Militia Leader's Son Claims He's Now A Target

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The son of the leader of the Kentucky state militia said Thursday that he thinks he's being unfairly targeted by state law enforcement.

Charlie Puckett (pictured, left) and his lawyer called a press conference Thursday to demand that the state's attorney general, police commissioner and head of the justice cabinet all investigate the source of what they call an unfair advisory that characterizes Puckett as a serious threat to law enforcement officers.

"I feel battered and beaten," Puckett said. "It's just not right that they've done this to me."

Puckett said that the advisory warns officers throughout central Kentucky. It also advises that investigators have received information that Puckett has made threatening statements toward the law enforcement community. The advisory adds that Puckett may react in a violent, retaliatory manner if approached or confronted. Officers are cautioned to use extreme caution when approaching him, and should consider him to be armed and dangerous.

"If that isn't a free pass on a shoot to kill, if this isn't a free pass on confront this young man on any possibility and be ready to shoot him if he has the temerity to question why he's being stopped, then i don't know what is," Puckett's lawyer, Charlie Puckett, said.

But a state police spokeswoman, Lt. Linda Rudzinski, said that the advisory distribution is a standard procedure.

"The advisory was the result of credible information," Rudzinski told NewsChannel 32's Andy Alcock. "We sent it out to law enforcement agencies confidentially, as part of a routine business with state police."

The Lancaster, Ky., home of Charlie Puckett's father, whose name also is Charlie Puckett, was raided last month by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms investigators. They found and confiscated eight weapons and nearly 40,000 rounds of ammunition, as well as a concealed-weapons license. The elder Puckett (pictured, below) also has a criminal record, including a felony conviction that made it illegal for him to possess firearms and explosives.

But Thursday, the younger Puckett sounded as if neither he nor his father could be a threat.

"I've helped my father with law enforcement, and I would do it again," he said.

The KSP advisory also stated that the younger Puckett may harbor resentment toward the ATF because of the raid, but Puckett disagreed.

"I don't think this is justified, and I think they illegally done it," the younger Puckett said. "But I don't harbor no resentment towards them whatsoever."

KSP investigators are trying to determine who released the confidential advisory. Puckett and Galbraith said that they might file a lawsuit about it.