Following President Donald Trump’s designation of “antifa” as a domestic terrorist organization, the president issued a memorandum that highlighted the assassination of Charlie Kirk as an example of rising political violence, while calling for “a new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies.”
Released on Sept. 25, the memorandum claims “anti-fascism” is an organizing force behind a “pattern of violent and terroristic activities.”
John Brown Gun Clubs, a decentralized network of armed leftists, would seem natural targets for any crackdown led by the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Forces.
Named for the militant abolitionist who in 1859 led a failed attempt to incite a slave uprising, the groups emerged in the mid-2010s. In 2017, in Virginia, members of an offshoot organization, Redneck Revolt, protected antifascist counter-protesters during the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville. In 2020, during a gun rights rally in Richmond, they confronted leaders of far-right groups.
During the Biden administration, John Brown Gun Club chapters provided protection to drag shows under threat by Proud Boys and neo-Nazis. This year, former members of a Texas chapter were charged with attempted murder of federal officers after a July 4 attack on an Immigration Customs Enforcement facility.
An alleged link between John Brown Gun Clubs and Kirk’s assassination emerged almost concurrently with the administration’s announced crackdown on “antifa.” Members of Turning Point USA, the group founded by Kirk, said they spotted flyers that appeared to celebrate the assassination on the campus of Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
The flyers included the text, “The only political group that celebrates when Nazis die,” followed by, “Join the John Brown Club.” Andrew Kolvet, Turning Point’s spokesperson, soon demanded the firing of a UNC Chapel Hill professor associated with John Brown Gun Clubs.
This week, Dean Stoyer, vice chancellor for communication and marketing for UNC Chapel Hill, confirmed to Raw Story that Dwayne Dixon, a teaching associate professor in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, was suspended “following recent reports and expressions of concern regarding alleged advocacy of politically motivated violence.”
Stoyer said Dixon could face “disciplinary action up to and including potential termination of employment.”
Dixon was a member of the now-defunct Silver Valley chapter of Redneck Revolt, which in Charlottesville in 2017 created an armed perimeter around a park to provide a haven for left-wing counter-protesters. A week later, Dixon was charged with having a weapon at a public rally and going armed to the terror of the people, for carrying a rifle in Durham, N.C. as residents responded to a rumored Ku Klux Klan rally. The charges were dismissed.
In 2018, Dixon was charged with assaulting Patrick Howley, editor of the pro-Trump news site Big League Politics, when antifascist students and area residents toppled a Confederate monument on the UNC Chapel Hill campus. That charge was also dismissed.
Raw Story was unable to confirm the authenticity of the alleged recruitment flyer found at Georgetown.
A former member of John Brown Gun Clubs said the name on the flyer, which omits the word “Gun,” raised a red flag. The former member, who agreed to speak under the pseudonym “Paper” to avoid retaliation, said there has never been a John Brown Gun Club chapter at Georgetown and there is no online presence in the Washington area.
“The flyer may be a commentary on John Brown’s history and how it relates to modern events, but it is not a representation of or affiliated with JBGCs, to the best of my knowledge,” Paper said.
University police are working with the FBI and Metropolitan police to investigate the flyer, Robert M. Graves, Georgetown’s interim president, said Monday. Graves added that “a person of interest has been identified and barred from campus.” Georgetown did not respond to a request from Raw Story for the person’s name.
As of Wednesday morning, a Change.org petition to reinstate Dixon at UNC Chapel Hill had garnered more than 650 signatures. The petition argues that Dixon’s suspension “sets a dangerous precedent, where educational staff can be punished simply because their beliefs do not align with the current administrative agenda.”
“The purge of academia is one of the first steps on the road to fascism,” the petition continues.
“We cannot allow any institution, especially one like UNC, to side with bigotry and control under the guise of maintaining order. It is crucial that we stand together as students, alumni, and members of the academic family to prevent the deterioration of academic freedom and ensure our university remains a place of learning and open discourse.”
‘Terrorizing our communities’
John Brown Gun Clubs were already under scrutiny after the July 4 attack on the ICE Prairieland Detention Facility in Alvarado, Texas.
Of 11 people arrested and charged with attempted murder of a federal officer, at least two are former members of Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club. Three others have been charged with obstruction of justice and accessory.
The government alleges that members of the group shot fireworks at the detention center and spray-painted graffiti on vehicles and a guard structure, in order to lure correctional officers out of the facility. An Alvarado police officer responding to the scene sustained a gunshot to the neck from an assailant positioned in the nearby woods, the government says. A second assailant fired 20 to 30 rounds at officers outside the facility, according to charging documents.
The wounded police officer, who has not been identified, was reportedly treated and discharged from the hospital.
Although John Brown Gun Clubs have yet to be specifically named as a target by Trump, the Prairieland attack was cited in a Sept. 22 White House press release to bolster the claim that “antifa has a long history of terrorizing our communities.”
The release also cited a Molotov cocktail attack by a member of Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club on an ICE facility in Tacoma, Wash. during Trump’s first term. The attacker, Willem van Spronsen, was killed by police.
In July, following a weeklong manhunt, the FBI arrested Benjamin Hanil Song, a former Marine Corps reservist, identifying him as an alleged shooter at the Prairieland detention center. A second alleged shooter has not been identified.
Song is also a defendant in a civil lawsuit that describes him as participating in an effort with Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club to protect patrons and performers at a drag show at a brewery in Fort Worth, Tx. in April 2023. Fort Worth police arrested a 20-year-old, Samuel Fowlkes, at the time and brought an assault charge, allegedly for pepper-spraying a member of the Christian nationalist group New Columbian Movement. Two other individuals supporting the drag show were also arrested.
Although the Elm Fork chapter effectively dissolved after the incident, the Washington Post reported that Song continued to train “left-wing activists for close-quarters combat and large-scale gunfights.”
Neither Song, who is in pre-trial detention, nor his lawyer could be reached for comment.
The government’s case against the other 10 defendants charged with attempted murder in the Texas case is harder to decipher.
The government seized communications devices and accessed chats on the encrypted communications platform Signal, said Patrick McLain, who represents defendant Zachary Evetts.
More than 12 weeks after his client’s arrest, McLain said he has yet to receive any discovery materials.
“They were going to go to the ICE detention facility,” McLain said. “Mr. Evetts was going to protest and shoot fireworks on the night of the 4th of July. Clearly, someone fired. From what I understand, there was more than one shooter. It may have included law enforcement. Was one or more shooter law enforcement? We don’t know. I know my guy was not a shooter. I know my guy was not carrying a firearm.”
McLain disclosed to Raw Story that Evetts had been involved with John Brown Gun Clubs and an allied group, the Socialist Rifle Association, in the past.
“Mr. Evetts participated in the activities of both organizations,” McLain said. “He was devoted to firearms safety. A lot of people involved are trans[gender]. Mr. Evetts was involved in looking out for people who were being bullied.”
A patch worn by a Steel City John Brown Gun Club member during a 2020 gun rights rally in Richmond, Va. expresses support for trans people.Anthony Crider
‘Deeply defensive’
Current and former John Brown Gun Club members who spoke to Raw Story said they view the attack on the Prairieland facility as foolish, while expressing some degree of understanding of motivations.
“I don’t know any members, current or former, who would encourage this type of action, including myself, as the values of JBGCs are deeply defensive in nature,” Paper said.
“There will always be debate about legitimacy within the narrative that only the state is justified in their violence while those who act against their capacity to do so are wholly illegitimate.
“History is chock full of periods where that narrative collapsed but I don’t think we are close to that happening anytime soon.”
The founder of the South Carolina John Brown Gun Club, who identified himself as “Jon,” speculated that former Elm Fork members might have succumbed to impulsivity or nihilism.
“We are fully outnumbered and outpowered,” he said. “We have to think strategically.
“In theory, there could be a push to take over a building but it’s so much more than what these kids are capable of.”
A 31-year-old, disabled and unemployed Coast Guard veteran, Jon decided to start South Carolina John Brown Gun Club after protesting an event hosted by the right-wing campus group Uncensored America at the University of South Carolina in Columbia last September.
Billed as a “roast” of Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, the event featured Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnis and right-wing provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos.
Jon and a group of protesters confronted an attendee who Jon said was making statements denying the Holocaust.
A video he shared with Raw Story shows Jon bellowing, “Get the f--- out of here. Leave. No one wants you here.” The video shows the man retreating, as police officers look on.
Jon said he contacted the Charlotte John Brown Gun Club, for advice about starting a group.
Jon said he supports unhoused people, pro-Palestine protesters and women accessing abortion services at Planned Parenthood in Columbia. South Carolina is a Constitutional carry state. Jon sometimes carries an AR-15 rifle or a concealed pistol, depending on the comfort level of allied groups or the threat level. On at least two occasions, he said, he has encountered members of a neo-Nazi group called Southern Sons Active Club.
‘Strong and resilient’
Trump’s Sept. 25 memorandum treats acts of political violence such as Kirk’s assassination and confrontations outside ICE facilities as the result of a coordinated effort by forces bent on the “overthrow of the United States government.”
The memorandum claims recent incidents of political violence are “a culmination of sophisticated, organized campaigns of targeted intimidation, radicalization, threats, and violence designed to silence opposing speech, limit political activity, change or direct policy outcomes, and prevent the functioning of a democratic society.”
The memorandum insists that “a new law enforcement strategy that investigates all participants in these criminal and terroristic conspiracies — including the organized structures, networks, entities, organizations, funding sources, and predicate actions behind them — is required.”
A Steel City John Brown Gun Club member carries a rifle at a 2020 rally in Richmond, Va.Anthony Crider
Whatever the intentions of the former John Brown Gun Club members who carried out the Prairieland attack, Paper said “it appears to have enabled an already weaponized and thoroughly politicized Justice Department to go after a cache of people who appear ignorant to any plan to shoot at ICE facilities or personnel.”
John Brown Gun Club members were targeted by FBI investigations, placed on the U.S. government’s suspected terrorist no-fly list, and put on trial during Trump’s first administration, Paper said. He said he expects government repression to intensify.
“We need to be mindful of our digital footprint and it’s gonna be shut-the-f----up Friday a lot around here,” Jon said.
“Supporting our community will still be our number-one priority. We will still be providing training and education on topics like maker skills, first aid, emergency response, mutual aid and firearms. An educated community is a strong and resilient community.”
