OUR PICKSGrowth of the Left-Wing ‘Gunstagram’ | Post-Organizational Violent Extremism | Standing Your Ground in Texas, and more

The Growth of the Left-Wing ‘Gunstagram’  (Joshua Farrell-Molloy, ISD)
There is an emerging firearms community in the US consisting of armed left-wing activists and antifascists that has grown on Instagram since 2020. We are calling this community ‘Left-wing Gunstagram’.
Its emergence follows a steady rise in far-right violence, two years of record gun sales and a year of protests and civil unrest following the murder of George Floyd that saw armed mobilisation by demonstrators and 22 gun-related deaths between May and October of 2020.

The Challenge of Post-Organizational Violent Extremism and Terrorism  (ISD)
In recent years terrorism and violent extremism across the ideological spectrum has been marked by a ‘post-organizational’ trend. Membership of and support for particular groups has become more ambiguous, with online activity facilitating the growth of more fluid transnational movements. Attacks are committed by individuals with no, or very loose, connection to specific organizations, and violent extremists instead draw on a shared culture and ideology.
This post-organizational phenomenon is not new. The notions of ‘leaderless resistance’ and ‘leaderless jihad’ were first discussed decades ago by extremist ideologues such as white supremacist Louis Beam Jr and the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Musab al-Suri. However, recent high profile terrorist attacks in New Zealand, the US, Germany and Norway have shone a light on self-radicalizing, logistically autonomous individuals with little or no relationship with proscribed terrorist groups, but rather connections to loose transnational extremist networks largely operating online. As Colin Clarke and Bruce Hoffman have noted in the US domestic violent extremism context, organizational structure is becoming less relevant as “a confluence of ideological affinities is [becoming] more powerful in inspiring and provoking violence than the hierarchical terrorist organizational structures of the past”.

Death, Drugs and a Disbanded Unit: How the Guard’s Mexico Border Mission Fell Apart  (Davis Winkie, Army Times)
On the evening of Sept. 10, a soldier deployed to the U.S.-Mexico border slid a manifesto under each door in his brigade headquarters and then slipped away.

A Swarm of More Than 40 Earthquakes in 24 Hours Is Causing a Buzz in the Northwest US  (Pedram Javaheri, CNN)
One of North America’s most active fault lines sprung to life on Tuesday after a swarm of more than 40 earthquakes — ranging from a magnitude 3.5 to 5.8 — rattled off the coast of Oregon, catching the attention and concern of millions in the region.

Many Parents of School Shooters Ignore Glaring Warning Signs. This Grandmother Didn’t.  (John Woodrow Cox, Mark Berman and Steven Rich, Washington Post)
When Catherine O’Connor discovered her grandson was planning an attack, she did what few parents do: reported a child she loved to police.

California Governor Calls for Bill Modeled on Texas Abortion Ban to Crack Down on Gun Makers  (Sophia Bollag, Sacramento Bee)
California Governor Gavin Newsom said he will push for a new law modeled on Texas’ abortion ban to let private citizens sue people who make or sell assault weapons or ghost guns.

You Can Stand Your Ground in Texas. Even When You Kill a Cop.  (Michael Hall, Texas Monthly)
When a homeowner shot and killed a police officer in Midland, the court case that followed pitted two core Texas values against each other.

As Drought Deepens, a City Looks to Restore Dry Riverbed into Flowing River  (Jane Lee, NBC News)
Activists and officials in Bakersfield, California, see a possible boon in a dispute over water resources.