McDonald County white supremacist demands $23 million+ from government

In a letter mailed from the St. Clair County Jail in Osceola, filed Tuesday in U. S. District Court for the Western District of Missouri, McDonald County, white supremacist Robert Joos demanded more than $23 milliion (and counting) from the government for violating his constitutional rights.

Joos has been held without bond since June 24 on federal weapons charges.

In his letter, Joos writes, "I am being punished for (a) possessing firearms, a right of all citizens as secured by the Second Amendment, (b) exercising a right necessary to protect myself and property from unreasonable search and seizure by any criminal with a firearm or other weapon, as secured by the Fourth Amendment; (c) possessing explosives and firearms, a right secured by the Ninth Amendment; (d) exercising my right to exercise power over my environment (e.g. protection, hunting, excavation, demolition, etc. (as secured by the 10th Amendment)."

Joos claims that the government has no right to prevent him from possessing firearms, while allowing other people to do so. Despite this declaration, Joos does not admit that he is guilty of the crime for which he is charged, adding, "That I did not knowingly possess firearms and explosives is not relevant to the issue of my right to do so under the law."

Later in the letter, Joos asks for the return of all of the weapons he did not knowingly possess, as well as $100,000 per each day he has been held in actual damages and $100,000 per day in punitive damages, which at this date would add up to approximately $23 million with the amount increasing every day.

In addition to a charge of being a felon illegally possessing firearms, Joos also faces two counts of unlawful transport of firearms and one count transporting explosive materials interstate.

Joos was arrested in connection with a federal investigation of a racially-motivated 2004 bombing in Scottsdale, Ariz. National white supremacist leader Dennis Mahon and his brother Daniel were charged with that crime.