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Still waiting for justice

The good news is, Ammon and Ryan Bundy will be able to occupy a government facility for what appears to be an indefinite time.

The bad news? That facility will be a jail.

The Bundy brothers were indicted along with 14 other self-styled “militia” members who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon for weeks. They’re charged with conspiracy to prevent the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from carrying out its official duties.

The Bundys and others at the refuge claimed to be standing up for a pair of Oregon ranchers serving time for illegally burning public lands (although those ranchers said “thanks but no thanks” through their attorney.) Then they said they wanted all federal lands turned over to the state or locals (although many locals were pretty vocal about telling the occupiers to go home). And while the Bundys apparently believe the local sheriff is the highest law enforcement authority in any given county, they refused entreaties from the Harney County sheriff to, once again, go home.

It would be comical had it not ended in bloodshed. Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, 54, was shot and killed by authorities Jan. 27 after he tried to run a police roadblock, emerged from his truck with hands raised, but then repeatedly grabbed at his pocket, where he was later found to be carrying a loaded 9mm pistol.

The Bundys will no doubt consider themselves political prisoners, although Ammon Bundy has urged the remaining four protesters still at the refuge to go home. (One would hope that Finicum’s death has opened his eyes to the lethal consequences of armed anti-government protests based on constitutionally unsupportable assertions.)

Meanwhile, back at his Bunkerville ranch, Bundy patriarch Cliven Bundy is insisting (despite an FBI video released to the public) that Finicum was murdered in cold blood. He’s written to the sheriff, the governor of Oregon and President Barack Obama, saying that “we the people” will keep the federal reserve property.

Pretty mouthy for a welfare cowboy who stopped paying his grazing fees 20 years ago and now owes more than $1 million to the federal government. Authorities are supposedly still investigating the 2014 standoff at Bundy’s ranch near Bunkerville, which was lousy with well-armed pretend soldiers after Bundy called for a “range war” as the Bureau of Land Management moved in to seize his illegally grazing cattle.

The question has been asked repeatedly since that standoff ended, mercifully without bloodshed: When will Cliven Bundy and his merry band face charges similar to those his sons now face in Oregon?

Public officials including Interior Secretary Sally Jewell promise the wheels of justice turn slowly, but that they are presumably still turning. During the Bundy standoff, protesters aimed weapons at duly authorized federal and local law enforcement officers, and they briefly closed down a freeway while thwarting the BLM’s cattle-gathering efforts pursuant to a lawful court order.

Where’s justice for Cliven? And where’s the federal government when its officials in rural areas are reportedly harassed and even fired upon by persons unknown? The occupation of the Malheur refuge was merely annoying and even comical (up until Finicum’s death, at least) compared with Bundy’s huge unpaid tax bill and the lawlessness that continues to rage on the range in Nevada.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy — if convicted — will serve their time for the Oregon stupidity. But they and plenty of others still have not faced justice for the events of 2014. It’s both dangerous and unwise to allow people to ignore the law for decades, simply because they disagree with those laws. Society doesn’t work that way, as the Bundy brothers may fast be learning in their most recent occupation of a government building.

— Steve Sebelius is a Review-Journal political columnist and co-host of the show “PoliticsNOW,” airing at 5:30 p.m. Sundays on 8NewsNow. Follow him on Twitter (@SteveSebelius) or reach him at 702-387-5276 or SSebelius@reviewjournal.com.

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