User:LibrePrincess/Socialist Rifle Association

The Socialist Rifle Association (SRA) is an American nonprofit 501(c)(4) organization that is "dedicated to providing working class people the information they need to be effectively armed for self and community defense". As of October 2018, it currently has 31 chapters and members in all states. Though it has been described as a paramilitary organisation and a militia, including in the lawsuit filed against it, it insists that it is a "firearms education and outreach organization" which is "the leftist alternative to these reactionary, capitalist institutions like the NRA".

It has been described as an ally of Redneck Revolt by Jordan Green writing for Triad City Beat.

Background
The Socialist Rifle Association was initially incorporated as a limited liability company in New Mexico. On 10 October 2018, the Socialist Rifle Association Inc. was founded in Kansas under the 501c4 tax code provision. On 16 October 2018, a merger agreement was agreed between the two extant SRA nonprofits.

Activities
The SRA has been involved in the production of manuals and pamphlets surrounding gun ownership (including information on gun safety and use in addition to acquisition and storage)   and the distribution of socialist, communist , and anarchist theory, alongside guidance on chemical exposure during protests ; hosted on their site.

Individuals associated with a community SRA Facebook page attended the Unite the Right rally and were subsequently sued for their involvement.

The SRA has stated that its mission of community defense includes volunteer work such as disaster relief, and has organized activities for that purpose. In September 2018, three SRA members convened to deliver supplies to disaster relief shelters after Hurricane Florence left locals without food and other necessities. In October 2018, SRA members raised $3500 and delivered a truck full of supplies to the Florida People's Action Center in Tallahassee in the wake of Hurricane Michael.

The official SRA podcast has been run by the organizer for the Wichita chapter of the SRA, and President of the Central Committee, Alex Humva , since 24 May 2018.

Conflicting accounts exist as to their involvement in the #CancelKavanaugh rally (a rally against the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court). The Spirit claims that the SRA sponsored the #CancelKavanaugh rally ; whereas the US branch of the International Women's Strike and New Politics claim the SRA were endorsers of the rally.

Points of Unity
Membership of the SRA is predicated on the acceptance of particular "points of unity" :


 * We are working class and poor people dedicated to educating our class in the safe use of firearms for personal and community self-defense as well as recreation and subsistence hunting.
 * We are a multi-tendency association of Social Democrats, Communists, and Anarchists united by class, for our class. We respect one another’s political stances and differences, especially when we disagree.
 * We are dedicated to Liberation and Freedom of ALL people and therefore oppose all forms of oppression and exploitation.
 * We are party to our local communities and act as such. We volunteer in various ways to further the connections between leftist political radicals and the unorganized communities in which we live. We help feed, house and protect other working class and marginalized folks.
 * We stand against the disarmament of the working class.
 * We are dedicated to arming the working class, both physically and mentally.

In an interview with Alex Humva on A Different Lens (the podcast of The Hampton Institute), he made clear that the SRA explicitly reject known Fascists from membership in the SRA.

Views
Aside from the Points of Unity, the Central Committee of the SRA has voiced other opinions publicly. Alex Humva on The Dave Gram Show on WDEV in August 2018 expressed on the topic of mass shootings that: "It is our opinion, as an organisation, that a lot of violence...does...come from the fact that we exist in a societal structure that provides opportunities and reasons for people to be violent...I genuinely do believe that for most people we're not driven to be violent by our nature but rather that there are situations put infront of us that may force people to make bad decisions...as we see income inequality grow in America...without having social safety nets in place, that might help those people get back on the right track and give them hope for something...I do think that economic turmoil can definitely contribute." "It is our opinion, as an organisation, that a lot of violence we see out in the community does openly come from the fact that we exist in a societal structure that provides opportunties and reasons for people to be violent; that you always will have cases of individuals, that for one reason or another, don't comprehend the concept of violence, but, I genuinely do believe that for most people we're not driven to be violent by our nature but rather that there are situations put infront of us that may force people to make bad decisions and so definitely with...as we see income inequality grow in America, as we see individuals, especially individuals who are having struggles with mental disorders, without having those systems in place, without having social safety nets in place, that might help those people get back on the right track and give them hope for something where maybe instead they're being driven down a darker path and certainly in the many shootings we have seen in recent days, in recent years, you see this trend of the shooters that, for one reason or another, they've felt alienated from society, they have very strong feelings, they're often very young, these're often very young shooters, especially in school shootings, and because of this I do think that there's...there's a definitely been young adult...[indeterminate muttering]...that's probably one of the most vulnerable times, they have no established career, they have really nothing established, unless they have a family that's already established their path for them, so, in light of that, I do think that economic turmoil can definitely contribute." [sic]

Alex Humva (27:55 - 30:08 ) on The Dave Gram Show on WDEV in August 2018

Archived from the original on 8 August 2018. Retrieved 13 October 2018.

Charlottesville Lawsuit
In October 2017, the SRA was one of many groups named as a defendant in a lawsuit filed on behalf of the city of Charlottesville and several Charlottesville-based businesses and neighborhood associations (by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection ), which aimed to cease militia and paramilitary activity in Virginia after the Unite the Right rally. The groups and individuals named as defendants were accused of unlawful paramilitary activity, falsely assuming the role of law enforcement officers, and being a public nuisance. The lawsuit identified Redneck Revolt and the Socialist Rifle Association as "private militia groups ... [that] helped create and secure a staging area for counter-protestors." The lawsuit cited posts made on a community Facebook page as evidence for the organization's involvement during the August 2017 Unite the Right rally. However, the Socialist Rifle Association did not yet exist as a legal entity until incorporation on March 17, 2018.

The National Lawyers Guild said in reaction that the SRA "have an explicit mission of community self-defense; any presence they had in Charlottesville was to protect local residents from white supremacist violence. Indeed, a group of peaceful religious leaders who sang hymns to protest the alt-right’s calls for forced segregation and genocide credited these types of organizations as having saved their lives from violent right-wing violence on August 12" and that "Instead of suing these two groups that protected city residents on August 12, the City of Charlottesville should refocus on its own failure to protect its residents from the violent white supremacists who invaded the community."

Reception
MintPress News has cited them as an example of the "reality of gun ownership" as "American gun owners come from across the political spectrum". Free Press Houston described them as an example of “non-traditional gun rights advocates" who "are too frequently overlooked". Umanità Nova considers them part of a "second spring" of armed defense of "marginalised communities and individuals". Michelle Goldberg in the The New York Times said the SRA are "far from being cosplay revolutionaries" and "comes off more like a wholesome civic organization than a revolutionary underground"

Rapper Killer Mike endorsed the Socialist Rifle Association during an AM Joy interview segment with Joy Reid on MSNBC. The SRA responded by thanking him for his "words of support". He later expressed interest in meeting with members of the SRA and related groups Trigger Warning and Southern Commies after the SRA Twitter account posted photographs of a prior event (held at an Atlanta shooting range ), saying via Twitter "Sorry I missed u guys. See u next time tho".