Buy Firearms and Form Christian Militias': Far Right Reacts to Rittenhouse Verdict
Following the not guilty verdict in the Kyle Rittenhouse shooting case, far-right groups and individuals have started reacting—some celebrating, others calling to take up arms.
For example, on Friday, Gab–the so-called free speech social network that is popular on the far-right–reportedly sent out an email encouraging followers to "buy firearms and form Christian militias," reported Alex Kaplan, a researcher with the watchdog group Media Matters.
Gab, a social media platform known as a haven for white nationalists, has sent users an email newsletter urging them to "buy firearms and form Christian militias as the Bible and our Constitution allows." pic.twitter.com/OPWGxqMkhd
— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) November 19, 2021
A channel for the far-right group, the
Proud Boys, on the group chat application Telegram included a commenter writing, "There's still a chance for this country," NPR reported. In another channel, a member wrote, "The left wont stop until their bodied get stacked up like cord wood."
Alex Newhouse, deputy director at the Middlebury Institute's Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism, told Insider, "Rittenhouse's acquittal has already been adopted as a justification for future violence. Many see it as a blank check to use violence at leftist protests, others see it as a spark in a coming civil or race war."