Bloglander

The people who say they're behind plans to build a walled city in the mountains of North Idaho where citizens will be armed with AR-15s sat down last week with everyone's favorite angry conservative, Glenn Beck.

"I feel foolish for saying this, but what are you afraid of?" Beck asked the creators of the Citadel, two people who plan to move into the complex and the president of the arms company the group says will fund the Citadel.

"We are not bound by anything except for Jefferson's definition of rightful liberty," idea-man Christian Kerodin tells Beck during his show on conservative network The Blaze. "It is a simple principle and boiled down it means we stay out of each other's business as long as we're not hurting anybody. That's the entire premise of being in the Citadel. It's the way that this country used to be. People minded their own business and they helped each other and it was a community. And I don't know about where most people live but I know that where I live that's not the reality today anymore. … This is our opportunity to choose our neighbors, to choose the kind of people we're going to live with."

We told you about the Citadel plans and how people in the sleepy nearby town of St. Maries were reacting back in February. Since, the group's gun manufacturer says he's been building rifles, but it's no clearer whether the walled compound will ever become a reality.

In the interview, the group talks religion, industry, Kerodin's sketchy background, and what would happen if Idaho outlawed guns (ha!).

The Citadel has also been linked with Beck's "Independence, USA" city idea (on Gawker and The Daily Show), so Beck also took this chance to talk about "my independence village, which is completely different. It's not a stronghold; it's not a shut-it-down. It is a place where people who are dreamers are free to go and create and people come in."

Despite an active blog and website with application forms, this is the first time the generally media-shy survivalist "patriots" behind the Citadel have done a major interview about their plans.

Afterward, organizers posted on the blog: "We feel that Mr. Beck gave us a fair shake and are excited about this opportunity. We talked about the same things that are on our blog and web site, but there is an interesting bit of new information for those who desparately want to label us as racist. See if you can spot it.  :-)"

Dramatic camera pans and a sharp-dressed Beck make the whole thing more fun. The full show requires a subscription, but here are two segments up on the site: