Once a hotbed for anti-government militias such as the Posse Comitatus and Family Farm Preservation, Wisconsin has seen militia activity wane in recent years. But that could be changing.

At least one new group linked to right-wing militias is believed to have established a Wisconsin chapter in recent months. The group, called Oath Keepers, is a particularly “worrisome example” because its members — many of whom are former military and law enforcement officers — hold conspiracy theories and already may have extensive paramilitary training, said Heidi Beirich, a spokeswoman for the Southern Poverty Law Center.

An e-mail sent to the Oath Keepers seeking comment was not returned, but a Web site described the group as a nonpartisan association of those who will “support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”

The law center also is concerned about the Wisconsin chapter of another organization, We the People, and is still counting more new right-wing militia groups around the country. Beirich said the estimate of 50 new groups in the country actually came from law enforcement, and the law center’s count is “going to be way, way higher than 50.” She expects to release a more complete Year in Hate report by February.  

Not all anti-government activists are members of organized militias. Earlier this year, a rural Viola man who shot at SWAT team members during a daylong standoff was sentenced to 48 years in prison. While Robert Bayliss was known to have strong anti-government attitudes, Chief Deputy Tom Hougan of the Richland County Sheriff’s Department said he was more of a one-man army than part of an organized militia. “If there was a an active group, the trial would have brought them out,” Hougan said.

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