Missouri's Department of Public Safety has apologized to 2008 presidential candidates Ron Paul, Bob Barr and Chuck Baldwin for a state-issued report linking their political causes to the modern militia movement.

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The Missouri Information Analysis Center's controversial Feb. 20 report has created a nationwide firestorm among conservatives in the past 10 days because it indicates people who support small government, refuse to pay taxes, oppose abortion and illegal immigration and voted for Paul and third-party candidates like Barr and Baldwin for president in the November 2008 election have tendencies to join violent militias.

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But the Democratic governor and former attorney general has stood behind the report and MIAC's work.

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The report also contains what it purports to be militia symbols. Among them is the Gadsden Flag and its Don't Tread On Me message, which was a battle cry of sorts for the country's founding fathers in the American Revolution.