Multiple Minneapolis armed citizens took to the streets over the last couple of nights. Their self-imposed mission: to protect local businesses from riotous looters and violence. A noble, dangerous mission to be sure.

Minneapolis Armed Citizens on Lookout

Protest and riots followed the death of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis Police. Floyd died Monday after a Minneapolis Police officer used his knee to hold a restrained Floyd down for nearly nine minutes. Floyd pleaded that he couldn’t breathe throughout the incident. Four officers were fired in the aftermath, but the citizens took to the streets to protest. Those protests turned to riots and then looting soon followed; this led a handful of Minneapolis armed citizens to watch over the businesses in their community.

When asked who they were in the video above, a burly, bearded man—one of two kitted up with AR-15s and accompanying gear—had the most 2A of all replies. “Free Americans,” he said, his aviators rocking into the night.

No doubt, the other side, the anti-gun crowd, will give no credence to guys like this. They’ll jump on the fact the pair called themselves rednecks. They’ll lump them in with right-wing extremists and the like. But what these two dudes, and reportedly more, are doing, couldn’t possibly be any more American. In some ways, just like the rioters themselves, they’re taking a stand. But this stand offers protection for their fellow man.

“Cops are a lot less likely to try and tread on people’s rights when there’s other armed Americans with them,” one mad said. “I figured its about damn time that some heavily-armed rednecks stood with fellow citizens.”

In the end, the armed civilians each reiterated they wanted justice for Floyd. Their stance wasn’t anything against an obvious need for action against the law enforcement involved.

“We definitely don’t agree with the looting, but we do agree with the cause of the protest,” one man said.