Militias, a thread:

Something happened *again* today. Some Smart City Folks told us Dumb Rural Folks about guns and militias in our area without knowing anything about us. They told us what the relevant laws are. 1/12

They suggested calling law enforcement for issues at the ballot box, as if the militias are an outside force instead of actual community members. So...many of you know I’m in a rural area, but I grew up in the SF Bay Area and I lived in cities for much of my life. 2/12

I actually worked across the street from the 101 California shooting in SF, and walked up out of the metro station to see a SWAT team run into my building. That cemented my view of guns, and I think a lot of other city peeps feel the same way. 3/12

Fast forward to living in an area with lots of guns and multiple gun shops. Over my years here, I’ve come to realize something. Guns are embedded in the fabric of rural communities like mine. Gun shops here are like fly fishing shops, yarn stores, and other hobby shops. 4/12

One of the big ways local shops stay in business is to build community. Our yarn store has a knitting group and our fabric store has a quilting group. There are eight gun/tactical stores in the area, and they have community groups associated with them too: militias. 5/12

Think about your hobby group and the people who share your passion. Now think about who might share a passion for guns, their political views, and their jobs. Law enforcement, national guard, reserve military, ex-military, security, role players who want to look like Rambo. 6/12

Question: how much money do you spend on your hobby? Guns, ammo, trucks, personnel carriers, body armor, and ATVs are expensive. Do you see what I’m getting at? First, this is a hobby for people who have the money to pursue it. 7/12

Militia members are not poor people in difficult economic situations. Poor people around here are busy working their behinds off in multiple jobs and they don’t have time to pursue an all-encompassing hobby. 8/12

Second, the potential for a small group of far right gun users to radicalize many many community members is HUGE. In fact, our local elected officials are part of the movement to “free Nevada.” 9/12

Third: contrary to what the Smart City Peeps said, in my house, we assume law enforcement is also on the side of the militias. We can see that plainly here at rallies and protests whenever law enforcement and militia members are together. 10/12

Local law and militia members are friends. They probably shop at the same places and play weekend warrior together. It’s actually rumored our sheriff called in militia members to “protect” the town from BLM. 11/12

The local law is NOT going to save us from militias at the ballot box or anywhere else. And those militias are out there in all sorts of areas like mine. You saw what happened in Michigan. It could happen anywhere, most certainly including cities. 12/12