Anti-Fascist. Armed to the Teeth

[ificandream]

Subhead: The far right brings guns to drag shows. Now, the left is showing up with weapons, too

THE YOUNG WHITE nationalist across the street from the drag show starts to panic. He and his friend — two white men, probably in their early twenties, with baseball hats, and faces masked by the kind of stretchy gaiters middle-aged guys wear on fishing boats — hold a big sign with bold, black letters: “Pedophiles get the rope.” But their expressions change as they’re suddenly surrounded by figures dressed in all-black with combat boots, military helmets, balaclavas, body armor, and tinted goggles, their gloved hands balled into fists.

It’s a Monday afternoon in Fort Worth, Texas, and the group in all black are mostly members of the Elm Fork chapter of the John Brown Gun Club (JBGC), a left-wing anti-fascist organization created to level the playing field with right-wing militias that show up armed to protests around the country.

The black-clad figures are up in the white nationalist’s face. He shouts, they shout. Suddenly, the white nationalist’s mirrored sunglasses fly off his head in a glittering arc, landing in the middle of the street. “That’s assault!” the white nationalist shrieks, backing away. His hand fumbles under his shirt. I notice for the first time the outline of a compact pistol in a concealed holster in the front of his waistband.

“Get your hand off your gun!” someone from the Elm Fork crew shouts. I slide a few steps to my left — out of the line of fire. The white nationalist backs up as he screams slurs, hand still on his gun. The Elm Fork crew’s rifles are back in their cars.

Read more: https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/john-brown-gun-club-armed-anti-fascist-1234733200/

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I guess it was only a matter of time that the right gets back what they've been giving.

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[GenXer47]

1. disapppointing

to see people give in to the paranoia.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

6. It's disappointing that this is what they're forced to do to defend

themselves against these MAGAt terrorists because the repigs in Congress won't do anything about firearms.

[quaint]

8. +++

[area51]

14. +1 n/t

[TygrBright]

2. This made me cry. I hate living in a time when it seems like a good option. n/t

[Pantagruel]

3. Bullies have to be confronted

Sad and dangerous but this seems inevitable.

[marble falls]

4. This will not work out well. There are no good guys walking heavy.

[AZ8theist]

5. I applaud them

The only thing those fascist incel gun humping ASSHOLES will respond to is FORCE.

If shots rang out on Jan 6, they would have fled like cockroaches after the light was turned on.

It's sad it's coming to this, but the Reich wing jerkoffs keep spouting "take the country back".

BACK FROM WHAT??THE RULE OF LAW?? FAIR ELECTIONS?? WE THE PEOPLE???

I'm so sick of this shit. Bullies only understand force, plain and simple. About time they get intimidated.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

7. Couldn't have said it better.

[dalton99a]

9. +1

[GenThePerservering]

13. This right here

enough sobbing and wringing our hands - it's time to put the boot in - it can be with arms, it can be with a solid front, but running around sobbing "has it come to THIS" isn't helping anything - yes, it has come to this.

[SpankMe]

10. "If the queer community is viewed as an armed community, they'll be safer."

Absolutely true.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about a "libs can be armed, too" ideation to counter the right.

To those who say this is a disappointing development, I say the progressive side of this issue has been bringing knives to gun fights and will lose out against anti-LGBT oppression in the long term. The cons are gathering adherents every day with their out-of-context, bigoted and violent rhetoric. The "velvet response" from the liberal and LGBT community isn't working to curtail the attacks.

Anti LGBT assholes will continue to oppress the LBGT and wider liberal community - with oppressive laws and armed protest at LGBT events - until that community is back in the closet. This has already started with all of the drag show cancellations that have occurred against the backdrop of armed right-wing "activism". Our side is losing ground and we'll be back in the '50's very soon. Married same sex couples in red states are saying they feel less safe today than they were twenty years ago. That's fucked up.

We cannot continue to fight fire with glitter and expect to win. We have to bring an equivalent level of force to keep the equation balanced.

Gay acceptance is declining among young people. There's an uptick in anti-gay bullying and rhetoric at high schools and colleges nationwide. Until recently, young people were the more accepting and open-minded ones. The youth was going to be our savior.

No longer. At our local high school, the teacher who sponsors the Gay-Straight alliance has had to remove a rainbow flag from the window of his classroom. He did this voluntarily due to threats and the changing environment. The school district did not order, or even suggest, that the flag be removed. The district even supports - somewhat strongly - gay students. But the teacher unilaterally removed the flag - and a couple of other signs in his classroom - out of caution due to increasing vandalism and other non-acceptance acts committed by students...a trend he says he hasn't seen in 10 years. The flag and other symbols he took down had been there for 15 years.

[dalton99a]

11. +1. Victims need to fight back

or at least show they are willing to fight

You don't turn the other cheek to those that want to murder you

[GenThePerservering]

12. Arm up, brothers and sisters

is all I have to say. We have courage on our side.