The John Brown Gun Club: Training Arm of Antifa in America

America’s Radical Left Is Arming Up Fast

The John Brown Gun Club: Training Arm of Antifa in America

The John Brown Gun Club began in the early 2000s and grew again around 2016 under the group Redneck Revolt. It takes its name from the abolitionist John Brown who believed violence was necessary to end slavery, leading to his execution for treason after a raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in 1859. The group says it fights racism, supports workers, and provides firearms training for community defense. Members say they protect people who feel threatened by the far right. On the surface that may sound somewhat benign, but when you look deeper, the story changes.

Despite public claims of independence, the John Brown Gun Club overlaps with Antifa in membership, goals, and field activity. Antifa usually handles scouting, disruption, and street actions. The gun club often shows up openly with rifles and takes overwatch positions. They provide the armed presence while Antifa organizers operate in more covert roles. This partnership has appeared in major flashpoints, including Charlottesville in 2017 and the Seattle Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in 2020. Armed members patrolled the area while Antifa aligned groups confronted police and controlled movement in and out of the zone.

This is not a hobby club. It is a national structure that blends leftist political ideology with firearms training and crossover with extremist networks.

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Where the Training Happens and Why It Matters

Texas: Elm Fork Chapter

The most serious example comes from Texas. The Elm Fork chapter operated in Dallas and Fort Worth from 2023 through 2025 and regularly conducted firearms and tactical training with Antifa participants. The chapter partnered with a Salt Lake City group called Armed Queers, a group tied to Antifa aligned circles. It should be noted that in one of my prior articles, this group is one of many that is currently the focus of the Charlie Kirk assassination. Training focused on rifle and pistol drills/manipulation, communication under stress, and movement drills. Organizers publicly framed it as protection for the LGBTQ community, but prosecutors later said the lessons were used to plan and rehearse violent actions.

Eleven members, including former Marine Benjamin Song, were indicted in July 2025 for ambushing an immigration officer in Alvarado, TX. Authorities described them as a North Texas Antifa cell that stockpiled weapons from these joint sessions. Some participants also took part in a confrontation at a Fort Worth drag event in 2023, where Antifa activists and armed members clashed with religious protesters and police. In Texas, the training pipeline directly led to coordinated violence.

Missouri: Columbia Chapter

In Missouri, the Columbia chapter promoted community range days from 2018 to 2020. They advertised the events as firearm education for women and minorities, yet many of the attendees came from Antifa affiliated protest circles in Kansas City and Saint Louis. During the unrest of 2020, the chapter partnered with the Sharp End Gun Club for tactical drills, including communications and combat casualty care. What was billed as empowerment training functioned as an entry point for Antifa activists transitioning from street protests into armed roles.

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Connecticut: Digital Training for Antifa Networks

The Connecticut chapter expanded training online in September 2025. The group hosted a virtual handgun class and state permit prep that circulated in Antifa messaging channels. Participants then appeared as armed security at Pride events, where they confronted counter protesters. Once again, the pattern is clear. The trainees were not a random public audience. They were activists connected to Antifa circles seeking firearms capability and direct-action readiness.

Arizona, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Montana, and Maine

This model repeats around the country. Arizona members trained with Antifascist Action Phoenix in 2017. North Carolina chapters held exercises after Charlottesville where activists discussed improvised devices and supply sourcing. In Wisconsin, individuals who completed basic instruction through the Socialist Rifle Association were directed into political work inside the gun club, creating a pipeline from firearms basics to ideological engagement. Photos and posts in Montana and Maine show veterans instructing Antifa aligned trainees and speaking openly about preparing for resistance against what they describe as rising fascism.

Across these sites, the pattern is consistent.
Training is not random. Training is not passive. Training is targeted toward Antifa aligned participants.
And in multiple cases, trainees later engaged in violence or public confrontation. Please tell me how these groups are part of an unorganized peaceful organization with no leadership. I’m not buying it and a lot of Americans aren’t buying either.

Possible Foreign Influence

Recent public reporting and activist chatter have raised questions about foreign ideological support. The International Anti-Fascist Defense Fund, which was linked to an anti-fascist conference in Caracas, Venezuela under the Maduro regime, has been cited as attempting to support anti-fascist movements in the United States and abroad. There is no confirmed direct payment to the John Brown Gun Club, but the goal of supporting international anti-fascist cells was made clear.

There have also been reports of individuals in circles sympathetic to the club traveling to Cuba through the Venceremos Brigade which is Spanish for “We shall overcome”. This group is the longest running U.S. based solidarity project with communist Cuba. That group has historical ties to Cuban intelligence. While there is no proven financial relationship at this time, the ideological travel and solidarity activity mirrors patterns seen in other radical networks.

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Why This Matters Now

The John Brown Gun Club says its mission is defense. The real-world outcomes show something different. It trains politically motivated activists, works alongside Antifa networks, and has been tied to acts of violence against government personnel and facilities. This cannot be ignored. A society cannot allow private groups to form parallel armed structures with political goals and foreign alignment.

After Antifa was declared a terrorist organization by the Trump administration, many analysts argue that examining the John Brown Gun Club under the same standard is reasonable and necessary. Lawful scrutiny and oversight protect both public safety and the constitutional balance. This is not about punishing protest or lawful firearm ownership which is our constitutional right under the 2^nd amendment. It is about preventing private armies from emerging within political movements.

Trained and motivated people eventually act on what they practice. The pattern is already visible. Ignoring it guarantees almost certain escalation to the point of no return.

Closing Thought

The John Brown Gun Club is no longer a quirky weekend range day. It is a disciplined, ideologically vetted militia that teaches Antifa cells how to shoot, move, and disappear. Their graduates have already fired on police in Alvarado, Portland, and Atlanta. Their instructors quote Mao between mag changes. History is unambiguous: every democracy that waited for “the next incident” to act against private armies woke up under one.

We still have time to draw the legal line, prosecute the trainers, and shut the pipeline from Signal chat to firing line. But the clock on that window is measured in heartbeats, not election cycles. Ignore the rifles today, and tomorrow they will speak for us.

Regards,
Ryan Geho

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