DENVER – Gov. Roy Romer says the shooting death of a Cortez police officer by men who appear to be paramilitary zealots supports a point he has been making for years: that Colorado needs a better handle on militia groups operating in the region.

In an interview Saturday, Romer told the Herald that evidence suggests the killers belonged to a citizen’s militia on society’s fringe.

"The evidence seems to point to some militia members, given the kind of armament they have, the fatigues and the hoods," Romer said of the three men who allegedly shot Cortez police officer Dale Claxton.

Authorities say the men were clad in camouflage and fired automatic assault rifles in encounters with Claxton, with two sheriff’s deputies and with the superintendent of Hovenweep National Monument. The officers were injured, but the superintendent was unharmed.

"I think one of the results of this shooting is we’re going to find a more effective way to keep track of these groups and the kind of armament that they may have, so that we can help law enforcement officials protect themselves better," Romer said.

Information on militia groups is sketchy at best. The Anti-Defamation League attempts to monitor anti-government hate groups, including some in Colorado, but doesn’t track their numbers.

In its latest annual listing of paramilitary groups, however, the Southern Poverty Law Center has identified 858 "Patriot" groups operating nationwide, including 37 in Colorado, 35 in Arizona, 19 in New Mexico and seven in Utah.

It knows little about them. While the center acknowledges some groups are legitimate and not hate groups, it says it does not know the nature or even the names of many groups. But it says the groups seem to be getting stronger.

"Groups that espouse extreme anti-government positions are growing in number and hardening in attitude," said Joe Roy, director of the center’s Klanwatch and Militia Task Force. "The Patriot movement is extremely entrenched in this country."

Additionally, the groups are becoming increasingly more sophisticated, posting their own Internet pages and organizing their own intelligence-gathering networks, some of which target law enforcement and military personnel, Roy said.

Some states have passed gun-control and anti-militia laws designed to break up militias and to prevent others from forming. A bill to ban militias in Colorado failed in the Legislature this year, partly because of concerns about violating First and Second Amendment rights of free speech and to bear arms.  

"It’s a very difficult circumstance because you get the people who are totally outside the walls, like the ones in Montana. But on the other hand, you can get people who run training exercises which are legal and legit," Romer said.

The governor said the abundance of guns contributes to deadly violence.

"My view is there is just too much weaponry out there," Romer said. "We have real problems in our society by the number of assault rifles and assault weapons that are available. It’s just excessive. They end up in school yards shooting children, end up in Cortez shooting a police officer."

Romer said help fighting armed militias may soon be on the way from the federal government. On Friday, Defense Secretary William S. Cohen announced plans to establish 10 22-member rapid-deployment teams nationwide – including one based in Colorado – to respond to terrorist acts.

Though the teams would focus on threats from weapons of mass destruction, such as the homemade fuel-fertilizer bomb that destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995, Romer hopes local law enforcement agencies would be able to tap into their files on paramilitary groups.

"The definition of terrorist could well include this kind of activity," Romer said, referring to the Cortez shooting. "I think they’re aiming mainly at explosive and biological warfare, but I thought about it myself. It’s on my agenda to talk to that group.