Archive for the ‘Second Amendment’ Category

Road to 270: Trump’s best path to victory hinges on FL, PA – The Republic

WASHINGTON President Donald Trump still has a path to the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win reelection. But it requires everything to break in his direction a second time.

Persuadable voters in battleground states will need to overwhelmingly swing in his favor. Hell have to win back crucial voting blocs. And his turnout operation will need to dramatically outperform Democrat Joe Bidens in an extraordinarily turbulent year.

In 2016, his chances of winning the election were those of drawing an inside straight in poker. The question this year is whether he can draw an inside straight two hands in a row, said Whit Ayres a veteran Republican pollster. It is theoretically possible but practically difficult.

While Trump has multiple roads to victory, his most likely route hinges on winning two crucial battleground states: Florida and Pennsylvania. If he can claim both and hold onto other Sun Belt states he narrowly carried in 2016 North Carolina and Arizona while playing defense in Georgia and Ohio, which he won handily in 2016 but where Biden is now competitive, he will win.

Trumps campaign is also continuing to pour time and money into Wisconsin and Michigan, longtime Democratic strongholds he flipped his way by the slimmest of margins four years ago, while trying to defend Iowa and Maines second congressional district and grab Nevada and Minnesota, two states his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton narrowly won.

Trumps campaign points to other factors pointing in their favor: The campaign and the Republican Party have spent years investing in a powerful voter outreach operation and have 2.5 million volunteers knocking on millions of doors each week. They have seen spikes in GOP voter registration in several keys states. And Trump voters are more enthusiastic about their candidate than Democrats are about Biden. The Democrats are driven more by their hate for Trump.

We feel better about our pathway to victory right now than we have at any point in the campaign this year, Trumps campaign manager, Bill Stepien, told staff on a conference call this week. And this optimism is based on numbers and data, not feel, not sense.

But polling shows Trump trailing or closely matched in nearly every state he needs to win to reach 270 Electoral College votes. Barring some kind of major upset, Trump needs to hold onto at least one of the three rustbelt states he won in 2016: Pennsylvania Wisconsin or Michigan, said Paul Maslin, a longtime Democratic pollster based in Wisconsin.

I dont see any other way for Trump to do this, he said.

Fox News polls released Wednesday show Biden with a clear advantage in Michigan and a slight one in Wisconsin. In Pennsylvania, recent polls show Biden ahead but vary on the size of his lead.

For all of that, though, Trumps team can draw comfort from this historical footnote: In all three states, Clinton led in the polls in the final weeks of 2016.

But Trumps fundamental problem, said Ayres is that a large number of states that he won comfortably last time are currently close.

While Trumps upset win in 2016 still haunts Democrats and has left many voters deeply distrustful of public polls, close watchers of the race stress that 2020 is not 2016.

Biden is better liked than Clinton and polls suggest there are now fewer undecided voters, who broke for Trump in the races final weeks four years ago. And Clinton was hobbled in the final weeks by a series of setbacks including the late reopening of an FBI investigation into her emails. The impact of any additional October surprise this time would be limited by the record number of voters who have already cast their ballots.

Trumps team, for its part, has been working to repair his standing with suburban women and older voters soured by his handling of the pandemic, while trying to boost enthusiasm among targeted groups like Catholic and Second Amendment voters as well as aiming to build support among Black and Latino voters.

Hes again at the thread-the-needle stage, said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. He noted that because Trump won key states by so few votes last time around, he has very little margin for error.

Still, Miringoff stressed that while many polls may favor Biden, they do not account for cataclysmic events, such as potential voter suppression, election interference, or court challenges that could halt votes from being counted. Democrats are expected to cast far more ballots by mail, which are rejected at higher rates than in-person ballots, even in normal years.

The polls could both be right and wrong at the same time, he said, because they could poll those who think they voted but whose votes end up not counted.

With 29 electoral votes, Florida is arguably the most crucial state for Trump. A loss there would make it nearly impossible for him to retain the White House. But the state, which has sided with the winner of nearly every presidential race for decades, is also known for razor-tight elections most notably in 2000 when Republican George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes after a recount.

Both sides point to signs of promise in the state, with Republicans saying they see growing support among Hispanics while Democrats focus on seniors. While polling in early October showed Biden with a slight advantage, two recent polls have the two candidates neck and neck.

From everything I can see, its a statistical tie, said Jennifer Krantz, a Tampa native and Republican strategist who has worked on multiple state races. If thats the case, she said, ground game could make the difference.

In 2016, Clinton won more votes in the state than Barack Obama in both his races, with commanding leads in Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade. But Trump ran up the the score with stunning turnout in smaller counties, including across the Florida Panhandle.

Trumps campaign expects do even better this time thanks to a robust turnout operation. Indeed, Republicans say they have registered 146,000 more voters than Democrats since the pandemic hit in March, leaving Democrats with their smallest lead since the state began tracking.

Democrats, meanwhile, hope to run the table when it comes to early voting and vote by mail though some remain cautious after 2016.

I think were all in this collective PTSD panic, said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who runs the pro-Biden super PAC Unite The Country.

Its a similar story in Pennsylvania, where two recent polls show Biden maintaining a clear lead and another suggests a narrow one. Trump won the state by just over 44,000 votes last time, powered by an overwhelming showing in rural areas and small towns and cities.

Trumps team is counting on those trends to hold this time around.

Its dj vu all over again, said Robert Gleason, the former chair of Pennsylvanias Republican Party who lives in the city and has been helping Trumps campaign Theres a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.

Just as in Florida, while Democrats hold a substantial voter registration edge, Republicans have narrowed their gap by about 200,000 from four years ago, thanks in part to Democratic party-switchers. Trump campaign aides stress that number is five times Trumps 2016 vote margin.

But Trumps campaign is also facing grimmer prospects in areas like the vote-rich Philadelphia suburbs. And Biden is not Clinton, an historically unpopular candidate who particularly turned off white, working class men. Biden not only comes from the working class bastion of Scranton, but has built his political persona as a champion of those voters and their ideals.

AP writers Emily Swanson and Hannah Fingerhut in Washington, Jonathan Lemire in New York and Marc Levy in Harrisburg contributed to this report.

Read this article:
Road to 270: Trump's best path to victory hinges on FL, PA - The Republic

Trump’s best path to victory hinges on Pennsylvania – Lock Haven Express

AP Photo/Evan VucciPresident Donald Trump waves to the crowd as he walks off stage after speaking at a campaign rally at Gastonia Municipal Airport, Wednesday, Oct. 21, in Gastonia, N.C.

WASHINGTON (AP) President Donald Trump still has a path to the 270 Electoral College votes he needs to win reelection. But it requires everything to break in his direction a second time.

Persuadable voters in battleground states will need to overwhelmingly swing in his favor. Hell have to win back crucial voting blocs. And his turnout operation will need to dramatically outperform Democrat Joe Bidens in an extraordinarily turbulent year.

In 2016, his chances of winning the election were those of drawing an inside straight in poker. The question this year is whether he can draw an inside straight two hands in a row, said Whit Ayres a veteran Republican pollster. It is theoretically possible but practically difficult.

While Trump has multiple roads to victory, his most likely route hinges on winning two crucial battleground states: Florida and Pennsylvania. If he can claim both and hold onto other Sun Belt states he narrowly carried in 2016 North Carolina and Arizona while playing defense in Georgia and Ohio, which he won handily in 2016 but where Biden is now competitive, he will win.

Trumps campaign is also continuing to pour time and money into Wisconsin and Michigan, longtime Democratic strongholds he flipped his way by the slimmest of margins four years ago, while trying to defend Iowa and Maines second congressional district and grab Nevada and Minnesota, two states his 2016 rival Hillary Clinton narrowly won.

Trumps campaign points to other factors pointing in their favor: The campaign and the Republican Party have spent years investing in a powerful voter outreach operation and have 2.5 million volunteers knocking on millions of doors each week. They have seen spikes in GOP voter registration in several keys states. And Trump voters are more enthusiastic about their candidate than Democrats are about Biden. The Democrats are driven more by their hate for Trump.

We feel better about our pathway to victory right now than we have at any point in the campaign this year, Trumps campaign manager, Bill Stepien, told staff on a conference call this week. And this optimism is based on numbers and data, not feel, not sense.

But polling shows Trump trailing or closely matched in nearly every state he needs to win to reach 270 Electoral College votes. Barring some kind of major upset, Trump needs to hold onto at least one of the three rustbelt states he won in 2016: Pennsylvania Wisconsin or Michigan, said Paul Maslin, a longtime Democratic pollster based in Wisconsin.

I dont see any other way for Trump to do this, he said.

Fox News polls released Wednesday show Biden with a clear advantage in Michigan and a slight one in Wisconsin. In Pennsylvania, recent polls show Biden ahead but vary on the size of his lead.

For all of that, though, Trumps team can draw comfort from this historical footnote: In all three states, Clinton led in the polls in the final weeks of 2016.

But Trumps fundamental problem, said Ayres is that a large number of states that he won comfortably last time are currently close.

While Trumps upset win in 2016 still haunts Democrats and has left many voters deeply distrustful of public polls, close watchers of the race stress that 2020 is not 2016.

Biden is better liked than Clinton and polls suggest there are now fewer undecided voters, who broke for Trump in the races final weeks four years ago. And Clinton was hobbled in the final weeks by a series of setbacks including the late reopening of an FBI investigation into her emails. The impact of any additional October surprise this time would be limited by the record number of voters who have already cast their ballots.

Trumps team, for its part, has been working to repair his standing with suburban women and older voters soured by his handling of the pandemic, while trying to boost enthusiasm among targeted groups like Catholic and Second Amendment voters as well as aiming to build support among Black and Latino voters.

Hes again at the thread-the-needle stage, said Lee M. Miringoff, director of the Marist College Institute for Public Opinion. He noted that because Trump won key states by so few votes last time around, he has very little margin for error.

Still, Miringoff stressed that while many polls may favor Biden, they do not account for cataclysmic events, such as potential voter suppression, election interference, or court challenges that could halt votes from being counted. Democrats are expected to cast far more ballots by mail, which are rejected at higher rates than in-person ballots, even in normal years.

The polls could both be right and wrong at the same time, he said, because they could poll those who think they voted but whose votes end up not counted.

With 29 electoral votes, Florida is arguably the most crucial state for Trump. A loss there would make it nearly impossible for him to retain the White House. But the state, which has sided with the winner of nearly every presidential race for decades, is also known for razor-tight elections most notably in 2000 when Republican George W. Bush defeated Al Gore by 537 votes after a recount.

Both sides point to signs of promise in the state, with Republicans saying they see growing support among Hispanics while Democrats focus on seniors. While polling in early October showed Biden with a slight advantage, two recent polls have the two candidates neck and neck.

From everything I can see, its a statistical tie, said Jennifer Krantz, a Tampa native and Republican strategist who has worked on multiple state races. If thats the case, she said, ground game could make the difference.

In 2016, Clinton won more votes in the state than Barack Obama in both his races, with commanding leads in Democratic strongholds like Miami-Dade. But Trump ran up the the score with stunning turnout in smaller counties, including across the Florida Panhandle.

Trumps campaign expects do even better this time thanks to a robust turnout operation. Indeed, Republicans say they have registered 146,000 more voters than Democrats since the pandemic hit in March, leaving Democrats with their smallest lead since the state began tracking.

Democrats, meanwhile, hope to run the table when it comes to early voting and vote by mail though some remain cautious after 2016.

I think were all in this collective PTSD panic, said Democratic strategist Steve Schale, who runs the pro-Biden super PAC Unite The Country.

Its a similar story in Pennsylvania, where two recent polls show Biden maintaining a clear lead and another suggests a narrow one. Trump won the state by just over 44,000 votes last time, powered by an overwhelming showing in rural areas and small towns and cities.

Trumps team is counting on those trends to hold this time around.

Its deja vu all over again, said Robert Gleason, the former chair of Pennsylvanias Republican Party who lives in the city and has been helping Trumps campaign Theres a tremendous amount of enthusiasm.

Just as in Florida, while Democrats hold a substantial voter registration edge, Republicans have narrowed their gap by about 200,000 from four years ago, thanks in part to Democratic party-switchers. Trump campaign aides stress that number is five times Trumps 2016 vote margin.

But Trumps campaign is also facing grimmer prospects in areas like the vote-rich Philadelphia suburbs. And Biden is not Clinton, an historically unpopular candidate who particularly turned off white, working class men. Biden not only comes from the working class bastion of Scranton, but has built his political persona as a champion of those voters and their ideals.

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

More here:
Trump's best path to victory hinges on Pennsylvania - Lock Haven Express

Another View: What a Justice Barrett might mean for the Second Amendment – Press Herald

As the Senate Judiciary Committee began hearings Monday on the nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, much of the attention focused on whether the committee should even be considering her at this late date, with so many Americans already casting ballots in elections that could shift control of the White House and Congress. There was widespread interest, too, in how Barrett would handle issues already before the court or potentially soon to be there, including challenges to the Affordable Care Act and the results of the November elections.

One issue flying under the radar is gun control. Its been more than a decade since the Supreme Court has taken up a significant Second Amendment case largely, court observers agree, because the four conservative associate justices worried that they wouldnt be able to persuade Chief Justice John Roberts to vote with them to expand the rights of gun ownership.

If Barrett wins Senate approval to replace the late liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the conservatives might just gain that fifth vote. And that could be exceedingly dangerous for a country already awash in guns, potentially undermining efforts of California, New York and other states to overlay some measure of sanity on access to and use of firearms.

The Supreme Court previously embraced the notion that the Second Amendment referred to the rights of states to maintain militias, which consisted of individuals who brought their guns with them in the event the state called the militia into service. That changed with the 2008 District of Columbia v. Heller decision, written by a conservative icon, Justice Antonin Scalia (invoking a misreading of the historical role of militias). In that case, the court held for the first time that the Second Amendment conferred a constitutional right to keep a firearm in the home for purposes of self-defense.

But it wasnt an absolute right, the court held. Government has a compelling interest in regulating who has access to firearms, Scalia wrote, pointedly adding that nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on long-standing prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons and the mentally ill, or laws forbidding the carrying of firearms in sensitive places such as schools and government buildings, or laws imposing conditions and qualifications on the commercial sale of arms.

A couple of years later, the court ruled in McDonald v. Chicago that the Heller decision applied to state laws as well as federal, but since then it has declined to accept cases that might clarify other issues, such as whether the court believes the right to have a firearm exists outside the home. (It took one case last year, then abandoned it as moot after the New York law at issue was changed.)

The Heller decision was wrongly decided, in our view, but the likelihood that this court will undo it is astronomically small. More likely, with Barrett aboard, is that the court will change the way it assesses gun regulations, opening the door for more successful challenges by gun rights advocates, many of whom take a hard-line approach that the Second Amendment guarantees just about anyone in the country the right to own and carry a gun any time they want.

Barrett didnt mention the Second Amendment in her opening statement Monday before the Judiciary Committee. And while sitting on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, Barrett considered only one Second Amendment case, writing an arcane but important dissent in Kanter v. Barr, a 2-1 case last year.

Since the Heller decision, lower federal courts have measured the constitutionality of gun restrictions by looking at whether the restriction in dispute achieved an important government objective. If the evidence showed that it did, the courts have held, restrictions were lawful even if they impinged on someones ability to buy or carry a weapon.

Barretts dissent embraces a broader view of Second Amendment rights that suggests she subscribes to the text, history and tradition test to determine whether there is a historical precedent for a challenged gun law. If theres no precedent, then the restriction is unconstitutional a theory that could imperil such modern gun controls as mandatory background checks, permits to carry a firearm in public and bans on large-capacity magazines.

But when do history and tradition start? Gun laws have always been part of American jurisprudence. So while Barretts ascension to the court will likely shift the balance toward loosening gun restrictions, its unclear how far she and the court might go.

Ultimately, though, loosening restrictions or barring innovative new controls on access to firearms would move the country in the wrong direction. We know that the presence of firearms in the home increases the likelihood they will be used against someone in the household. We have seen the incendiary effect they have when protesters arrive at demonstrations with military-style rifles slung over their shoulders. Accidental deaths and suicides run higher in jurisdictions with the fewest restrictions on gun ownership. Thats all part of the history we would hope even a conservative court would contemplate as it holds the fate of so many people in its hands.

Invalid username/password.

Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.

Previous

Continue reading here:
Another View: What a Justice Barrett might mean for the Second Amendment - Press Herald

Attendees say President Trump’s MAGA rally in Macon solidified their votes – 13WMAZ.com

People said they left feeling even more confident in their decision as they head to the polls for the next few weeks.

MACON, Ga. Just 18 days from Election Day, people who attended President Donald Trump's rally on Friday said he solidified their votes.

"I'm not a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, I'm just an American and I've never really been into politics, but a couple days ago, it was my 18th birthday so President Trump will be the first person I vote for. I just had to come over here and say that," says Kinsley Ann Hadaway, from Alabama

"I think that a lot more people showed up than what they thought. I think the parking was really difficult, but other than that, it was a really good turnout and there's a lot of support for Donald Trump," said Tanner Bone of Warner Robins.

When we asked his favorite part of the rally, Bone adds, "Probably his Second Amendment, when he was speaking about how the Second Amendment is at risk right now, I like that he supports that."

Cameron Bligen from Peachtree City said, "Tonight's rally has been great. I think that people need to see that this country is united and not as divided as the fake news wants you to see."

Shawn Evanuk from Centerville said, "Second Amendment rights, the fact that he's all for what America stands for, that's basically it in a nutshell."

13-year-old Daniel McElheney from Jones County said although he can't vote, "He's my favorite president and he's done so much for America and I think he's great."

There was a long wait time for buses to get back to the parking lots after the rally, and some people chose to walk the 1.25 miles to their cars instead.

View post:
Attendees say President Trump's MAGA rally in Macon solidified their votes - 13WMAZ.com

When Armed Vigilantes Are Summoned With a Few Keystrokes – The New York Times

Tapping on his cellphone with a sense of purpose, Kevin Mathewson, a former wedding photographer and onetime city alderman in Kenosha, Wis., did not slow down to fix his typos as he dashed off an online appeal to his neighbors. It was time, he wrote on Facebook in late August, to take up arms to defend out City tonight from the evil thugs.

One day earlier, hundreds of residents had poured onto the streets of Kenosha to protest the police shooting of 29-year-old Jacob Blake. Disturbed by the sight of buildings in flames when he drove downtown, Mr. Mathewson decided it was time for people to arm themselves to protect their houses and businesses.

To his surprise, some 4,000 people responded on Facebook. Within minutes, the Kenosha Guard had sprung to life.

His call to arms along with similar calls from others inside and outside the state propelled civilians bearing military-style rifles onto the streets, where late that night a gunman scuffling with protesters shot three of them, two fatally. The Kenosha Guard then evaporated just as quickly as it arose.

Long a divisive figure in Kenosha, Mr. Mathewson, 36, who sprinkles his sentences with Jeez! and describes himself as chunky, does not fit the typical profile of a rifle-toting watchdog, although he said he supported President Trump on Second Amendment grounds. The rise and fall of his Kenosha Guard reflects the current spirit of vigilantism surfacing across the country.

Organizations that openly display weapons have existed for decades, with certain hot-button issues like immigration or Second Amendment rights inspiring people who think the Constitution is under threat. Ever since the 2017 white nationalist march in Charlottesville, Va., armed groups have become fixtures at demonstrations around the country, although membership numbers remain opaque.

With the approaching election ratcheting up tensions in recent months, armed groups that assembled via a few clicks on the keyboard have become both more visible and more widespread. Some especially violent groups were rooted in longstanding anti-government extremism, like the 14 men charged with various crimes in Michigan this month.

Starting in April, demonstrations against coronavirus lockdowns prompted makeshift vigilante groups to move offline and into the real world. This became more pronounced amid the nationwide protests after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis with some armed groups claiming to protect the protesters while others sought to check them.

When President Trump was asked at last months presidential debate about activity by right-wing extremists, including the violence in Kenosha, he declined to outright condemn such groups, and told one far-right group to stand back and stand by.

Experts who study violent groups say that many are unstructured and do not undertake basic steps like training together. They are usually just a fraternity with a shared goal, like the groups in Oregon that patrolled back roads amid wildfires, hunting mostly imagined looters or arsonists.

In Kenosha, police officers were caught on video expressing appreciation to the gunmen and handing them bottles of water, prompting criticism that law enforcement officers encouraged the armed groups.

But soon after, the sheriff tried to distance his department. Part of the problem with this group is they create confrontation, David Beth, the Kenosha County sheriff, told reporters at a news conference. Asked later about any investigation, the Sheriffs Department said it had not referred any cases linked to the Kenosha Guard for prosecution, and the Police Department did not respond.

Mr. Mathewson first tried to muster the Kenosha Guard in June after the city had small protests because of Mr. Floyds death in Minnesota. A little more than 60 people responded.

Then, on Aug. 23, video emerged that showed a Kenosha police officer firing seven times toward Mr. Blakes back.

When protests disintegrated into property destruction, Mr. Mathewson said, he thought law enforcement was overwhelmed.

After two nights of demonstrations, he posted an event on Facebook called Armed Civilians to Protect our Lives and Property. He named himself commander of the Kenosha Guard and added an open letter to the police telling them not to interfere.

Several hundred people volunteered to participate and around 4,000 expressed approval. His call to arms spread to other platforms, like Reddit. Infowars, the website that traffics in conspiracy theories, amplified it, as did local right-wing radio stations.

You cannot rely on the government or the police to protect you, Mr. Mathewson said.

Before forming the Kenosha Guard, he had seen reports focused on armed groups deploying in Minneapolis and Portland, Ore. It was so far from me that it did not seem real, he said. When it happens in your own backyard, your own city, it is like, Jeez, what can I do?

I am pro-Second Amendment, but I am not a right-wing nut job, he added.

Posts on Facebook amplified the sense of siege in Kenosha by spreading false rumors that murderous gangs from Milwaukee, Minneapolis and Chicago were coming to ransack the city of 100,000 people.

Jennifer Rusch, 47, a hair stylist, clicked on Mr. Mathewsons webpage to find armed men to protect her business. Facebook had a lot to do with making everybody hysterical, she said. Now we know 99 percent of it was lies.

People messaged Mr. Mathewson from around Wisconsin and other states, asking where to deploy. He could not handle the avalanche of responses flooding his cellphone, he said.

People thought we had some kind of command staff or a structure but it was really just a general call to arms meant mostly for his neighbors, Mr. Mathewson said.

Jerry Grimson, 56, a former campaign manager for Mr. Mathewson during his run for alderman, responded by organizing his own neighbors to come out. There was no way we were going to let people burn down our homes, he said.

That night, Mr. Mathewson stuck to the entrance of his subdivision, WhiteCaps, at least seven miles from the city center. Pictures show him wearing a baggy red Chuck Norris T-shirt and knee-length camouflage shorts, with a rifle slung over his chest. He passed the early evening sitting outside on a lawn chair with some armed neighbors, then went to bed early. I kind of felt a little bad that I got this in motion but then I was home by 9, he said.

While he slept, downtown Kenosha boiled over.

Witnesses blamed the violent disarray partly on the fact that many gunmen downtown were strangers to one another, with some on rooftops acting as spotters to call in reinforcements and no one in command.

To Raymond K. Roberts, a real estate investor and six-year Army veteran who monitored the vigilantes, the parade of jacked-up pickup trucks filled with armed men resembled Afghanistan.

Mr. Roberts noticed that law enforcement officers largely ignored the men.

The gunmen never seemed to realize that all the combat weaponry made Black residents like himself particularly uneasy, Mr. Roberts said, and that the community would have preferred to protect itself. They just had this assumption that we dont exist, he said.

As tensions surged with protesters and armed enforcers tussling, authorities say that Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from nearby Illinois, opened fire with a military-style semiautomatic rifle, killing two protesters and seriously wounding a third. He faces homicide charges and has become a poster boy for the far right.

Mr. Mathewson remains unsure which armed men downtown responded to his call and he denied having any contact with Mr. Rittenhouse.

Longtime Kenosha residents said they were conflicted over Mr. Mathewson, with his behavior angering some and others praising his many years as an independent watchdog.

Fans noted that he had chased down surveillance videos that exposed bad police behavior and, before leaving his alderman post in 2017, pushed for police body cameras that have still not been bought. But critics said he had turned himself into a nuisance by transforming political differences into personal vendettas.

Angie Aker, a community activist, initiated a criminal complaint against him as an accessory to the protest deaths. I think he invited people in who were looking for a reason to shoot, she said. There is also a federal lawsuit that names Mr. Mathewson, along with Mr. Rittenhouse and Facebook, among others, for depriving the four plaintiffs of their civil rights; one is the partner of a victim and the three others allege that armed men assaulted them.

Mr. Mathewson said what he did was covered by free speech.

After the shootings, Facebook banned Mr. Mathewson for life, removing his personal and professional pages. He said he lost 13 years of photo archives, including videos of his daughter and son taking their first steps and a memorial page for his mother.

Mr. Mathewson said that for now he had no plans to revive the Kenosha Guard. His wife has had enough of the spotlight, he said, with his phone ringing constantly.

I am getting love and hate from all over the country, he said.

Mark Guarino contributed reporting.

Read more:
When Armed Vigilantes Are Summoned With a Few Keystrokes - The New York Times