Since the spring, militias have shown up at Black Lives Matter protests at least 55 times

[CousinIT]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/where-protesters-go-armed-militias-vigilantes-likely-follow-little-stop-n1238769

Where protesters go, armed militias, vigilantes likely to follow with little to stop them
"What animates these groups is anti-government, but it's also anti-left," one expert said. "They are often drawn to these events."

. . .Unorganized militias are not a new phenomenon, but they have gained increasing attention and support over the last few decades. Modern militias and individual vigilantes appeared in the early 1990s positioning themselves as contrary to the federal government. After a period of relative quiet, they re-emerged over the last decade in a more visible role not only in several high-profile protests, including those by Black Lives Matter supporters, but also in less-known local disputes in towns around the country from Utah to New Mexico. The groups are self-anointed, weapons-bearing so-called enforcers of order with very little stopping them, experts who study militias say.

"They consider themselves part and parcel of the enforcement regime," said Robert Futrell, a professor of sociology who researches far-right extremism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. "They are self-appointed groups of local citizens who become law enforcement in their community. They may not have legal authority, but that does not matter, because, to them, they have moral authority.

"But militia means military, and militia also means a capacity for violence," he said.

[empedocles]

1. Wow! A toxic stream of hate that trump is using every day.

[The Magistrate]

2. Their 'Anti-Government' Views, Sir, Are Identical With Their 'Anti-Left' Views

They consider the Federal government to be almost completely in the hands of leftists (even when right-wing politicians hold power), and frequently take the same view of their state and even local governments.

[uponit7771]

3. "anti left" my ass, they're again black people & allies of equality & could care less about the left

[Chainfire]

4. I have found it very interesting

That recently, gun forums are posting about the rise of black (and liberal) armed groups. They are totally confused about why the groups would do that. I just want to scream at them, "IT IS TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM YOU, FOOL!

It puts the right-wingers in a hell of a delima of needing to support the "freedom to keep and bear arms" while trying to figure out how it is wrong for others to do the same. Of course, White Power groups are freedom fighters while others are thugs.

[msongs]

5. they are armed gangs, NOT militia in any sense nt