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A '''vigilante''' is a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal [[authority]], typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate. A more organized group of vigilantes is called a [[vigilance committee]]. The activities of such groups are classed as expressions of '''vigilantism''', condemned as illegal under U.S. federal statute. Notorious examples (not the only ones) include the [[Ku Klux Klan]], the formation of the Danite Band, the frontier feuds and range wars of 1870, and the group led by John D. Lee that was directly responsible for the [[Mountain Meadows Massacre]].  

A '''vigilante''' is a member of a self-appointed group of citizens who undertake law enforcement in their community without legal [[authority]], typically because the legal agencies are thought to be inadequate. A more organized group of vigilantes is called a [[vigilance committee]]. The activities of such groups are classed as expressions of '''vigilantism''', condemned as illegal under U.S. federal statute. Notorious examples (not the only ones) include the [[Ku Klux Klan]], the formation of the Danite Band, the frontier feuds and range wars of 1870, and the group led by John D. Lee that was directly responsible for the [[Mountain Meadows Massacre]].  

Similar but not identical motivations and activities are exemplified by various resistance and insurgent groups defiantly seeking to overthrow established national, regional or local governments, and reprisals against representatives of immorally oppressive regimes or the entrenched occupation forces of a foreign power, such as the [[guerilla]] tactics of the [[Maccabee]]s against the 2nd century B.C. Syrian tyranny, and the French Resistance of the ''Maquis'' during World War II.

Similar but not identical motivations and activities are exemplified by various [[Resistance movement|resistance and insurgent groups]] defiantly seeking to overthrow established national, regional or local governments, and reprisals against representatives of immorally oppressive regimes or the entrenched occupation forces of a foreign power, such as the [[guerilla]] tactics of the [[Maccabee]]s against the 2nd century B.C. Syrian tyranny, and the French Resistance of the ''Maquis'' during World War II.

The [[Bible]] condemns mob violence: [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/23-2.htm Exodus 23:2].

The [[Bible]] condemns mob violence: [http://biblehub.com/commentaries/exodus/23-2.htm Exodus 23:2].