By David Codrea
UPDATE: After several hours of disabling, the Facebook pages are now back online and active — for now. Perhaps all the publicity they have received, from sources as popular as Rush Limbaugh and as comprehensive as Conservative Treehouse contributed to the decision to restore the pages.
UPDATE 2: And they’re gone again.
USA – -(Ammoland.com)- Facebook has taken down two pages purportedly created by a Bernie Sanders supporter who went on a murderous rampage in an attempt to kill Republicans. James Hodgkinson succeeded in wounding Republican House whip Rep. Steve Scalise, a congressional staffer and members of the congressional police force before being taken out by return gunfire himself.
By now, there are plenty of reports on how Hodgkinson wanted to “kill as many Republican members as possible.” We also know what stopped him, in the words of one grateful survivor:
“The only reason why any of us walked out of this thing, by the grace of God, one of the folks here had a weapon to fire back and give us a moment to find cover. We were inside the backstop and if we didn’t have that cover by a brave person who stood up and took a shot themselves, we would not have gotten out of there and every one of us would have been hit — every single one of us.”
There are plenty more reports about “serves ’em right” rejoicing by “progressives,” and blood-dancing by gun-grabbers who would rather human targets not have the means to shoot back, all pointing to a cold civil war that’s heating up as Democrats pour more fuel on the #Resist fire. Kathy Griffin parading Trump’s severed head and Shakespeare in the Park’s ritual stabbing of Donald Caesar aren’t merely malevolent wishes for the man himself as much as thinly-veiled sentiments toward the flyover Americans that he’s an avatar for.
One area that won’t be as thoroughly explored is Hodgkinson’s purported Facebook pages, because they’re no longer active. I found two (here and here), and both have been taken down, but not before all sorts of pro and con exchanges proved that no, we can’t all just get along.
NOTE: Pages restored. See “Update,” above.
I did some screen captures anticipating closure so that a record would remain on Hodgkinson’s influences. Note that doesn’t mean definitive conclusions can be drawn or specific blame can or should be placed, but they all add up as parts of the record that can help explain his worldview, and at least some of his shared “values.”
These were the media influences Hodgkinson chose to single out as being preferred programs from which to consider opinions and keep informed:
These were people and things he followed:
And these were what he “liked”:
More controversial, and less fair to draw conclusions on, were Hodgkinson’s Facebook “friends.” Obviously on social media we don’t always pay as close attention to friend requests as we might, and most of us have had the experience of “unfriending” someone we’d regretted accepting a request from. Some may be relatives, others business associates — in other words, take care against drawing “guilt by association” conclusions.
That said, the record is there to be explored, to find out if there are any kindred spirits and what their affiliations are:
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating / defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament.
In addition to being a field editor/columnist at GUNS Magazine and associate editor for Oath Keepers, he blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.
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