Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher who along with hundreds of supporters stood down the Bureau of Land Management over the weekend, says the fight will not be over until all federal bureaucracies are disarmed.
Sounding more like the leader of a rebellion than a cattle rancher in a land dispute with the government, Bundy told Fox News Channel's
"Hannity" on Monday that he wants all county sheriffs in the United States to take away the weapons of "federal bureaucrats."
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The BLM obtained two court orders against Bundy because he hasn't paid grazing fees for 20 years. Bundy says he won't pay the U.S. government because it doesn't have authority over land that he says belongs to Nevada.
He has attempted to pay his fees to Clark County, which he says is the proper government to collect the fees.
Two hundred federal agents surrounded the Bundy ranch last week after "contract cowboys" removed 400 head of Bundy's herd of 900. They eventually left the state fearing an escalating confrontation with hundreds of Bundy supporters, some armed militia members.
The BLM says it will continue its fight against Bundy administratively and in the courts.
But Bundy and sons Ammon and Ryan said their battle is part of a bigger war in which the federal government is usurping power relegated to the states.
"They're not part of this sovereign state – they're a foreign government," Bundy said.
"They might have took over our Clark County sheriff, but they never took over 'We, the People' – the sovereign people of this nation. We're standing, and we're going to stand until we take the guns away from those bureaucracies, and then we'll start making America great one more time," Bundy told host Sean Hannity.
Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie remained neutral in the standoff, but Bundy says Gillespie had the authority to make BLM agents disarm and leave.
Ryan Bundy took out a pocket version of the Declaration of Independence and read from the section stating that people will put up with a certain amount of discomfort, but now feel they are being ruled by "absolute despotism."
The Bundys' battle resonates with Americans because they feel the same sense of discomfort, he said.
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