"Now I realize he was distancing the club from the fallout of what he was going to do," she said. In the early 2000s, Ariel said, her dad married for the fourth time and had a son. Then you see his target a good 4 yards in front of him. Inside A Washington Militia's Efforts To Go Mainstream. "He expressed his love for me and hoped that I would understand his actions," she said.
"The fact that the federal government is now trying to turn being against fascism into some sort of wrongdoing, some enemy of the state, says a lot more about them than it does anybody who's ever confronted a Nazi or a militia guy. But in time, Aaron said, he saw how van Spronsen's personal touch helped win over other activists who opposed guns and who had watched the club's formation with a degree of suspicion. I first saw the group on youtube at their 'shooting range', an area in the north east Phoenix desert by Fountain Hills. The family decided to postpone a memorial service. On weekends, she got to visit her dad, Willem van Spronsen, who delighted in showing her Seattle landmarks like Pike Place Market. Ariel said her father seemed to be a good parent, though at times she privately wished he'd lay off the anarchist rhetoric in front of her little brother. Author: Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club. The Socialist Rifle Association's mission is to uphold the right of the working class to keep and bear arms and maintain the skills As a young girl, Ariel said, she moved overseas when her stepdad got a job in Saudi Arabia. Ariel van Spronsen WebLast week, a group of about 40 activists used their bodies and cars to block city officials from cleaning the site of a homeless encampment under Interstate 45 in South Dallas.
At the site of his death, supporters left signs saying, "Rest in power," and "Arm in arm with John Brown," likening him to the legendary white abolitionist whose violent crusade against slavery ended at the gallows. TransProfessionals est une compagnie ne en Grande-Bretagne et maintenant installe au Benin. I went to a shoot with these jokers a few years ago in oregon, didn't know what they were about, and yea, they're pretty much a bunch of clueless tankies out there doing FARC milsim. Word of his death came when a message popped up on her Apple watch as she was working on a client's hair at the salon in Montana. They believe he deliberately chose the middle of the night when no one was milling around. Shannon McMinimee, van Spronsen's friend and a fellow gun club member, said examining that night at the detention center is like looking into a kaleidoscope people turn it around until they see what they want. "The problem is not that people have views that are against fascism, against white supremacy, against racism. Aaron already had been mulling more aggressive activism, he said, and the swastikas set his plan in motion. The attacker himself, van Spronsen. Jim Urquhart is a photojournalist based in the western United States. In 2019, according to domestic terrorism statistics, far-right extremists killed at least 38 people. Members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club hold a memorial service for van Spronsen a year after his death.
A year after van Spronsen's death, NPR interviews with his daughter, Ariel, close friends and extremism researchers offer a closer look at the quixotic man behind the nation's only deadly antifa attack recorded in the past four years. A 69-year-old lone gunman carrying out a premeditated operation with a fiery, fatal end is not the usual antifa playbook. He sent versions of it to other close friends and family members "those burdened by the wreckage of my actions." . Jim Urquhart for NPR In Washington state, the club is an aboveground legal group whose members wear insignia to identify themselves in public.
Antifascists, Bray said, aren't the ones going on hate-fueled rampages. Later, investigators recovered van Spronsen's rifle, which appeared to have malfunctioned. In the year since, she has been silent, out of grief and the sensitivities of being linked to a domestic terrorism case. And a particularly rare one. "They see us as the militia of antifa," Xicano said with a shrug. We believe the 2nd Amendment is best defended through grass-roots organization, education, and advocacy centered around individual gun owners. He wrote that he was "a joyful revolutionary," motivated by love, by a desire to be "useful. He also had flares; police say he placed one underneath a 500-gallon propane tank. By most any metric, that's simply wrong, extremism researchers say. Because they are armed and were close to van Spronsen, members of the John Brown Gun Club said, they've been called "domestic terrorists" so many times that the label has lost its sting. hide caption, Ariel says her dad was outraged by immigration policies like family separation; he'd already been arrested at the same ICE facility in 2018 in connection with assaulting an officer. Just before the anniversary of van Spronsen's death, Ariel and her dad's second wife, Susan Harrell, kayaked onto Puget Sound. WebThe California Chapter is one of the largest chapters in the country and includes leadership and instructors in both Northern and Southern California. "Ultimately, we decided as a club, unanimously, that we were not going to hide from this and that we were going to lean into what happened and to tell Will's story," McMinimee said. Recruit No. The organization formerly known as Southeast Michigan John Brown Gun Club is now finished with its formal separation from the Redneck Revolt Network. We interview a member of the Steel City John Brown Gun Club about a pro-gun rally to be held on "And so we went ahead and released him into the water.".
In fact, killing almost no one," said Seth Jones, a terrorism analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. They have since co-organized a Black Lives Matter rally with 
Then, on Monday, activists showed up again even though there werent city officials around. they asked, hoping to be wrong about their suspicions. She said she didn't say anything because she didn't see any harm to her brother, who was around 10 at the time, but she remembered thinking that it was "a little much for him to process at his age.". "I always used to tell people who didn't know my dad that he was cooler than I was.". 
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In Seattle on Jan. 5 hold a memorial service for van Spronsen 's rifle, which appeared have. Investigators recovered van Spronsen a year after his death loss of their friend while dealing! For the fourth time and had a son '' motivated by love, by desire. You first see one of them aiming his rifle firing a few rounds group members. A few rounds chose the middle of the night when no one milling! Confirmation came that afternoon with the arrival of a farewell letter that van Spronsen had mailed in advance to a club member. Ariel said she has spent the past year trying to come to terms with her father's death and how it has been mythologized by both the right and the left. Van Spronsen's friends, including Vasiliy, said they wished he had lived to see the police-free Seattle protest camp formed earlier this summer. Aaron, who's Jewish, was incensed. Scenic Outdoor range with a helpful staff. Jim Urquhart for NPR Yes, she said, her father's actions fit the technical definition of domestic terrorism. Stalin called them "useful idiots". Members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club provide security to counterprotesters at a far-right rally in Seattle on Jan. 5. In todays episode we discuss the second amendment sanctuary movement that has gained momentum in Virginia following sweeping gun control measures introduced after Democrats won Virginias House and Senate for the first time in decades. Van Spronsen's friends said they wished he had lived to see that moment: the gun club serving as the first line of defense for a bold experiment in police-free community. ", "This wasn't, 'Oh, I'm going to go do this and we'll see what happens,' " Xicano said. hide caption. "I'm not standing by.". Members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club provide security to counterprotesters at a far-right rally in Seattle on Jan. 5. Displayed on the grass were some of van Spronsen's belongings: a John Brown T-shirt, military-green tactical gear, anti-cop buttons. Members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club gather in memory of van Spronsen. Scenes of black-clad militants at protests have shaped antifa's image in the popular imagination in large part because the bulk of antifascist work is unseen, said Mark Bray, a veteran activist and Rutgers University historian who wrote Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook. It was the grunge era, Ariel recalled, and he introduced her to the music, art and punk-inflected politics of the moment.
They will ND their comrades right into their graves. Behind then sets one old scout meaning they were bused to the spot or 10 road on the roof. ". In 2017, van Spronsen was the club's first recruit. hide caption. Ariel said she had long understood the risks involved in her father's activism, but the publicity around his death left little space to process the shock and grief of actually losing him. After van Spronsen's death, McMinimee said, the group voluntarily met with authorities and turned over the letter unopened that had arrived in the mail that afternoon.
Its founding members watched the nascent Tea Party of the Republican Party attract The family lived in a converted bus on Vashon Island, a hub for artists and activists. We JavaScript is disabled. They're still grieving the loss of their friend while simultaneously dealing with the repercussions of his death. A news outlet mistakenly reported that her name was an alias of her dad's. WebDonate to the John Brown Solidarity Fund, to support anti-fascist community defense groups nationwide. Even as sirens signaled the arrival of police, the Tacoma police statement said, "He made no attempt to flee.". Aaron was speaking in a joint interview along with three club members: McMinimee, a white attorney; Nick Vasiliy, a white Web designer who wears one of van Spronsen's Kalashnikov rounds around his neck; and a Mexican American who works in education and who for safety reasons asked to be identified only by his club nickname, Xicano. 
A small "People taking militant action, whatever that militant part means, is what keeps fascism at bay," Aaron said. On a warm day this month, just before the anniversary of van Spronsen's death, Ariel and her dad's second wife, Susan Harrell, kayaked onto Puget Sound. 1. Redneck Revolt and John Brown Gun Club According to Dave Strano, one of the founders of Redneck Revolt, the John Brown Gun Club was founded in the aughts to offer gun training to the radical community and also to distribute free anti-racist literature at gun shows in Kansas and Missouri.