Socialist Rifle Association

The Socialist Rifle Association (SRA) is an American socialist firearm organization[2] that is dedicated to "providing working class people the information they need to be effectively armed for self and community defense."[3] The group advocates for Second Amendment gun-rights.[4]

Socialist Rifle Association
Founded2013 (2013)
Focus
Area served
United States
Services
Method
  • Self-defense education
  • Firearm safety
  • Mutual aid
  • Disaster relief
Membership
10,000 (November 2020)[1]
Legislature
Central Committee of the SRA
Websitesocialistra.org
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Background

The Socialist Rifle Association was initially created as a Facebook page in 2013, as "something of a joke."[5] As time went on, supporters decided to make it a reality, and incorporated as a limited liability company in New Mexico.[6] On 10 October 2018, the Socialist Rifle Association Inc. was founded in Kansas[7] under the 501(c)(4) tax code provision.[8] On 16 October 2018, a merger agreement was agreed between the two extant SRA nonprofits.[8]

The City of Charlottesville, et al. vs. The Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia, et al. (2018)

Individuals associated with an unrelated community Facebook page calling itself the SRA attended the Unite the Right rally on the counterprotest side[9] and were subsequently sued for their involvement.[10] In October 2018, the city of Charlottesville filed a lawsuit against twenty five groups and individuals[11] for alleged paramilitary activity based on a recently adopted state statute.[12][13] In addition to several white supremacist figures and organizations such as the Traditionalist Worker Party, League of the South and Jason Kessler, the lawsuit also listed two anti-racist groups, the original SRA group and the left-wing gun group Redneck Revolt.[14][15] The original SRA Facebook page no longer exists, suggesting it has been taken down by Facebook's moderators.

Natural Disaster Mutual Aid

Hurricane Florence

On September 15, 2018, the SRA delivered food and other supplies to the Augusta Hispanic Seventh Day Adventist Church and Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School in northern Georgia. These locations served as hurricane shelters for those fleeing Hurricane Florence.[16]

Hurricane Michael

In response to the landfall of the category 5 Hurricane Michael in 2018 and the perceived inadequate response of FEMA, the SRA and the Tallahassee branches of the DSA and the PSL formed the Hurricane Michael Mutual Aid project which sought to distribute direct relief to those in need, including those who were unable to receive FEMA relief due to their undocumented status.[17][18]

Hurricane Dorian

On August 29, 2019, the SRA began a fundraiser under the new organizational name "SRAid" for Hurricane Dorian disaster relief.[19] On September 5, the SRA announced it had several volunteers staging equipment on the east coast in preparation for supply deliveries to under-served communities in Charleston, SC, Wilmington, NC, and the Lumbee Tribe in Robeson County, NC.[20]

Membership

In July of 2019, a third of the SRA's 2,000 members identified as LGBTQ and 8 percent are transgender.[21] The organization claimed 10,000 active members in November 2020.[1] The SRA has 52 local chapters operating in 33 states.[10] The organization is headed by a National Assembly consisting of elected representatives from each chapter.[10]

Ideology

The SRA describes the goal of their organization as "to provide an alternate to the mainstream, toxic, right-wing, and non-inclusive gun culture that has dominated the firearms community for decades. We seek to provide a safe, inclusive, and left-leaning platform for talking about gun rights and self defense, free from racist and reactionary prejudices, while providing a platform for the working class to obtain the skills necessary for all aspects of community defense."[22] The group describes itself as "working class, progressive, anarchist, socialist, communist, eco-warrior, animal liberator, anti-fascist, anti-racist, anti-capitalist, PoC, LGBTQ-plus."[23]

Points of Unity

Membership of the SRA is predicated on the acceptance of particular points of unity:

  • We are working class and poor people dedicated to educating our class in the safe use of firearms for personal and community self-defense as well as recreation and subsistence hunting.
  • We are a multi-tendency association of Social democrats, Communists, and Anarchists united by class, for our class. We respect one another's political stances and differences, especially when we disagree.
  • We are dedicated to Liberation and Freedom of ALL people and therefore oppose all forms of oppression and exploitation.
  • We are party to our local communities and as such we volunteer in various ways to further the connections between leftist political radicals and the unorganized communities in which we live. We help feed, house and protect other working class and marginalized folks.
  • We stand against the disarmament of the working class.
  • We are dedicated to arming the working class, both physically and mentally.[24]

See also

References
  1. "The SRA is proud to announce we now have 10,000 official members!". Twitter. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. Goldberg, Michelle (November 2, 2018). "The Left Gets Triggered". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2018. Retrieved November 2, 2018.
  3. "Socialist Rifle Association". www.socialistra.org. Archived from the original on September 21, 2018. Retrieved October 6, 2018.
  4. CoastAlaska, Jacob Resneck (2018-11-19). "Meet the Socialist Rifle Association. The left's answer to conservative gun culture". KTOO. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  5. "r/SocialistRA - SRA Founder's Recollections". reddit. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 2019-09-27.
  6. "Corporations and Business Services". 17 March 2018. Retrieved 7 October 2018.
  7. "Kansas Business Entity Search". www.kansas.gov. Retrieved 2018-10-25.
  8. Humva, Alex (22 October 2018). "The Future of the SRA". socialistra.org. Archived from the original on 25 October 2018. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  9. Green, Jordan (April 11, 2018). "They Hate Racists. They Love Assault Rifles. Meet Redneck Revolt". Indy Week. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  10. Baars, Samantha (October 12, 2017). "Militia madness: City files suit against August 12 participants". C-VILLE Weekly. Archived from the original on 9 August 2018. Retrieved 6 October 2018.
  11. "3 Militia Groups Connected to Unite the Right Rally Settle Lawsuits". www.nbc29.com. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  12. "§ 18.2-433.2. Paramilitary activity prohibited". law.lis.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  13. Arria, Michael. "Why Is Charlottesville Suing Two Anti-Racist Groups Over Last Year's Violent "Unite the Right" Rally?". Truthout. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  14. Dwyer, Johnny (2018-06-12). ""Alt-Right" and Anti-Fascists Unite Against Lawsuit Designed to Prevent Another Charlottesville". The Intercept. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  15. "CITY OF CHARLOTTESVILLE, et al. vs. The Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia, et al" (PDF). Georgetown. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
  16. "Hurricane Florence Mutual Aid". Socialist Rifle Association. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  17. Arria, Michael. "Left-Wing Disaster Relief Efforts Spread Goodwill for Socialism". Truthout. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  18. "Socialist Rifle Association". socialistra.org. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  19. "Socialist Rifle Association on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  20. "Socialist Rifle Association on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  21. Pein, Corey (2019-07-02). "Antifa Is Arming Itself Against a Trump Crackdown". The New Republic. ISSN 0028-6583. Retrieved 2019-07-23. A third of the Socialist Rifle Association’s 2,000 members identify as LGBTQ, and 8 percent are transgender.
  22. "Socialist Rifle Association". socialistra.org. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  23. Tarr, Joe (2019-03-14). "Socialism's safest place". Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  24. "Socialist Rifle Association Promo Cards" (PDF). Socialist Rifle Association. Retrieved 2019-07-24.
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