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The Three Percenters (also styled "3%ers") is an American patriot movement which pledges resistance against the United States government regarding any restriction of the United States Constitution. Their primary purpose is to protect constitutional rights and characterized as being ideologically similar to the Oath Keepers.
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The group's name is based on the belief that the historical American Revolution military's armed resistance against the British, in the American Revolution, constituted three percent of the population. This number has never been accurately calculated, and estimates vary depending on whether or not slaves are included in the colonial population numbers and women are counted as potential combatants. The participation rate of the eligible population is estimated to have been higher than in most other American military conflicts.
Foundation and aims
The movement was started on December 17, 2008 after the election of Barack Obama, in response to what the group views as an alarming trend towards an increasingly overreaching federal government, particularly towards stricter gun control. The movement was co-founded by Mike Vanderboegh from Alabama, a member of the Oath Keepers, a group with whom they remain loosely allied, and who publicized the movement on his blog "Sipsey Street Irregulars" beginning November 2008. Vanderboegh claims to have formerly been a member of Students for a Democratic Society and the Socialist Workers Party, but abandoned left-wing politics in 1977 after being introduced to right-wing libertarianism. The "Three Percenters Club" website was established in 2011 by Michael Graham.
Vanderboegh self-published a serial novel online, Absolved, in 2008, described as "a cautionary tale for the out-of-control gun cops of the ATF".
The "Nyberg Three Percent Flag", designed by Gayle Nyberg in 2008, is based on the Betsy Ross flag with the Roman numeral III inscribed in the circle of thirteen stars.
Activities and reception
Vanderboegh and his novel Absolved first received wider media attention in 2011, when four suspected militia members in Georgia were arrested for an alleged plan for a biological attack which had supposedly been inspired by the novel. Vanderboegh distanced himself from the alleged plot.
In 2013, Christian Allen Kerodin and associates were working on construction of a walled compound in Benewah County, Idaho "for three percenters", designed to house 7,000 persons following a major disaster, an initiative which local law enforcement has described as a "scam".
In April 2013, a group of Jersey City police officers were disciplined for wearing patches reading "ONE OF THE 3%".
On January 8, 2016, the "3 Percenters of Idaho" announced it was sending some of its members in support of the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, allegedly in order to "secure the perimeter" and to prevent a "Waco-style situation". They left several hours later after being told their assistance was not needed. Two days previously, Vanderboegh had described the occupiers as "a collection of fruits and nuts". “What Bundy 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.
Though most of those in the movement condemn the militant tactics, Vanderboegh said, they also will not tolerate any reckless violence on the part of authorities.