If you have even glanced at the news over the past month and a half, you've probably heard something about Oregon. No, I don’t mean the 16th ranked college basketball team or the crazy winter weather. I’m talking about the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near the city of Burns in Harney County, Oregon. The occupation began on January 2nd of this year after protests regarding the impending incarceration of two ranchers, father and son, Dwight and Steve Hammond. From there, a radical group of almost entirely outsiders staged an armed takeover of the empty refuge.

The group, naming themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, were led by two members of the Bundy family, Ammon and Ryan, infamous for a standoff with federal officials in 2014. Following the seizure, demands were made; namely, the release of the Hammonds (who had turned themselves in following the occupation) and the return of Malheur’s land to the the people of Harney County or to the state of Oregon. After weeks of roller coaster tensions and dramatic events, including the ambush and capture of the ringleaders, the occupation ended some forty days after it began on February 11, 2016. The debate has not ended, however, it has just begun.

When the conflict began back in January, many including some townspeople in Burns, saw the group as patriots. Supporters took to social media praising the occupiers as heroes who were standing up to the oppressive government who was bent on destroying the nation and taking away the rights of Americans. After one of the militiamen was killed in an exchange with the Oregon State Police that led to the Bundys capture, the calls and fervor only intensified. Other militia groups traveled and offered assistance and support. Even a family gospel band from Kansas made their way to the site in solidarity with the occupiers. It was clear that there was much support for the occupation, but there was also another side of the coin.

Although a number of the townspeople were initially sympathetic to the cause, their sympathy quickly dwindled. Schools were closed due to the militia’s presence and many locals were growing increasingly annoyed with the spotlight and negative press their tiny town was receiving. People around the country also expressed their displeasure through social media, creating the hashtags #YallQueda and #YeeHawdists. The situation did not improve after a tense community meeting in Burns where many townspeople called for the occupiers to leave their town alone. The citizens’ wishes were granted after the Bundys were captured January 25th and the remaining militants surrendered some two weeks later.

Even though the standoff is over between the occupiers and law enforcement, dividing lines still remain in both the town and the country. There are still protests in Burns featuring both locals and outside militia members calling for the FBI, a major player in the conflict, to leave. Nationally, however, the implications are much more worrying. In 2013, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that there were some 1,096 anti-government militia groups in the U.S. boasting some 100,000 members (with around 40% being active). While these groups, much like those who occupied the Malheur Refuge, claim to be patriots seeking to bring liberty and freedom back to America, are they really? These paramilitary groups place an emphasis on guns almost suggesting that firearms equal freedom and that any talk of restricting access to these is an act of tyranny. A majority of these groups believe they have the public’s interest in mind through their actions. The Malheur occupiers demolished fences between the refuge and a bordering rancher’s lands thinking they would be liberating the land for free use. Instead the rancher rebuilt the fence himself and the occupiers prevented American citizens from visiting a National, public park. Clearly, these patriots don’t always know what’s best for their fellow Americans.