Rep Clay Higgins (R-Louisiana) is a guy who just loves him some Second Amendment. He's appeared in promotional videos for the NRA, he advocates for open carry, which is legal in Louisiana, and when he's in the state, he generally goes around with a holstered handgun as a fashion/fascist accessory. His Facebook page is sprinkled with inspirational photos of the Constitution and a flintlock, or of his favorite Colt 1911 pistol and a Bible.
You know, we're not sure that particular Bible verse is about wielding firearms. The point is, Clay Higgins is very big on Americans' freedom to arm themselves, which he says in that very Facebook post is the very foundation of liberty, along with Christianity of course. If you have guns, you're one of the Good Guys. Unless maybe you're somehow different from the average gun humpers Higgins hangs out with. A well-regulated militia is one thing, you see, but when Higgins heard rumors that a group of armed Black guys might show up for protests in Lafayette, Louisiana, he got on Facebook to let those monsters know he would happily kill them to protect his fair city. The post was deleted by Facebook, but the internet is forever:
You shall know our muzzle velocity.
Vice explains that the photo is from a July demonstration in Louisville to protest the police killing of Breonna Taylor, and depicts members of a militia with the best possible militia name, the Not Fucking Around Coalition, or NFAC for family newspapers. Higgins doesn't mention the holy Second Amendment at all, because clearly these men walking around in military gear and carrying long guns are a deadly threat, and Higgins knows what to do about a Clear And Present Danger: You go on Facebook and say We The People a lot.
Also, note that pronoun: These guys aren't people, they're a thing, a "this," not even a "they."
Look, fair warning.
If this shows up, we'll consider the armed presence a real threat. We being, We, the People, of Louisiana.
One way ticket fellas.
Have your affairs in order.
Me?... I wouldn't even spill my beer. I'd drop any 10 of you where you stand. Because some of We, like me... We, are SWAT. Nothing personal. We just eliminate the threat. We don't care what color you are. We don't care if you're left or right. If you show up like this, if We recognize threat... you won't walk away.
That's not a challenge, fellas. It's a promise. We don't want to see your worthless ass nor do we want to make your Mothers cry. You're the ones threatening, if you show yourselves, aggressively natured and armed in my presence. In my neighborhood.
Where I work.
Anywhere close enough to put my family or my fellow citizens in danger.
That is where your journey will end.
Fast.
How fast? 1,450 FPS fast.
Now hold on a second, Mr. Congressman. Whar respect for an armed citizenry protecting itself from tyranny? The state-sanctioned killing of an unarmed woman in her own home sure sounds like the sort of thing gun-humpers would usually say is worth arming up for. If a bunch of armed idiots bringing their guns to protest public health measures isn't a threat, then why are these fellows?
Lafayette has been the site of protests after the police shooting of Trayford Pellerin, 31; no members of the NFAC showed up at those protests Tuesday. But around the time Higgins posted his brave promise to eliminate any Black militia guys, the Acadiana Advocate reports ,
40 to 50 heavily armed members of a right-wing militia group — the Louisiana Cajun Militia, which formed four years ago to oppose the removal of Confederate monuments — showed up at a Tuesday night Black Lives Matter demonstration outside Lafayette City Hall.
Members of the militia insisted they'd shown up to help keep the peace, you see, although as the Advocate noted, they were kitted out in military-style gear very similar to the NFAC guys whose very presence Higgins considered so threatening that it would merit deadly force. The Advocate adds that Higgins "made no mention of the Louisiana Cajun Militia group and didn't respond to questions about their presence."
After Facebook pulled Higgins's message promising swift eradication of armed Black people, Higgins posted a very patriotic whine about his rights being threatened, and urging full E Plebnista preparations for civil war, just wait for him to give the signal:
No, I did not remove my post.
America is being manipulated into a new era of government control. Your liberty is threatened from within.
Welcome to the front lines, Ladies and Gentlemen.
I suggest you get your mind right.
I'll advise when it's time gear up, mount up, and roll out.
For some reason, Facebook pulled that one, too. A company spokesperson explained both very patriotic messages were yanked "for violating our policies against inciting violence."
Rep. Cedric Richmond, the only Democrat in Louisiana's congressional delegation, was also the lone member of the delegation to speak out publicly about the super-patriotic call for civil war, saying Higgins's "dumb and reckless Facebook post requires serious condemnation."
Richmond added that Higgins, elected to Congress in 2016, could be calling for a full investigation into the killing of Trayford Pellerin, since Higgins represents the district where Pellerin lived, but instead had simply posted "a clear adolescent ploy designed to stoke fear, incite violence, garner social media clicks and raise money for his campaign."
Well yes, this America. Higgins simply wants to protect his community, which clearly doesn't include armed troublemakers from hundreds of miles away.
Mind you, it may depend on the complexion of the armed troublemakers. On December 31, 2019, as Virginia gun-humpers feared all guns would be seized, Higgins offered this Walk Tall image on Facebook, calling on sheriffs in Virginia to "deputize all patriots," because guns = America.
Truly, America is a land of contrasts, the end.
[ Vice / Christian Mader on Twitter / NOLA.com / Acadiana Advocate ]
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Not militias. Gangs
What absolute fuckers. My massive sympathies.