Staying on Task

As stated all over the internet, the SRA is not a militia. What is more often overlooked is the fact that the SRA is not a 2nd amendment (2a) organization. It may seem contradictory to be a firearms education 501(c)(4) while not being based in 2a. However, the SRA believes that the right to defend one’s self and community is not granted by a piece of paper but is an inalienable and natural right. 2a has historically turned a blind eye when the state has moved to disarm vulnerable communities dating back to its beginning and persisting to this day.

The SRA seeks to be a safe space for vulnerable individuals and communities to learn skills for self-defense and resiliency in a society hostile to human flourishing. We advocate for our right to protect ourselves while making our communities stronger. Our mission statement keeps us razor-focused on these objectives."

Given our socialist leanings, the liberal state is looking for a reason to dissolve us. As a 501(c)(4) our ability to continue to exist is tied to our ability to stay on task so we stick to our mission statement and don’t get distracted when liberals reach out to us asking for our advice on “common sense gun laws” (which is quite often). We don’t advocate any form of gun control.

Frankly put, we aren’t in the gun control game. As with the Mulford Act, laws that limit the rights of people to own and utilize arms are laws targeted at the communities we serve. That is the truth of neoliberal capitalism. It may sound attractive to some to limit access to firearms for fascists or white supremacists but the neoliberal state has never shown an ability or willingness to disarm hate groups. It is obvious that these groups, that pose such a grave threat to our communities, should not exist, but they do. Often, they even work hand-in-hand with the state. The state will never disarm them as their interests are the same. Thusly, we will not waste our time or resources on this. We will firm the defenses of our communities through education and solidarity. Some may see our lack of engagement with the state and hate groups as passive assent to their actions and privilege. It is not. We know we exist under the heel of neoliberal capitalism. We focus our advocacy and efforts in a direction where it will actually make a difference -- toward improving the material conditions of all those with us in the struggle.

Again it must be stated that fascists and white supremacists should not exist but again it must be stated that we are not a militia and is not our job to make it so. We do not advocate for the extrajudicial disarmament of these groups either, as our chief consideration is the safety of our community. Our members and the communities they live in are vulnerable to not only retributive action by these hate groups but also retributive action on their behalf at the hands of the neoliberal state. It is imperative for the safety of these people that the SRA stays on mission and does not advocate or conduct direct physical confrontation with these groups so we do not do so.

In the lead-up to the National Day of Hate, some of our more vulnerable community members reached out to us to vocalize concern about our recent addresses of the fascist threat and What is to be Done. These concerns were entirely based on the context of the specific conversations that were occurring and worries that the conversation would be incensing these hate groups to more violence and retribution than they had previously planned. These concerns were validated by specific and targeted hateful rhetoric online. This was our fault and we apologize. Our mission is not to confront these hate groups directly and doing so opens our members up to targeting by them. This makes our spaces less safe and we are sorry for that.