Updated Armed Demonstration Data Released a Year After the 6 January Insurrection

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Steven Heydemann
@SHeydemann
Least anyone diminish the escalating threat of extremist violence in the US.

Updated Armed Demonstration Data Released A Year After the 6 January Insurrection Show New Trends - ACLED

acleddata.com
Updated Armed Demonstration Data Released A Year After the 6 January Insurrection Show New Trends -...
A year on from the Capitol attack, armed pro-Trump demonstrations continue around the country.
11:37 AM · Jan 14, 2022

https://acleddata.com/2022/01/05/updated-armed-demonstration-data-released-a-year-after-the-6-january-insurrection-show-new-trends/

5 January 2022: The past two years have brought the dangers of armed political violence in America into stark relief, from the deadly Kyle Rittenhouse shooting at a racial justice
demonstration in Kenosha to the attack on the United States Capitol. In the wake of these events, ACLED and Everytown for Gun Safety partnered to begin tracking the presence of armed groups and individuals at demonstrations for the first time. While the total number of armed demonstrations has declined alongside an overall decrease in demonstrations at large since the height of the Black Lives Matter movement and the lead-up to 6 January, armed demonstration activity remains a serious threat. Over 610 armed demonstrations have been reported around the country since the start of 2020, and they are 6.5 times more likely to turn violent or destructive than demonstrations where no firearms are present.

A year on from the Capitol riot, our joint analysis of the latest data finds that the threat of armed demonstrations has not abated. Our review of current trends shows that the rate of armed pro-Trump demonstrations, including armed ‘Stop the Steal’ events, increased throughout 2021. Many of these armed demonstrations took place at legislative grounds, like state capitols, as proponents of the ‘Stop the Steal’ movement have mobilized to assert greater control over state election systems around the country (New York Times, 11 December 2021). That these trends persisted — and in some cases intensified — during a non-election year raises the specter of further escalation in armed demonstration activity going into the upcoming midterm elections.

Key findings from ACLED and Everytown analysis of data from January 2020 through November 2021 include:

Pro-Trump Demonstrations Continue Post-Presidency and Are More Likely to Be Armed: Pro-Trump demonstrations were reported every month since the start of 2021. These demonstrations were disproportionately armed.

6.8% of pro-Trump demonstrations (112 of 1,646) between January 2020 and November 2021 were armed compared to 1.5% of all other demonstrations (501 of 33,298).

The percentage of armed pro-Trump demonstrations increased last year. In 2021, 8.8% of pro-Trump demonstrations were armed (32 of 364) compared to 6.2% in 2020 (80 of 1,282).

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