The arrest of one-time “constitutional sheriff” candidate Anthony Bosworth last Wednesday looked almost like a scripted event. Th 41-year-old Iraq war veteran, his wife and their two children showed up for a sparsely attended “10th Amendment” rally at the federal courthouse plaza. Bosworth was carrying an AK-47 assault rifle, his two children were carrying .22 rifles and his wife was shooting video with a cell phone.

Word of his arrest was posted immediately to various antigovernment, pro-gun blogs and social media sites, causing a frenzied reaction. Supporters were urged to call the Spokane Sheriff, asking the only “constitutional law enforcement official” recognized by the antigovernment movement to intervene with federal officials.

Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich did just that.

“I went down there to make sure this did not get out of hand,” Knezovich later told The Spokesman-Review.

Bosworth has been a leader of a group opposing Washington state’s voter-approved Initiative 594, which requires background checks on all gun sales. He and other pro-gun activists say they are planning an “Arms Expo” campout in central Washington in June.



Anthony Bosworth, left, and Mike Vanderboegh, right.

Bosworth, who lives in Yakima, also was armed when he showed up earlier this month in Olympia, Wash., with antigovernment Patriot leader Mike Vanderboegh, of Alabama, at a pro-gun rally where locked doors prevented demonstrators from entering the state capitol.

As expected, Vanderboegh was among the antigovernment figures quick to support Bosworth. The leader of the “III percent” movement – a reference the alleged number of American colonists who stood up to the British – wrote on his website, “DHS thugs crap all over their jackboots – again. Another skirmish with the forces of the evil empire in Washington state.”

Vanderboegh also applauded “the critical support of local (that is to say, constitutional) law enforcement with the intervention of the Spokane County Sheriff.”

Vanderboegh said Bosworth supporters will show up March 6 at 11 a.m. at the U.S. Courthouse in Spokane for “Our State, Our Rights: The Patriots Answer” rally.

“Bring your side-arms. Bring your long guns. This is a peaceful rally. But it is an armed one,” Vanderboegh said. “This rally is the Patriots' answer to a tyrannical and out of control government. Their abuses will not stand. But we will. We will not comply.”

There were only a handful of people on the courthouse plaza when Bosworth was arrested, and some of them were protesting a marijuana possession trial that was underway.

As though he was anticipating an encounter, Bosworth is heard on the video directing his wife to get the telephone number for the local sheriff. Antigovernment ideologues– quick to call federal agents “Gestapo” – frequently seek assistance or intervention from local sheriffs.

Uniformed Department of Homeland Security officers quickly approached Bosworth and told him he was violating federal law by carrying a firearm on the federal plaza. Bosworth engaged the officers, saying he only was prohibited from taking his rifle inside the courthouse.

“We’re exercising our rights,” Bosworth is heard telling the DHS officer.

“What do you hope to achieve by carrying a rifle?” DHS officer asked Bosworth.

“I ain’t achieving nothing, except for practicing my rights,” Bosworth responded.

The officer on the courthouse plaza asked Bosworth to leave federal property, directing him to stand on a nearby city sidewalk. Puffing a cigarette and drinking coffee, Bosworth didn’t immediately leave when a deputy U.S. marshal then intervened as Bosworth’s wife continued shooting video.

“This is federal property,” the deputy marshal told Bosworth. “You can’t bring guns here. You need to leave right now or we’re going to arrest you. It’s that simple. You are not protesting. You are violating the law.”

In short order, Bosworth was arrested and taken into custody. His wife almost immediately posted word and video of the event on various social media sites and antigovernment blogs, listing the phone number for the Spokane sheriff.

Knezovich, who said he just happened to be in the area, went to the courthouse and apparently attempted to intervene and mediate.

“This became an instantaneous social media event,” Knezovich told the Spokesman-Review, which also reported the sheriff’s office “was slammed with calls about the incident.”

Sam Wilson, a spokesman for a Washington state group called “Liberty for All,” also blogged about the arrest of Bosworth, who is a member. Bosworth was “only released after a furious storm of social media exposure erupted and the County Sheriff stepped in,” Wilson wrote.

Not to be left out of the hysteria, antigovernment activist Alex Jones contended the FBI tried “to flip” Bosworth and make him a federal informant after the incident.

“Feds tell military veteran to ‘be quiet’ for a year to avoid charges,” a headline on Jones’ blog said.

“Bosworth’s treatment, from the clearly unlawful arrest to the attempt to quell free speech, is standard operating procedure among federal agents tasked with surveying politically active conservative Americans,” Jones wrote.