January 05, 2016 04:57 PM UTC

Rep. Gordon "Dr. Chaps" Klingenschmitt Joins The Militia

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• by: Colorado Pols

Right Wing Watch, we’ll admit that even we were a little surprised by this one:

It seems that at least one more GOP lawmaker has come out in favor of the seizure of a federal building by Ammon Bundy’s makeshift militia in protest of the resentencing of Steven and Dwight Hammond for arson on federal property.

And of course it’s Gordon Klingenschmitt.

Klingenschmitt, the Colorado state representative/televangelist/demon-hunter/exorcist/conspiracy theorist, shared a post on his Facebook page suggesting that the judge presiding over the Hammons’ case is guilty of treason and should therefore be hanged.

Here’s the Facebook post from GOP Rep. Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt in question, and the description above sounds pretty disturbingly accurate:

And here’s the key passage from the above post:

ALL JUDGES who do not allow Constitutional law to be cited to the Jury needs to be PROSECUTED for Title 18 U.S. Code section 2381 Capital Felony Treason

Title 18 U.S. Code section 2381
When in the presence of two witnesses to the same overt act or in an open court of law if you fail to timely move to protect and defend the constitution of the United States and honor your oath of office you are subject to the charge of capital felony treason, and upon conviction you will be taken by the posse to the nearest busy intersection and at high noon hung by the neck until dead…The body to remain in state till dusk as an example to anyone who takes his oath of office lightly. [Pols emphasis]

Now obviously, this text is not a verbatim quote of the federal law governing treason. Although treason is technically a capital offense, the law makes no mention of “two witnesses,” a “posse” meting out judgment, or hanging public officials by the neck “at high noon” and leaving the body hanging “in state till dusk as an example.” That sounds like a bunch of crackpot militia gobbledegook to us–like the license plates and “money” some of those groups print up for themselves and occasionally try to pass off on the rest of society.

Unfortunately, though, this was posted by a sitting Republican lawmaker in the Colorado General Assembly.

And that means we are obliged to take it a little more, you know, seriously.