Gordon Kahl
| Gordon Wendell Kahl | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 8, 1920 Wells County, North Dakota |
| Died | June 4, 1983 (aged 63) Smithville, Arkansas |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wound to the head |
| Resting place | Heaton, North Dakota |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Farmer, mechanic, political activist |
| Organization | Posse Comitatus |
| Known for | Killing two US Marshals and an Arkansas sheriff in two shootouts |
| Spouse(s) | Joan Kahl (m. 1946-1983; his death) |
| Children | One son, Yorivon, and one daughter, Lorna |
| Parent(s) | Frederick and Edna Kahl |
| Relatives | Loreen Kahl (sister) |
Gordon Wendell Kahl (January 8, 1920 – June 3, 1983) was an American involved in two fatal shootouts with law enforcement officers in the United States in 1983.
Gordon Kahl was born in Wells County, North Dakota, on January 8, 1920. Kahl had one sister, Loreen, who died in 1937 at the age of seven. Raised on a farm, Kahl was a highly decorated turret gunner during World War II. After the war, "he had a 400-acre (1.6 km2) farm near Heaton, Wells County, North Dakota, [but] bounced around the Texas oilfields in later life as a mechanic and general worker."
In 1967, Kahl wrote a letter to the Internal Revenue Service stating that he would no longer pay taxes to the, in his words, "Synagogue of Satan under the 2nd plank of the Communist Manifesto." During the 1970s, Kahl organized the first Texas chapter of the Posse Comitatus, although he later left the group and was not a member at the time of the 1983 shootouts. In 1976 he appeared on a Texas television program stating that the income tax was illegal and encouraging others not to pay their income taxes.
On November 16, 1976, Kahl was charged with willful failure to file Federal income tax returns for the years 1973 and 1974, under 26 U.S.C. § 7203. He was found guilty, and was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of $2,000. Kahl served eight months in prison in 1977. One year of the sentence was suspended, as was the fine, and the court placed Kahl on probation for five years. Kahl appealed his conviction, but the conviction was affirmed in 1978 by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, after Kahl's release from prison on probation.
Following his parole from prison, Kahl became active in the township movement, an early version of the sovereign citizen movement belief which later became well-known because of the Montana Freemen standoff. This movement sought to form parallel courts and governments purportedly based on English common law, and to withdraw recognition of the U.S. federal government. Township movement supporters as well as the Posse Comitatus attempted to organize among farmers in the American Midwest during the 1980s farm crisis.
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