TheThree Percenters[a] is a decentralized,far-right, anti-government movement in the United States.[2][3] It was formed as a reaction to the election of U.S. presidentBarack Obama during a time of overall growth in theAmerican militia movement from 2008 to 2009.[1][3] The name "Three Percenter" derives from an inaccurate claim that only three percent of American colonists fought against the British during theAmerican Revolution.[4][5][6]
The Three Percenter movement shares the general ideology of the American militia andpatriot movements,[1][6] including promotion ofgun ownership rights and resistance to theU.S. federal government.[5][7][8] Many members also belong to other anti-government groups including theOath Keepers.[1] In more recent years, the movement has broadened to oppose immigrants, Muslims, and left-wing activists such asAntifa.[9][6]
The group is based in the U.S. and also has a presence in Canada.[8] Many different individuals and groups have identified themselves as "Three Percenters". Despite the lack of formal leadership, Canada has labeled Three Percenters as aterrorist entity.[10] Members of the Three Percenter movement participated in theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack.[5][11] In 2021, six men associated with the group were charged with conspiracy in connection with the attack on the Capitol.[12]
Founding and membership
The idea for the Three Percenters movement came fromgun rights advocate Mike Vanderboegh on a blog called theSipsey Street Irregulars between 2008 and 2009.[3] Vanderboegh was a member of theOath Keepers, a group with whom the Three Percenters remain loosely aligned.[13][14] According to theAnti-Defamation League (ADL), Vanderboegh claimed to be commander of an Alabama militia group, the First Alabama Cavalry Regiment, though he appeared to be its sole member.[15] Vanderboegh claimed to have formerly been a member ofStudents for a Democratic Society and theSocialist Workers Party who abandoned left-wing politics in 1977 after being introduced tolibertarianism.[16]
Vanderboegh said that reading Friedrich Hayek's bookThe Road to Serfdom pushed him to the right. He became aSecond Amendment activist and by the 1990s was involved with the militia movement.[17] After theOklahoma City bombing in 1995, Vanderboegh became better known for popularizing anti-government conspiracy theories.[6] He self-published a novel titledAbsolved online in 2008, calling it "a cautionary tale for the out-of-control gun cops of theATF".[18][19] Vanderboegh received national media attention in 2011, when four suspected militia members inGeorgia were arrested for a plan for abiological attack supposedly inspired by his novelAbsolved.[18][19] He denied responsibility from the alleged plot.[20] Vanderboegh died on August 10, 2016.[21]
The Three Percenters movement was a reaction to theelection of Barack Obama as president of the United States.[1][8][22] Members believed thatObama's presidency would lead to increased government interference in the lives of individuals, and particularly strictergun control laws.[1] The group's Facebook page mostly features posts supporting gun rights.[23]
A popular symbol of the group is the "Nyberg flag", named for its designer Gayle Nyberg. It is a modifiedBetsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral "III" displayed within the circle of 13 stars. Members will also add "III" to their social media profiles.[3]
Some members belong to law enforcement organizations[24] and the military, as well as anti-government groups such as the Oath Keepers.[1] As of 2019, the national Three Percenters organization employed a hierarchical command structure, including requiring members to take an oath similar to that of the U.S. armed forces. Members also active in the armed forces were asked to swear an additional oath promising to disobey certain official orders, including a refusal to disarm U.S. citizens. Members of the national organization have also been required to vote in elections to oppose laws the group sees as unconstitutional.[2]
According to its website, one national Three Percenters group opposes federal involvement in what they consider local affairs and states in its bylaws that countysheriffs are "the supreme law of the land".[2] The website states that the group is "not a militia" and "not anti-government".[2][23] The website claims that the Three Percenters are a "national organization made up of patriotic citizens who love their country, their freedoms, and their liberty."[26][21] The group encompassesnativist andChristian fundamentalist elements involved in planning bomb attacks,[27] as well as opposition to immigrants, Muslims, and left-wing activists such asAntifa.[9][6] AuthorMalcolm Nance has described the movement asright-libertarian.[28]
Like other American militia movements, Three Percenters believe in the ability of citizen volunteers with ordinary weapons to successfully resist the United States military. They support this belief by claiming that only around 3% of American colonists fought the British during theAmerican Revolution, a claim which underestimates the number of people who resisted British rule,[7][4][29] and which does not take into account the concentration of British forces in coastal cities, the similarity of weapons used by American and British forces, andFrench support for the colonists.[7]
Over time, different national and regional Three Percenter umbrella organisations have formed and disbanded, often coexisting while remaining largely independent from one another.[5] While hierarchical at a local level, nationally they operate as a decentralized system of networks or cells.[30]
The group's members have a record of involvement in criminal activity,[6] and some have been associated with acts of violence as well as violent threats.[13] According to theInternational Centre for Counter-Terrorism, individuals associated with the Three Percenters have "used or planned to use firearms and explosives in plots targeting law enforcement officers, private businesses, an abortion clinic, a mosque, and housing complexes inhabited by immigrants".[5]
In 2013, Christian Allen Kerodin and associates were working on the construction of a walled compound inBenewah County, Idaho, "for Three Percenters", designed to house 7,000 people following a major disaster, an initiative which local law enforcement has described as a "scam".[31]
In April 2013, a group ofJersey City, New Jersey, police officers were disciplined for wearing patches reading "One of the 3%".[32][33]
Following the2015 Chattanooga shootings at astrip mall, a military recruitment center and aUnited States Navy Operational Support Center inChattanooga, Tennessee, Three Percenters, Oath Keepers, and other militia groups began organizing armed gatherings outside of recruiting centers in several states, with the stated objective of protecting service members, who were barred from carrying weapons while on duty in civilian recruitment centers.[34] In response, the Army Command Operations Center Security Division issued a letter ordering soldiers not to interact with or acknowledge armed civilians outside of recruitment centers, and that "If questioned by these alleged concerned citizens, be polite, professional and terminate the conversation immediately and report the incident to local law enforcement", noting that the issuing officer is "sure the citizens mean well, but we cannot assume this in every case and we do not want to advocate this behavior".[34]
An Idaho Three Percenter group protestedrefugee resettlement in that state in 2015.[23] In 2016, the "3 Percenters of Idaho" group announced it was sending some of its members in support of theoccupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge inOregon, allegedly in order to "secure the perimeter" and to prevent a "Waco-style situation".[35] They left several hours later after being told their assistance was not needed.[36] Two days previously, Three Percenters founder Mike Vanderboegh had described the occupiers as "a collection of fruits and nuts".[37] "WhatBundy and this collection of fruits and nuts has done is give the feds the perfect opportunity to advance their agenda to discredit us", he said.[37]
The group provided security for a 2017 event held byPatriot Prayer called "Rally forTrump and Freedom".[38][39] Several Three Percenters were also present at theUnite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017, along with members of theRedneck Revolt, a left-leaning militia group.[40][41] After the events at Charlottesville, the group's "National Council" issued a "stand down order", stating, "we will not align ourselves with any type of racist group".[23][40] The group issued a statement saying they "strongly reject and denounce anyone who calls themselves a patriot or a Three Percenter that has attended or is planning on attending any type of protest or counter protest related to thesewhite supremacist andNazi groups".[23][42]
In 2017, a 23-year-oldOklahoma man, Jerry Drake Varnell, was arrested on federal charges of plotting avehicle bomb attack on a bank in downtownOklahoma City, modeled after the 1995Oklahoma City bombing.[43] During a meeting in 2017 with undercoverFBI agents, Varnell identified with the Three Percenters movement, saying that he subscribed to "III% ideology" and intended "to start the next revolution."[22] In March 2020, Varnell was found guilty of conspiracy to use an explosive device to damage a building used in interstate commerce and planning to use a weapon of mass destruction against property used in interstate commerce. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.[44][45]
In 2018, three men were arrested in connection with the bombing of theDar Al-Farooq Islamic Center inBloomington, Minnesota. The bombing was non-lethal. One of the men involved, former sheriff's deputy Michael B. Hari, had connections to the III%s.[46]
In May 2020, during a Second Amendment rally onMemorial Day weekend inFrankfort, Kentucky, Three Percenters and other protesters breached severaloff-limit barriers to access the front porch of theGovernor's Mansion,Governor Andy Beshear's primary residence, and began heckling the Mansion's occupants in response to the Governor'srestrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Soon afterward, members of the group moved several hundred yards away. They hung aneffigy bearing the Governor's face and a sign readingsic semper tyrannis ("thus always to tyrants") from a tree.[51][52] The event drew condemnation from Beshear and from across the political spectrum.[53][54][55] Some state officials had joined the Three Percenters at earlier events, includingKentucky State Representatives Savannah Maddox andStan Lee, andKentucky State SenatorJohn Schickel.[56][57] Beshear labeled the group as "radical", that their actions were "aimed at creating fear and terror", and declared that officials who appeared at previous Three Percenter events "cannot fan the flames and then condemn the fire."[58]
Three Percenters Barry Croft and Adam Fox took part in aplot to kidnap Michigan governorGretchen Whitmer.[59] Michael Jung, a prominent Three Percenter in Wisconsin, offered a location for members to train, he claims to be the second-in-command of the Wisconsin branch.[60][61]
Supporters of the Three Percenters were present and wore emblematic gear or symbols during theprotests and storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Other groups attending included theProud Boys andOath Keepers.[11][63][64] After breaking through police lines or being let through multiple police perimeters, these groups occupied,vandalized,[65][66] breached the Capitol Building and ransacked it for several hours.[67]
At least one man tied to the Three Percenter movement was arrested and charged with involvement of the attack; the man was also reportedly tied to two other extremist groups, the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.[68][69] At the time of the January 6 protests, a truck owned by Illinois state representativeChris Miller (the husband of U.S. representativeMary Miller) was in a restricted area next to theCapitol and bore a Three Percenters decal logo.[70][71] On March 18, 2021, the Illinois House voted to censure Miller for attending the January 6 "Save America" rally that preceded the insurrection at the Capitol by supporters of former President Donald Trump.[72]
Multiple factions of the Three Percenters were also involved in the attack, including 'DC Brigade', 'Patriot Boys of North Texas',[73] and 'B Squad'. The B Squad and DC Brigade conspired with the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.[63] Three Percenters' participation in the attack prompted one of the remaining national groups to dissolve, stating in a final message that other Three Percenter groups' actions had cast the movement in a "negative light".[5]
Guy Reffitt, a member of the Three Percenters from Wylie, Texas, was present at theJanuary 6 United States Capitol attack wearing body armor and carrying a handgun andplastic handcuffs on the Capitol grounds with the intent to remove House speakerNancy Pelosi and Senate majority leaderMitch McConnell from the premises.[74] He was referred to as the guy that "lit the match" and helped to ignite the crowd into an "unstoppable force". He was found guilty of five charges and was sentenced to more than seven years in prison.[75][76]
In June 2021, six men who identified as members of the Three Percenters were indicted by a grand jury for "conspiring to obstruct congressional proceedings." The indictment alleges that they coordinated travel to Washington, D.C., with intent for disruption; some were wearing body armor and tactical gear, and at least one carried a knife. They alleged they were acting as security for principals such as Trump friend and advisorRoger Stone.[77][78][79] All have pled not guilty.[80][79] They are:
Alan Hostetter of San Clemente, California, former police Chief of La Habra and yoga instructor, was accused of conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. Hostetter was sentenced to 135 months in prison.[81]
Erik Scott Warner of Menifee, California, is charged with federal offenses that include conspiracy,obstructing an official proceeding, and unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds.
Felipe Antonio "Tony" Martinez of Lake Elsinore, California, is charged with federal offenses, including conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, and unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds.
Derek Kinnison of Lake Elsinore, California, is charged with federal offenses, including conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds, and tampering with documents or proceedings.
Ronald Mele of Temecula, California, is charged with federal offenses, including conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, and unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds.
Russell Taylor of Ladera Ranch is charged with federal offenses, including conspiracy, obstructing an official proceeding, and unlawful entry on restricted buildings or grounds. He is also charged with obstructing law enforcement during a civil disorder and unlawful possession of a dangerous weapon on Capitol grounds.[79]
In Canada
On June 25, 2021, the group was added to the Canadian Criminal Code'slist of terrorist entities to prevent them from accessing financial support.[12][82][83][10] One Canadian expert,Maxime Fiset, a formerneo-Nazi who works with the Centre for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, considers the group the "most dangerous" extremist group in the country. Hate crime expert Barbara Perry said thatIslamophobia was the main focus of the Canadian chapters, urged that police investigate the group, and called the group "scary".[8]
^abcdefghBalleck, Barry J. (2019). "Three Percenters".Hate Groups and Extremist Organizations in America: An Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.:ABC-CLIO. pp. 315–316.ISBN978-1-4408-5751-5.
^abcdefMockaitis, Thomas R. (2019). "Domestic Extremism".Violent Extremists: Understanding the Domestic and International Terrorist Threat. Santa Barbara, Calif.: Praeger/ABC-CLIO. pp. 67,80–81.ISBN978-1-4408-5949-6.
^abcdeLewandowski, Carla; Bumgarner, Jeff (2024).Extremism in the Police: A Reference Handbook. New York: Bloomsbury Academic. pp. 132–133.ISBN979-8-216-17144-7.The Three Percenters is a decentralized movement within the far-right militia movement started in 2008.
^abLewandowski & Bumgarner (2024), p. 132: "The [Three Percenter] name derives from the false conception that only 3 percent of the American population fought against the British during the Revolutionary War."
^abcdefg"Three Percenters". Anti-Defamation League. June 26, 2017.Archived from the original on August 11, 2021. RetrievedAugust 15, 2025.
^abcCrothers, Lane (2019).Rage on the Right: The American Militia Movement from Ruby Ridge to the Trump Presidency (2nd ed.). Lanham, Md.:Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 136–37.ISBN978-1-5381-1573-2.
^abLewandowski & Bumgarner (2024), p. 132: "Though initially more anti-government in ideology, the Three Percenters has more recently turned its outrage from the federal government to perceived enemies including Antifa, Muslims, and immigrants"
^abLewandowski & Bumgarner (2024), p. 133: "Anyone can identify themselves as a Three Percenter as there is not a formal Three Percenter Organization, but this has not stopped Canada from labeling the Three Percenters a terrorist entity"
^ab"Michael Brian Vanderboegh". Montgomery, Ala.: Southern Poverty Law Center. n.d.Archived from the original on January 12, 2016. RetrievedAugust 15, 2025.
^Nance, Malcolm (2022).They Want to Kill Americans: The Militias, Terrorists, and Deranged Ideology of the Trump Insurgency. New York: St. Martin's Press. pp. 319–320.ISBN978-1-250-27900-2.
^Morlin, Bill (May 16, 2013)."Behind the Walls". Montgomery, Ala.: Southern Poverty Law Center.Archived from the original on January 26, 2016. RetrievedJanuary 14, 2016.But there's no sign that the latest fantastic plans from antigovernment extremists will ever come to much. Dave Resser, the sheriff of sparsely populated Benewah County, calls the whole thing a 'scam'.
^Canada, Public Safety (December 21, 2018)."Currently listed entities".www.publicsafety.gc.ca.Archived from the original on February 2, 2017. RetrievedOctober 18, 2021.
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