For readers who might be interested in reviewing a detailed account of the 41-day siege of federal property that occurred Jan. 2 through Feb. 11, I recommend reading an article on Wikipedia entitled, “Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.” It is not my purpose in this column to rehash those criminal activities, but rather to make some related remarks about the necessity for law and order in a nation founded on a constitutional form of government.

It is a misfortune for all Oregonians, for real veterans and for current members of our armed services that the occupiers of the refuge ever called themselves, “the Oregon Militia.” Hardly any of them had ever lived in Oregon, and most had no military background. But they certainly enjoyed playing army temporarily in Harney County at the expense of the local citizens there.

Their many offenses — which include trespassing, breaking and entering, refusing to cooperate with law enforcement officials, destruction of public and private property, grand theft auto, invasion of public and private computer files and violation of Native American artifacts — were all helpfully documented for prosecutors courtesy of the occupiers’ own social media communications.

While some residents of Harney or Wallowa counties might have felt sympathy for the alleged reasons for the occupation — including complaints about the sentencing of ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond and what some critics would claim is the mismanagement of federal lands — few people in Oregon ever supported the militarized, intimidating tactics of the group or their outright contempt for the law and for local authorities. Within days of the beginning of the invasion, residents of Harney County made it clear at a public meeting that they wanted the protesters to leave. Local, state and federal law enforcement agencies exercised commendable restraint even after the occupiers refused to surrender, and even while onlookers like me seethed at how long it was taking the FBI to step in and put an end to their armed insurrection.

Ultimately, restraint proved to be the wiser course. When a convoy of occupiers was en route from Harney to Grant County to attend a meeting there on Jan. 26, they were stopped by a police blockade. FBI aerial footage shows that one occupier sped up and tried to swerve around the roadblock, and that driver nearly hit a police officer with his pickup. Then after his truck got stuck in a snow bank, the driver exited the pickup, moved toward the same officer, briefly raised his hands over his head, then quickly lowered them to his side while whirling at two officers on opposite sides of him. That protester, who had previously vowed not to be taken alive, was reaching for a loaded gun when he was shot, according to the police. I will have no part in making a martyr or a folk hero of him by mentioning his name, and I scorn any deceitful glorification of his suicidal attempt to shoot a police officer.

Most of the protesters, including the Bundy brothers, who were the leaders of this misfit collection of outlaws, were arrested that day. A few others surrendered right after that, but four more held out until Feb. 11, when the last one finally gave up. A bonus for the FBI came when Clive Bundy, the patriarch of the clan who engineered this series of seditious acts, was himself arrested in Portland for previous actions against law enforcement officials in Nevada in 2014.

Now all of these self-deluded rebels will get a hard lesson in what our constitution is really about. And some of them might be spending as long as 10 years at taxpayers’ expense in a public facility while they learn.

This will prove to be a much longer occupation than they had bargained for. And they have now surrendered their precious Second Amendment rights, along with many other freedoms as well.

John McColgan writes from his home in Joseph.