The Guardians of the Free Republics and the Hutaree militia are appearing to be scooped up in a bureaucratic dragnet due to threats in writing or in speech directed at governors or law enforcement officials.

The main-stream media is fueling the paranoia with speculation and hyperbole:
"Investigators worried the letters could unleash more violent behavior, according to US media." [ http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hGaXOM7uz-_Olywi... ]

The F.B.I. must always assume that anyone of interest is a threat if they own a weapon of some kind (which is okay for personal safety measures), but the lack of reservation about about feeding the main-stream media the innuendo that certain groups pose a general threat to society is a standard tactic of school yard bullies. [ http://www.freep.com/article/20100402/NEWS01/4020343/1318/Will-Huta... ]

The focus of interest here should be the innuendo tactic. This tactic exposes a culturally conditioned weakness in human thinking that accepts generalizations such as statements or reports about groups being responsible for the poor behavior of a few individuals.

The F.B.I. occasionally will need to perform mass arrests as part of their investigation process, but is it really necessary to use “groupspeak” publicly to generalize vilification?