Former state GOP chair tells Trump supporters to bring guns to Montana rally to fight off protesters

Will Deschamps Sr., the former chairman of the Montana state Republican Party, wrote on Facebook this week that Trump supporters will come armed to President Donald Trump's upcoming rally in his state -- and he warned protesters that "we know how to use" firearms.

"For all the prospective attendees to the Trump event," wrote Deschamps. "Come early. Also all you protesters, show up as well. This is a concealed and open carry state and we know how to use em."

Local news station KPVI reports that Deschamps is defending his inflammatory post by saying that he's only urging Trump supporters to use guns defensively should antifa attack them.

"My concern is with the antifa," Deschamps told KPVI. "Someone is going to get hurt at those protests."

Erin Erickson, an activist who is organizing anti-Trump protests for his Missoula rally on Thursday, slammed Deschamps for his "divisive, hateful rhetoric."

"I think what he is doing is playing directly into the narrative that President Trump is creating, that the left is an angry mob,” Erickson told KPVI. "There is no evidence of that in Missoula. I think he’s trying to further that narrative without any evidence."