Power of the County · Episode 4 of 7 · 20 min
"A Rifle for a Building Permit": The Posse Comitatus Comes to Idaho
In 1975 a Posse Comitatus leader told a Sandpoint crowd that a 30-30 rifle made a good substitute for a building permit, and a year later, to the day, someone acted on it. The episode explains the county-supremacy doctrine of Henry Beach and William Potter Gale, which holds the sheriff, not Washington, as the highest lawful authority, and tracks its arrival in Idaho.
Who's who
- Henry Beach+3 more episodesPosse Comitatus founder credited with the county-supremacy doctrine
- William Potter Gale+3 more episodesPosse Comitatus founder credited with the doctrine
- Richard Butler+2 more episodesPosse leader who sued over Idaho's forestry and land-use laws in 1975
- Jean Stoddard1974 Senate candidate who ran on a posse platform
Where it happens
- Sandpoint, Idaho+1 more episodeWhere the 30-30 rifle remark was made in 1975
- Bonner County, IdahoChapter formed in 1973
- Idaho+1 more episodeState where the movement took hold
Timeline
- 1969Posse Comitatus organized
- Late 1973Bonner County Sheriff's Posse Comitatus forms
- 1974A Posse-platform U.S. Senate candidate runs
- July-August 1975Butler sues to block Idaho's forestry and land-use laws
- August 27, 1976Armed confrontation a year after the rifle remark
Still debated
Scholars dispute whether Beach or Gale founded the Posse Comitatus.
← PreviousHow the Aryan Nations Hijacked Rural Anger at Hayden LakeNext →Gunpoint in the Nez Perce: The 1976 Patrin Mining-Claim Standoff
Connected episodes in other series
The Constitutional Sheriff Movement: Why a County Sheriff Claims to Outrank the PresidentHomemade Sovereignty · Episode 1Also features Henry Beach, William Potter Gale
The Law in Their Heads: Elk City, 1976Free and Open: The 1872 Mining Law · Episode 3
Measuring Trees at GunpointGround Truth: Forest Service Research · Episode 9