Everyone wants to be a gangster till it's time to do gangster shit. Standoff dwindling to only a few members...

Everyone wants to be a gangster till it's time to do gangster shit.  Check this out from RT...

The armed standoff at an Oregon wildlife refuge has continued even after its leader was arrested and he told his followers to “stand down.” However, three more protesters were detained, and only four militia members remain committed to the cause.
At approximately 3:30 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Duane Leo Ehmer, 45, and Dylan Wade Anderson, 34, were arrested“without incident” at an FBI checkpoint. Four hours later, Jason S. Patrick, 43, was also arrested at the same location. Five others were allowed to leave without being taken into custody.
Each of the three faces federal felony charge of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation, or threats. This same charge was levied against leader Ammon Bundy and the other protesters arrested on Tuesday.
Over the course of two days, a total of 11 members of the group occupying Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have been arrested. Another member of the group was killed in a shootout with police.

So far only one guy had the courage of his convictions (even if I think they were wrong, at least he had the force of will to be true to them) and the rest were simply grandstanding.

This is instructive and we should take heed of the lesson being taught here.

Bravado is meaningless.  Weapons are only tools.  What should be feared (or applauded depending on your point of view) is the will, determination and fortitude of the man you're facing off against.

What do I mean?  Consider the situation if the Feds and State Law Enforcement was faced with having to deal with a platoon sized element filled with men that had the same amount of conviction that the guy who was killed had.  Then think about every standoff that the Feds have been involved in that ended in shootouts.  The one factor common to all is that they were facing off against true believers.  Whether it was a belief about not going back to jail, that they were being oppressed (definitely not these guys) or that their God told them to do something, they all had the force of conviction propelling them.  I think that's worth noting....

Sidenote:  Some will say that because the feds "waited them out" that they were simply exhausted.  I disagree.  True conviction will power you even thru exhaustion or fatigue.