So far apparently one person arrested, for a masking offense *after *being warned, released on own recognizance.
The 6,000 is apparently the tally of crossings of checkpoints into the restricted zone. So it is not necessarily of the maximum number of people in there at one single point. Similarly outside the perimeter with these sorts of events, police estimates tend to acount for flow and turnover as people come and go.
Seems like between the authorities’ measures to intercept would-be extremists plus the different sides’ efforts to keep it focused and avoid gratuituous confrontation, things went well. *However, * there is always a risk in these situations that once the *organized *event is over, that’s when there’s the risk of the more, shall we say, feral factions deciding to act up.
Well it does behoove them in arguing their case about how they are the “Law-Abiding” gun owners and wish to remain so as long as the law does not violate their rights. So they’d likely say they tolerate this applying only to those who voluntarily choose to enter a specific event site, and that what they object to are the laws that would restrict them at all times and in all places.
It is both setting the bar low, and where the bar was set. After Charlottesville, I was expecting today to be pretty goddamned awful.
Having given them that credit, I’m fresh out of praise for this overwhelmingly white overwhelming male crowd of assholes who think that parading around with massive weaponry is a good way to spend MLK Day.
I’m very glad that you were right about this and I was wrong. And yes, the days and weeks of precautions and the earlier law-enforcement actions, no doubt, did serve to lessen the chances that violence would break out.
The fact that so many of these guys chose to wear masks is significant. Clearly they are now less confident of their ability to dominate the culture, than they were back in 2017 at Charlottesville.
Today’s rally isn’t going to help them in any recruitment efforts they may be contemplating, in aid of enforcing a pro-Trump result in November. Thank goodness.
I think law enforcement has taken these events more seriously and they’re making it clear to both the patriot types and the antifa that their shit’s not going to be tolerated, which is good.
As I said earlier (or perhaps another thread), though, the danger is the handful of people who keep to themselves, stockpile weapons, and just go off at some event where no trouble is expected. In other words: terrorism.
The FBI intercepted the terrorists who attempted to attend this rally, and in doing so likely scared off the rest of their ilk. But white nationalist terrorism, which itself takes different forms, is a growing danger.
Smarter people notice that ownership of weapons by oppressed minorities has been used to justify atrocities against them. Expecting weapons ownership to do anything to prevent the oppression of minorities is naive to the point to full-on retardation.
Many on the right wing side are bragging about how there were very few arrests today, but that just goes to show you that the cops like these guys and won’t arrest them even when the commit felonies in plain sight.
White people can parade around in public with weapons of war. But if you’re a black motorist with a gun you informed police you had or a black shopper trying to buy a BB gun or even a black kid playing with a toy gun, then you’re pretty much fucked.
No shit! What is with people that are apparently “adults” donning full body armor and walking around with 50 BMGs? And your celebrity appearance is Alex Dumbshit Jones? Gun NUTS is an apt description.