ICE in town. Car windows smashed by men in military gear. Activists arrested and passed off to the FBI. Rifles pointed at parents in front of their kids. A team of ICE agents posted at the entrance to your community, harassing everyone who enters or leaves, looking for someone to kidnap.
Who wants to be outgunned by ICE agents? Lets start there.
This isn't really about confronting ICE with arms, or what that would look like. There's a place for that, a case to be made for that, but well outside of the scope of this piece.
Here's our question: Why should the cops be the biggest armed force in your community? Why should ICE be able to bring in an amount of firepower that the community cannot match, or supersede? Who is happy to accept this situation?
Here's what we've observed: A lot of ICE agents only have pistols. We can infer this because their vests or belts only have pistol magazines. Of those ICE agents that do carry rifle magazines in their vests, we rarely see more than one, and have yet to see more than two. That means no more than 60 rounds of ammunition at their immediate disposal, plus an additional 30 probably loaded into the rifle, which is usually somewhere out of sight.
The point being: ICE barely has a monopoly on firepower. The only reason their capabilities supersede ours is because we haven't taken the initiative to arm ourselves.
Around the world, people defending themselves against their oppressors have to sell all their belongings - their home, their car - to buy a single rusty old rifle, smuggled across borders or through checkpoints piece by piece, or manufactured in clandestine workshops, and loaded with a small amount of corroded, rusted ammo.
To train with it, they have to physically dig underground, or go deep into inhospitable terrain.
To get more ammunition, or to get better gear or a better rifle, they have to risk their life and carry out ambushes on state forces.
Meanwhile, an American can get the same rifle the police have with half a month's pay. They can get new ammunition every time they have the spare money for it, just by going to the store. And they can practice at any range, including free public ones.
In other words, Americans have the most pampered, coddled access to firearms in the world. Yet we have one of the least armed progressive communities, and the least inclined. We have it the easiest when it comes to working towards matching or outmatching our oppressors' capabilities -- yet we chose not to.
So consider: Would ICE enter a community guarded by six ARs? If ICE killed somebody in front of you, which they are fully capable of and equipped to do, would you have any capacity to respond? Are you comfortable with the answer?
Are we comfortable with this being our condition? Are we comfortable with being outmatched by our oppressor, with having no counter to him and his capabilities?
Most will not be receptive to this - most are scared of guns and want to pretend they do not exist. The result is that the only guns in our communities are the guns of our oppressors.
Every anarchist must decide for themselves whether they want to cede ground to power, or to hold ground, or to lay the framework to take ground.
THE FOUR FUNDAMENTALS OF FIREARM SAFETY
1. Treat every gun as if it is loaded.
2. Always keep the gun pointed in a safe direction – “never point your firearm at something you do not intend to destroy.”
3. Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on target and you’ve decided to shoot.
4. Know your target and what is behind/beyond it.
A SIMPLE RIFLE DRY FIRE DRILL
Dry fire drills - a way to practice firearm skills, familiarity and muscle memory at home, without the cost of ammunition, transport to and from a range, or cleaning after a range trip.
1. Visually inspect the chamber of your rifle to confirm that it is unloaded. Move ammunition to a separate location. When you are absolutely satisfied that the weapon is unloaded and cannot accidentally become loaded, move on to step two.
2. If you need a target for your practice, you can put a square of painter’s tape on a wall.
3. Shoulder your rifle. Push the stock into your shoulder so that you can immediately aim down the sights and have them lined up with a target. When you find the sweet spot, notice which part of your shoulder the rifle’s stock is making contact with, and where your face is making contact with the stock – this firm connection is called your cheekweld. Knowing these two details will allow you to consistently, repeatedly raise your rifle to the same spot every time, which is the goal of this drill.
4. Lower your rifle but keep it pushed into your shoulder – the same part of your shoulder you determined in step three. This is called the “low ready” position.
5. From low ready, raise your rifle to aim at the target and switch off the safety. Find the same cheekweld you determined in step three. In the same fluid motion, bring your sights to the target and pull the trigger.
6. Repeat multiple times within a single session and practice regularly. The idea is to be able to quickly transition from a ready state to firing, and for this to become automatic. As you start out, remember that slow makes smooth. Trying to go too fast before mastering the fundamentals can result in you repeating mistakes until they are ingrained in your muscle memory.