The Southern Poverty Law Center’s spring 2013 Intelligence Report tracks the growth of conspiracy-minded “Patriot” groups, which has reached an all time high of 1,360–fueled by the election of the country’s first black president, and what the extreme right sees as a statist threat to its freedom, in particular freedom to own a gun. The last spike in the number of patriot and militia groups occurred after Bill Clinton pushed gun-control legislation through the Congress, which led to a Republican sweep of the U.S. House in 1994. SPLC Senior Fellow Mark Potok predicts growth in extremism, as the right links Obama to immigration reform and gun control.

Source: Southern Poverty Law Center and Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Public Mind Poll.

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