Robert Futrell has spent decades studying right-wing militia movements. A professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, he watched as a mob of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, killing a Capitol Police officer. Four others also died in the attack, which was part of an ongoing effort by President Donald Trump to subvert the presidential election. Similar demonstrations, some violent, also erupted at several state capitals, including Salem, Oregon.

As election day approaches, some states in the Mountain West are preparing for potential voter intimidation and violence following rhetoric from President Donald Trump.

No major voting issues have been reported in Nevada since early voting began Saturday, but the potential for voter intimidation and incited violence remains a real threat to the election process, a new report warns.

We have all seen them before – armed, military-like figures like those showing up at the state capitol building this past spring to protest the pandemic lockdown in the state, or in broadcast coverage of Black Lives Matter protests or counter-protests. Their numbers – both formal and informal – have vacillated over the years, often a bi-product of current day events. Today, these paramilitary organizations are on the rise again. Welcome to the militia movement.

They are supported by the Second Amendment to the Constitution, a text that considers the right to possession of weapons inalienable. They also use the internet for an almost devotion to rifles, in addition to engaging in advocacy for violence and radical political discourse. So-called "watchmen" and "militias" have made headlines in the United States. On August 26, three days after Jacob Blake was shot seven times in the back by the police, anti-racism protests erupted in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Armed groups arrived from neighboring Illinois and clashed with activists from the Black Lives Matter movement (BLM, “Black lives matter”).

When hundreds of Black Lives Matter protesters came out to a Confederate monument in downtown Greenville earlier this summer, men with guns who called themselves a "militia" showed up, too.

Prosecutors say Kyle Rittenhouse, armed with a semi-automatic rifle, killed two people and injured one on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, when he opened fire on Aug. 25 during protests over the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

THE BOOGALOO BOIS dress in Hawaiian shirts, stitch igloo patches on their clothes and bags, and spend their days slinging pro-gun memes back and forth on Reddit, Discord, and Facebook. They have also been linked to a plot to spark unrest at George Floyd protests in Las Vegas with firebombs, and to the deaths of two law enforcement officers in the Bay Area.