FAIRBANKS — Well before his arrest last month, Schaeffer Cox had a history as a public figure in Fairbanks. Three years ago, Cox received 37 percent of the vote in a Republican primary for a Fairbanks house district. Cox is known for his Second Amendment Task Force and struggles with the law leading to a March 2010 arrest. Below is a summary of some of the key moments of Cox’s life in Fairbanks.

• Feb. 11, 1984: Cox was born Francis August Schaeffer Cox, although he goes by Schaeffer Cox. He shares the first three names of Presbyterian theologian and minister Francis August Schaeffer, who died in 1984. Cox moved to Alaska from Colorado about the year 2000. His parents are Gary and Jennifer Cox. Gary Cox is pastor at University Baptist Church in Fairbanks.

• May 2003: Cox received a high school diploma through the Nenana correspondence program CyberLynx. He briefly attended the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Instead of studying business, he decided to start one, he said in a later political campaign. He opened a construction and landscaping operation. 

• May 2005: The News-Miner interviewed Cox about being rescued after his tent blew away on a hike to Baranof Warm Springs near Sitka. Cox, who sometimes uses anecdotes from his outdoor experiences in his political speeches, says he successfully climbed Denali in 2001, 2003 and 2005, according to reports he made to the National Park Service in those years. He says he has also worked as a commercial fisherman.

• June 2008: Cox’s wife, Marti Cox, gave birth to their first son, Seth Justice Argus Cox.

• August 2008: Cox challenged Rep. Mike Kelly in the Republican primary for House District 7. Cox received 37 percent of the vote to Kelly’s 50 percent. In a debate, Cox shared many of Kelly’s positions, including support for energy rebates and gun rights. Cox raised $6,600 and spent $1,600 of his own money in the campaign. Cox also led the Ron Paul presidential primary campaign in Alaska. 

• February 2009: Cox starts the Second Amendment Task Force, a gun rights group that held several meetings in 2009. About 150 people attended an initial meeting at Denny’s Restaurant. Larger meetings were held at Friends Community Church and the Carlson Center. Also beginning in February, Cox organized several open-carry days to protest gun control legislation in Washington. One open-carry day at Carl’s Jr. was attended by U.S. Rep. Don Young.

• Later in 2009, Cox founded a group called the Alaska Peacemakers Militia. Cox said this group was created to check governmental power and create stability if the U.S. government collapsed. Cox has said the Peacemakers Militia had 3,500 members, although it has never made a full list of members available because Cox said many members like to keep a low profile. Four other militia members this year were accused with Cox of plotting to kill law enforcement officers and court officials. 

• March 5, 2010: In the first of a series of legal problems that begin in 2010, Cox pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and is sentenced to two years probation for allegedly punching and choking his wife during a car ride to visit his mother-in-law in Anchorage. Cox has said he only pushed her during the argument. He has also said the fight was reported by his mother-in-law, who he said has never gotten along with him because of his conservative beliefs. Cox’s wife asked the district attorney to dismiss the charges or reduce it to a misdemeanor. 

• March 17, 2010: Cox is arrested and charged with fifth-degree weapons misconduct for allegedly not informing Fairbanks Police Sgt. Gary Yamamoto that he, Cox, was carrying a concealed handgun. Cox was monitoring a police search of residence as a member of the Liberty Bell Network, a group Cox organized. Members of the group send out mass notifications to other network members if they feel their rights are being violated. Network members are then supposed to show up with cameras to document the reported abuse of power. Police said they were responding to a 911-hang up call at the house where Cox was arrested. His supporters say there was no 911 call. 

• April 2010: The Interior Alaska Conservative Coalition disassociates itself from Cox’s Second Amendment Task Force. Cox had been a founding member of the coalition and held a seat on its board. 

• Jan. 16, 2011: A trial Cox’s supporters consider legally binding was held for Cox in a back room at Denny’s Restaurant. The group “acquitted” Cox of the March 2010 weapons misconduct and the March 2010 domestic violence charges. Cox has elsewhere said he believes the Alaska Court System is a for-profit private corporation. He considers himself a sovereign citizen.

• February 4-6, 2011: Cox’s militia associates attend a militia convention in Anchorage to investigate buying grenades and other illegal weapons, according to the FBI, which had been monitoring Cox for at least 10 months. Cox stayed home because Marti was giving birth to their second child.

• Feb. 12, 2011: According to the FBI, Cox announced a murder plot called “241” (two-for-one) to four members of his Peacemakers Militia. The plan involved a kind of retributive justice, by which militia members would kidnap two law enforcement officers if Cox or other militia members were arrested. Two targets were to be killed if Cox was killed, and two government buildings were to be burned if Cox’s house is seized, according to the investigation. 

• Feb. 14, 2011: A warrant was issued for Cox’s arrest after he did not show up at his jury trial over the misdemeanor weapons charge. 

• March 10, 2011: FBI, U.S. Marshals and Alaska State Troopers arrive at militia members’ homes in Fairbanks, the North Pole area, Salcha and the Elliott Highway. Cox and four militia members are arrested on charges including conspiracy to commit murder. Cox also faces federal weapons charges. Two co-defendants, Lonnie Vernon and Karen Vernon of Salcha are accuse of a separate plot in federal court to allegedly kill a federal judge, members of his family and an IRS agent.