Kylia Quilor
I have two moods: Thirsty and Bitter
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The Free States did get declared enemies of the state, but for a while they were given a great deal of political cover by Senator Blackwell - once Blackwell vanished (IIRC, around the same time they started being openly violent), but the government didn't really force the issue once the Free States hid in their bunkers.
Even allowing for the games being smaller than the reality would be, there probably weren't more than a thousand or so really diehard free staters, IMO. There are terminal entries in 76 that show the government was basically 'fucking meh' about them. They started arresting sympathizers and members, and launched a major propaganda campaign in early to mid 2077, but after they went to their bunkers, it was deemed not worth dealing with at this time.
Of course, had the nukes not dropped the US would have dealt with them sooner or later, but the Free States are a riff on the US militia movement, and so they were very well armed by the time they went to their bunkers.
Even allowing for the games being smaller than the reality would be, there probably weren't more than a thousand or so really diehard free staters, IMO. There are terminal entries in 76 that show the government was basically 'fucking meh' about them. They started arresting sympathizers and members, and launched a major propaganda campaign in early to mid 2077, but after they went to their bunkers, it was deemed not worth dealing with at this time.
Of course, had the nukes not dropped the US would have dealt with them sooner or later, but the Free States are a riff on the US militia movement, and so they were very well armed by the time they went to their bunkers.