It's easy to point and laugh at some of the more comical aspects of the clueless, upper-middle-class spoiled brats in the Ivy League, waving Palestinian flags and shouting about intifada while asking for donations of vegan lunch boxes. But there are some very serious aspects of this whole thing coming to light, not least of which is that some of these rioters — some of the many rioters who are not students — came armed and, presumably, prepared for an actual insurrection.
Today, we learn that firearms and improvised weapons were confiscated from at least two protest sites: at the University of Texas-Austin and the University of South Florida.
Anti-Israel protester Atah Othman, 39, was one of 10 demonstrators arrested on the USF campus on Tuesday — and he was busted carrying a gun in his waistband, Fox 13 Tampa reports.
Othman faces four charges including possession of a firearm on school property, trespassing, unlawful assembly and resisting arrest, arrest records show. He was released on bond just after midnight on Wednesday, hours after protesters gathered at the Orient Road Jail calling for the ten people arrested to be released.
It is unclear if Othman is part of the school system or an outside agitator. The identities of the remaining nine people arrested are unclear.
Judging from Mr. Othman's mug shot — you can see it at the link above — I'm guessing he wasn't affiliated with the university. That's a guess, but I'd bet on it. There is as yet no information on Mr. Othman other than that he was arrested and found to be carrying a firearm; we have no idea where he came from or what he was doing on that campus.
Also unknown are the persons who left weapons pre-positioned at UT-Austin:
Meanwhile, a UT Austin spokesperson says that guns were found on its campus hidden in a breezeway on Monday, Fox 7 Austin reports. Buckets of large rocks, bricks, steel-reinforced wood planks, mallets and chains were all found on campus belonging to protesters.
"University staff found a 5-gallon bucket filled with large chunks of concrete strategically hidden in a breezeway of Calhoun Hall leading to the South Lawn," the spokesperson told Fox 7.
"An identical bucket was found in a similar location during last Wednesday's protest. Similar buckets of rocks have been used during past protests in Austin to assault responding officers."
Firearms and improvised weapons — and, yes, rocks, bricks, mallets, and chains are weapons. Potentially lethal weapons. Intended, we can be almost certain, to be used against law enforcement officers. Another story revealed the identity of 10 of the rioters arrested at the University of South Florida, and they don't exactly have the look of students or faculty. Of course, these days, who knows?
Previously on RedState: MSNBC Says Antisemitic, Pro-Hamas Demonstrators Aren't the Problem — It's 'Bad Faith' Republicans!
None of that changes the alarming nature of this discovery; there was an intent on someone's part, almost certainly several someones, to conduct an armed assault on law enforcement — or counter-protestors, or college administrators, or even on people passing by.
Are these isolated incidents? Or a harbinger of things to come? How many of the rioters were armed and not discovered to be carrying? What happens when one of them starts shooting? The usual anti-Second Amendment types will use any such events to call for ever-more gun control, which will affect these people not a jot.
The students in these riots have been, for the most part, rather comical figures.
See Related: Columbia University: Portrait of a Useful Idiot
Some of them are hateful, and some of them are advocating for genocide — yes, real genocide — but let's be honest, most of these students are too weak and indecisive to act on any of their rhetoric. But we already know there are driving forces behind the scenes, supporting the rioters with money and logistical support. Are there other driving forces, forces who are testing the waters, who are preparing for an armed resistance to legitimate authority?
In our current round of useful idiots shouting on our nation's campuses, there have not — yet — been any weapons brought to bear by the rioters. Maybe these are isolated incidents. None of the weapons confiscated in the last few days were used, after all.
But for everything, there is a first time. And an armed rebellion by Hamas supporters is something that America has never seen before — and with each passing day, it looks more and more possible.
It's going to be a long, hot summer.
