Opinion
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Political violence has become commonplace across the country. From coast to coast groups have clashed leading experts to wonder if we are beyond a tipping point in political discourse. This weekend violence was experienced on both coasts.
Portland
Antifa and Patriot Prayer clashed in the streets of Portland this past Saturday in the latest skirmished between the far left anarcho-communist group and conservative organizations.
Patriot Prayer, a group, led by former Republican Senate candidate Joey Gibson, held a march in the far-left stronghold of Portland, OR. The march was in support of law and order which the group claims that the city has lost due to left-wing groups like Antifa and Black Lives Matter.
One example given was police standing idly by as Antifa blocked traffic, beat on cars, and assaulted a senior citizen.
“With less then 24 hour notice hundreds of people mobilized for a flash march in downtown Portland,” Gibson told AmmoLand News. “This was a result of the people being extremely angry because the mayor allowed protesters to block an intersection and attack cars with no police intervention. American citizens will no longer sit around while the politicians refuse to do their job.”
Antifa and Black Lives Matter have been protesting the death of Patrick Kimmons. Police responded to the scene of a shooting where someone shot two other people. Kimmons turned towards police and came at them while holding a gun in his hand. The police fired on Kimmons, and he later died at the hospital.
Antifa and Black Lives Matter claim that the police should not have fired at Kimmons. In their view, police shot Kimmons for being black. Family members and the two groups have set up a memorial for Kimmons in Portland.
Antifa showed up to the Patriot Prayer march with bear spray, batons, and knives according to law enforcement sources. It appears that their intent was to intimidate the marchers.
Police managed to keep the groups separated until after sundown. Patriot Prayer and The Proud Boys were leaving their march when Antifa tried to burn an American Flag. This act caused the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer to return to the scene to confront the flag burner.
A fight broke out between the two rival groups. It is unclear who started the melee through the police report, although an unaffiliated eyewitness who was at Kelly’s Olympian, which is a popular bar, claims that a member of the Antifa group started spraying the Proud Boys and Patriot Prayer with some type of aerosol spray.
Riot police moved in to clear the crowd using pepper balls. The Portland Police were able to get control of the situation and disburse the crowd of the fighting groups. The chaos died down as the police stood between the groups until they both dispersed the scene on the altercation.
AmmoLand contacted the Portland Police to acquire about if they arrested anyone tied to the unrest. According to the department, they have not arrested anyone, but there is still an open investigation into the clash, and the police are reviewing the security footage.
New York
On the same day as the fighting in the streets of the west coast city of Portland, violence broke out in the east coast city of New York between the Proud Boys and Antifa.
A group of around a dozen Proud Boys was leaving a speech by Proud Boy leader Gavin McInnis at the Republican Club when Antifa protestors confronted the group as they were walking down the sidewalk.
Recently Antifa has vandalized the Republican headquarters in New York and threatened more political violence against Trump supporters in the state. There is still an open investigation into the vandalism incident.
A member of Antifa ran up to the group of Proud Boys and attempted to steal one of the Proud Boys MAGA hats. This failed attempted theft ended up in a fight between Antifa and the Proud Boys.
The Antifa members were overwhelmed by the Proud Boys and left bloody on the sidewalk. The police showed up and arrested three members of Antifa even though they were the ones beaten and battered because they were the aggressors in the conflict.
Although the media have only recently shined a light on partisan violence of left-wing extremist, Antifa and other groups have been upping their violence following rhetoric encouraging more violence by Hillary Clinton and Eric Holder.
Right-wing pundits call the people taking part in these attacks a “left-wing mob.” Left-wing pundits push back saying that the people responsible for the violence are only upset protesters and blame Trump.
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on leftist deplatforming methods and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss, on Facebook at realjohncrump, or at www.crumpy.com.