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