That’s how I’m describing what will happen at the Wilkie D. Ferguson Jr. US Courthouse. The MSM headline won’t call them terrorists or mention the guns they will be carrying concealed. And the hostage isn’t Trump, it’s counter protestors, “Antifa”, journalists covering the event and law enforcement. They are focusing on some of same targets as January 6th.
The Trump supporters are even busing their supporters in like they did on on January 6th. (It doesn’t look like Charlie Kirk is behind the buses this time, but has anyone talked to Ginni Thomas?)
The other hostage is the American public and our sense of feeling safe at protests. When people are armed, deadly violence could happen at any second. It’s not a peaceful protest anymore, it’s a hostage situation.
We KNOW that cops prepare for and treat armed people differently, especially those with a history of violence. When the media knows that there will be armed people there, THEY need to talk about this differently. And ask some different questions, like:
Will the FBI be arresting people “left of boom” Monday?
There should be arrests! But I don’t expect to hear about them for days, (or ever) if they do. Which is part of the DOJ’s procedure, but it would be nice to know they are proactive.
Will known domestic terrorists groups like the Proud Boys be there?
Their members helped planned January 6th, participated in it and some have been convicted for seditious conspiracy. What about other individuals & groups?
What does “the chatter” say?
Will arrests be made of armed terrorists AT the event?
Cops don’t want to put themselves in a situation where they could be shot. And the armed right wingers KNOW this. They expect the cops to treat them “politely” because they are armed. When someone IS arrested it’s usually after the event.
(See this story about a Proud Boy who pulled gun at a Portland protest, there was no arrest so he returned armed at a Gresham event. He was finally arrested after multiple egregious actions. Proud Boy Alan Swinney sent to prison for 10 years)
- The Secret Service failed when they evaluated groups like The Proud Boys prior to January 6th. They saw them as friendlies, because they didn’t see them as a threat to Trump.
[Fun Report: 84% of Groups Involved in Armed Demonstrations Are Right-Wing Actors Like the Proud Boys ]
- The same failure will happening on Tuesday unless the DOJ learned from January 6th.
Threatening speech is NOT protected speech
When Proud Boys or Three Percenters are openly carrying a gun at a protest it’s designed to intimidate. They WANT us to know the threat of deadly violence backs up their words. That’s threatening speech. And threatening speech is NOT protected speech.
When they are holding signs in support of Trump in a place where they COULD legally have a concealed gun, they WANT us to know they could be packing. They want to use the 1st Amendment protections we all have, but that’s not enough for them. They WANT us to know the threat of deadly violence is right there and people should treat them with respect, or else!
I’ve been reading the coverage of the preparation for this. It’s the same type of coverage. Post January 6th it MUST be reported differently.
There is a lot of hopeful and magical thinking in the media about this arrest based on what happened in New York. But New York has different laws, different law enforcement and a different population.
More than 2.61 million people had Florida concealed weapons licenses as of Nov. 30, according to the News Service of Florida.Dec 25, 2022 . Starting July 1st 2023, Florida has permitless concealed carry so ANY resident, or non-resident, of Florida is eligible to carry a concealed firearm in public.
These facts change the dynamic of what is happening on the ground in Florida. We need to change how to talk about this hostage situation.
How bad will it get? Another possible predictive headline for Tuesday. (h/t George)
Will “Proud Boys” Use Floriduh’s “Stand Your Ground Law” to Murder Counter Protestors?
