I'm not 100 percent on your side as you seem to advocate proactive self-defense. On video I saw it seems plausible that Reinoehl was targeting Danielson to get even for something earlier, not defending himself/his friend. But witnesses say that Danielson had just used bear spray? And that baton, and that pistol. He wasn't looking for a card game. I can imagine a scenario in which Reinoehl could beat that charge.
I can also picture him standing on the sidewalk by his car with his hands in the air while holding a pistol, prepared to drop it. See, here's my gun, here's my hands, I'll go peacefully. Of course I can't say it happened that way. Maybe he leveled it at marshals and they went all Bonnie & Clyde on him.
I was referencing the more recent protest, in which Proud Boys rushed crowds of unarmed, peaceful protesters and beat them while they fled. One was struck in the head with a metal bat and pepper sprayed while laying on the ground defenseless. No arrests for that aggravated assault. This is an unambiguous case where lethal self defense would have been appropriate. Two men were later arrested for a separate, less severe attack, and one man appears to have been involved in both attacks. The man swinging a metal bat at heads was never apprehended despite making no efforts to flee the scene.
https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1303107492096794625https://twitter.com/MrOlmos/status/1303107492096794625
The Danielson shooting is a different matter where a self-defense claim was plausible, but by no means a sure thing. It's a moot point now that all involved parties are dead.
My point with that shooting is that decent people should not be swayed by the crocodile tears of the right. The same people mourning the loss of the "peaceful" Danielson are the ones that were gleefully beating and spraying the crowds mere hours before the shooting and are publicly praising the Proud Boys that beat unarmed BLM protesters in Salem after. These people want violence, and it's an unqualified positive outcome when they are the ones suffering violence instead of their intended victims.
The fascists attempt to take advantage of the better natures of the general public that is rightly averse to violence. Don't be a sucker, these people are the enemy. Fighting them is dirty work in which decent people take no pleasure, but it is entirely necessary.
In another thread I saw many pictures of heavily armed black militia members and my visceral reaction was unexpected. I thought ... well, good. Don't let white shows of force go unanswered; come prepared. And well-trained. And well-disciplined. But at the same time - that's insane. I disagree with your general position as I understand it; I wish everyone would just stay home. No fires, riots, looting, shootings, baseball bats, pepper spray, teargas, bear spray; no flex batons, paintballs or semi-auto rifles and no handguns please. No shoving, tripping, less-lethal projectiles or teargas. No going after a guy that maybe went after your guy earlier. No Tube-style sucker punches, no bags of soup, no back-and-forth taunts.
I have never been violent. I've heard it can be cathartic. That scares me. I think it probably helps Trump. But seeing heavily armed black men doesn't bother me any more than seeing heavily armed white men. I begin to see your point of view.
Keep in mind this is necessary because the police refuse to enforce the law against fascists and other right wingers intending to do violence. The Charlottesville model, where the cops do nothing while right wingers use violence to dominate public spaces, is played out over and over and over again. The best we can hope for from the police is maybe a few arrests after the fact when public outrage at their inaction becomes too overwhelming. This is in stunning contrast to their treatment of BLM "riots", in which minor infractions of public order are met with beatings, tear gassing, and arrest.
The rise of opposing armed factions is a direct result of the general understanding that the right wing has free reign to use violence. The police have abdicated their position as the sole legitimate source of violence. Those that are alarmed by the growing amount of political violence should look first to the police who are choosing to create this environment through their preferential treatment of fascists.
The best thing that could happen would be for the police to arrest all these Proud Boys and other fascists that are known violent actors, including many who have been repeatedly filmed committing unlawful assaults with various weapons. The police, through their targeted non-enforcement of the law, are endorsing the current dangerous climate.
ETA: All that said, the large black militia seen at these events, NFAC, has a very troubling record. The leader seems to be a vile anti-semite, and they wounded some of their own people at a prior event with a negligent discharge. Some of the pics and videos lead me to believe that an alarming portion of their group do not seem competent in handling the weapons they carry and are probably more of a danger to themselves and others than they are a helpful element. There's good reason to not like this militia, even if you aren't opposed to all-black self-defense militias generally.
