January 23, 1993 - Early 1994: Future Oklahoma City Bomber Networks with Racists, Militia Members at Gun Shows

White separatist Timothy McVeigh (see November 1993 and After), already mulling over plans to bomb an Oklahoma City federal building (see April 19, 1995), quits his job with an upstate New York security company (see Bad link: a089192mcveighleave), sells most of his belongings, and begins traveling around the US attending gun shows and militia events. Not all militia movements are characterized by the racist ideology that helps impel McVeigh, but many are, and many white hate groups are making common cause with militias. McVeigh ekes out enough money selling knives, fatigues, and copies of The Turner Diaries (see 1978) to continue his travels, and meets a number of like-minded people. Psychology professor Gerald Post will later say, “Gun shows have become town-hall meetings for racists and antigovernment radicals.” At McVeigh’s trial, prosecutors will say that he used the gun shows to “fence stolen weapons, make contacts to buy bomb materials, and hone his terrorist skills.” During his travels, McVeigh writes to his sister Jennifer, saying that the government is planning to disarm gun owners and incarcerate them in concentration camps. Along the way, he meets gun dealer Roger Moore at a gun show; McVeigh’s partner Terry Nichols will later rob Moore (see November 1994) as part of McVeigh and Nichols’s bomb plot. He also meets Andreas Strassmeir, the head of security for the far-right white supremacist community at Elohim City, Arkansas (see 1973 and After). [Douglas O. Linder, 2001; Nicole Nichols, 2003]