In a YouTube video, the man who carried a semi-automatic assault rifle outside yesterday’s presidential event tells fellow demonstrators “We will forcefully resist people imposing their will on us through the strength of the majority with a vote.”
The man, only identified as “Chris,” spoke against taxation: “Just because you sic the government on people doesn’t make it morally OK to steal money from people. Taxation is theft.”
He also said “it would be insane” not to be armed, saying he wears a gun at all times.
But he didn’t seem to be planning any violence. At the beginning of the video, a voice off-camera asks, “You gonna water the tree of liberty?” a reference to a Thomas Jefferson quote, “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”
Chris responded, “I hope not.”
The video comes from a libertarian group called Freedom’s Phoenix and another group called 4409, which opposes police security cameras.
Watch:
Late update: In another video, this one from the Associated Press, “Chris” says he is “absolutely, totally against” health care reform, saying such a plan would amount to “stealing it from people.”
He also said more people should carry guns openly in states where it’s legal.
“People need to get out there and do it more,” he said.
Latter Update: Ernest Hancock, the man who organized “Chris’s” trip to the Obama event and himself came to the event armed, had close ties to a violent militia group charged with plotting to blow up federal buildings in the mid-1990s.
