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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. Occasionally, an individual unassociated with any identifiable group will decide to act covertly as a self-appointed vigilante on behalf of victims who have been denied [[justice]] by the [[court]]s. 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<ref>[https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Vigilantism Vigilantism - Legal Dictionary (legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com)]</ref>. Notorious examples (not the only ones) include the [[Ku Klux Klan]], the formation of the Danite Band, the frontier feuds and range wars of the 1870s, 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. Occasionally, an individual unassociated with any identifiable group will decide to act covertly as a self-appointed vigilante on behalf of victims who have been denied [[justice]] by the [[court]]s. 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<ref>[https://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Vigilantism Vigilantism - Legal Dictionary (legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com)]</ref>. Notorious examples (not the only ones) include the formation of the Danite Band (1838), the post-[[Civil War]] [[Ku Klux Klan]], the frontier feuds and range wars of the 1870s, and the 1875-76 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 movement|resistance and insurgent groups]] defiantly seeking to overthrow established national, regional or local governments, and use 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 use 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]].