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September 13, 2020 09:44 AM UTC

Lefties With Guns Fare Poorly In El Paso County

  • 16 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols
“Redneck Revolt” activist Sherrie Smith (second from left).

Colorado Public Radio’s Dan Boyce reports on the arrest late last week of several described-as “Antifa” protesters, who participated in an armed protest in early August outside the home of one of the Colorado Springs police officers involved in the killing of De’Von Bailey:

“What may have begun as a peaceful protest quickly escalated into riotous and illegal behavior,” according to a statement sent out by Colorado Springs police.

Both Sherrie Smith, a 36-year-old resident of Fountain, Colo., and 33-year-old Lloyd Porche of Denver were charged with multiple felonies connected to carrying and allegedly threatening people with assault-style rifles. Charles Johnson, a 20-year-old Colorado Springs resident, has been charged with attempted robbery of a cell phone. Officials have charged all three with inciting or engaging in a riot and other misdemeanors.

On Aug. 3, scores of protesters, many with signs supporting the Black Lives Matter movement, marched to the home of CSPD Sgt. Alan Van’t Land, one of the officers who shot Bailey. Van’t Land’s property was roped off with signs that said “no trespassing,” and the officer did not appear to be home at the time of the protest.

As readers know very well after a summer of tense protests across the state and nation, it’s legal in most places in Colorado outside the City and County of Denver to openly carry firearms. It is not legal, however, to point those weapons at any other person or property, or to intimidate someone with a weapon into believing their life is at risk. Allegedly that is what happened in the Pulpit Rock neighborhood of north Colorado Springs on August 3rd, specifically that “Antifa activist” Sherrie Smith pointed her rifle at an occupied vehicle. One other person was similarly charged with felony menacing, and a third man was charged with trying to snatch someone’s cell phone. All three face rioting charges, which CSPD in their release identify as felonies while Colorado Public Radio calls them misdemeanors in the story above.

Back in 2017, we took note of a Colorado Springs Independent story profiling “Redneck Revolt” members in Colorado Springs, including an interview with the same Sherrie Smith who was arrested Thursday. In that story, Smith explained that her group doesn’t adopt the same tactics as “Antifa,” and that she isn’t “not looking for confrontation like they are.” Based on events, between 2017 and last month Smith’s view on confrontation evolved–but there’s still a lot we don’t know about what specifically transpired. With that said, our comments in 2017 appear to have been borne out by these 2020 events:

If you agree that heavily armed right-wing protesters are not what you’d call an indicator of healthy political discourse, we’d say that logical consistency in this regard is called for on the left as well. The argument that protesters against the far right and racist groups require armed protection beyond what the police provides, as tempting as that may be after incidents like Charlottesville, only makes violent confrontation more likely.

This is where we might otherwise be prepared to end–but unfortunately, despite the possibility that charges were entirely earned by the alleged perpetrators in this case, we can’t ignore so many other cases over the summer where violence against lefty activists was either outright ignored or questionably investigated by police. CSPD officers responding to a protest outside the home of a fellow CSPD officer showed a…punctiliousness for strict enforcement we didn’t see in Teller County a month before.

Either way, this incident reaffirms the rule: when guns are not present, they’re not a problem. It’s our hope that all misconduct involving guns is treated by law enforcement the same way, no matter the politics of the individual holding the gun.

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16 thoughts on “Lefties With Guns Fare Poorly In El Paso County”

  1. Just a friendly reminder for 2nd Amendment supporters that the 1st Amendment guarantees the "right of the people peaceably to assemble." I'm confident that will set matters straight.

  3. The endless wars of Shrub and Cheney have taken solid root at home.

    Everyone has a gun (but no job) so why not do what their reptilian reflexes compel them to do.

    Knuckledraggers

    1. I was curious about that, too, so looked up Sherrie Smith on FB. She looks as though she holds “antifa” opinions, but that doesn’t mean much. There isn’t a membership list. My own guess is that about 50% of the people pretending to be “antifa” aren’t. There are also people who belong to other leftist groups that may be lumped in there.

      I will say that carrying guns to protest outside anyone’s house is unnecessarily threatening and provocative, and belies the claim that it was a “peaceful protest” .

      Two examples of people who infiltrate and divide legitimate protest and social justice movements:

      I investigated two of the people who targeted Tay Anderson, and three black and brown female political leaders for harassment. The apparent purpose here was to kneecap the leaders of the justice reform movement, particularly people of color, and to divide and confuse supporters.

      One of these “antifa” type individuals spray painted public property, dressed in black, and pretended to be a Black Lives Matter protester. The other threatened to sue 9News’ Kyle Clark for running a  story  with actual video about his harassment of Tay Anderson. I’ll put links here to other news sources, rather than drop names, as these guys intimidate by threatening litigation at the drop of a hat.

      One is definitely a provocateur, and the other may just be an asshole. The community is warned. 

        1. The one who threatened to sue Kyle Clark ran for US Senate on the Unity Party ticket. Then he tried to fundraise for the Arvada City Council Ward 4 seat, which was where the fake endorsement surfaced. This was all last year. 
           

          He got beat in both primaries, so yeah, no data for that candidate on open secrets; however, they are both on Ballotpedia. 
          The other guy had a felony record, so presumably can’t run for office. My point is that these are the kinds of folks who become provocateurs; petty criminals, grifters, con artists who believe their own lies.

          When looking at the photo attached to this article, it seems staged and inauthentic- more like a right wing fantasy of what antifa would look like. Matching red scarves- really? And it’s a professional pic against a photographer’s background. 
           

          And the stunt they attempted – to walk armed  up to a policeman’s home and threaten his family – doesn’t seem like anything the hard core lefties I know would do. 

           

    1. They're liberals because they thought they can walk right out of the store with a gun.  Of course, that definitely and totally makes sense ! Hey, a friend who owns a gun shop told me the other day…. totally believable too !

    2. Hi, Negev!  Hey, I gave my six shot Mossberg 12 gauge to my son in law and have been trying to replace it with a short barrel Maverick 88.  Everybody seems sold out at Dick's, Big 5, etc.  Know where I could get one?

      I could wait for the order because I still have the double barrel I inherited from my grandfather.

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