New Mexico Civil Guard

The New Mexico Civil Guard (NMCG) is a New Mexico-based militia that was founded by Bryce Provance in 2020^[1] before he left the group later that year.

The group was covered by national news media in 2020 due to an incidental shooting at a protest in Albuquerque, New Mexico attended by militia members.

Like many groups within the American militia movement, they claim to be a constitutional group in the vein of the American Revolutionary War Patriot militias.^[2] Members arm themselves, rather than weapons being provided by the organization; AR-15–style rifles are common.

Style of dress similarly varies from member to member, usually consisting of a combat uniform or political uniform in a camouflage pattern with accessories such as balaclavas. There is a t-shirt often used with an icon printed on it resembling the devices on guidons of the Army Infantry, consisting of crossed rifles with 'NMCG' and a morion marked 'NM' at the top, III at the left, a Zia symbol on the right, and a decorative element at the bottom. The Civil Guard are not a unit within any branch of the United States armed forces, however.

During a protest taking place at La Jornada, a sculptural group depicting the settlement of New Mexico by Juan de Oñate and others, a man named Steven Ray Baca shot at protestors. A group of eight armed militia members at the protest were arrested and detained by law enforcement, then were released without any charges brought.^[1] Representatives of the militia stated that Baca had no connection with them. Both Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Mayor Tim Keller accused the group of trying to intimidate protesters.^[3][4]

Militia members made an appearance at several additional protests during 2020.^[5]

In 2020, the New Mexico Civil Guard told the Albuquerque Journal that they had 150 members across the state of New Mexico.^[6] They ran members in local sheriffs races^[7][3] including Aaron Hawking as candidate for Bernalillo County Sheriff. They were seen at several events with Republican Senate and House candidates and made speeches at the New Mexico State Capitol.

The group was sued by then-district attorney for Bernalillo County Raúl Torrez with assistant counsel from the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown University Law Center.^[8] After the suit, members formed the New Mexico Civil Guard corporation.^[a] The New Mexico Supreme Court issued a subpeona to Meta to obtain evidence, and ultimately the Civil Guard was ordered not to act in the role of law enforcement or military.^{[9][10][11][12]} The NMCG group at the statue was ruled against but not the Corporation.

Members claimed to provide local rapid lawful response to emergency situations in the community, according to a defunct Facebook page.^[13] The user image of the page was a poster from Patriot Ordnance Factory with the text overlaid "militia is only a bad word if you're a tyrant". The page also posted that "the only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun, is a good guy with a gun — NRA".^[14] Bryce Provance cited Behold a Pale Horse as influential, and has referred to himself as "Standartenführer Totenkopfverbande".^[15]

• list of militia organizations in the United States § Statewide groups