I'm a student at a large public university. One of my classmates in my degree program is very obviously a dangerous asshole. He's a misogynistic, racist, Bible-humping, gun-toting, wealthy white boy. Wears a Hawaiian shirt to Zoom classes and calls me a "climate Nazi" in front the the professor. Spending five seconds around him is enough to see he has serious brainworms. Last year, he attempted to physically assault myself and a classmate because we're openly atheist. I alerted the university and filled a report with campus authorities. Unsurprisingly, they did nothing.
A good friend of mine alerted me today that's he bought a semiautomatic weapon. I'm really uncomfortable with this. He has a major problem with me (to the point of posting to his alt-right friends that he's going to "get" me). I am the president of a small student org on campus. He knows that. I'm concerned that he may show up to one of our meetings. Obviously, I can't get the university to do anything, and the cops would probably pin a fucking medal on him.
TL; DR- There's a pyscho alt-righter who has threatened me in the past, and I just found out he bought a semiautomatic weapon. Is there anything I can do to keep myself and the members of my club safe?
Probably unpopular opinion: Tell the cops anyway.
This sounds like a death threat. If you get killed, people will be like "wHy DiDn'T sHe TeLl ThE pOlIcE????".
Worst case, the police don't care and they think that the boogaloo boy is cool. Best case, they do something about it and maybe keep you from dying. I don't think that the police will actually do anything, but they might, and this is life or death, so it's worth trying.
If you tell the police and they don't do anything, you'll have a good story about how useless the police are.
Everyone else's advice still applies, but you can still tell the police about this.
Use his social media as evidence too. Document all of his postings and vague threats. Lay low on zoom meetings and any other social media.
The cops suck and are generally unhelpful, but I agree that it's the best course of action right now. At least you will have a complaint on the record should anything involving this guy happen again. It might not prevent anything from happening, but it would leave a trail for a prosecutor looking to put him away.
yeah. If you cant go to the authorities you are fucked unless you are willing to do something illegal to him first. Just keep the complaints up and hope they dont ignore it forever and take your concerns about admin inaction public. Alternatively start open carrying for safety and as a statement
While self defence ect. Is absolutely worth considering, you ideally don't want it to get to that stage.
From the sounds of it, your university is doing the standard beurocratic arse covering bullshit of hoping it'll all go away. That's because dealing with the problem is going to be a pain in the arse for them.
One thing, as well as the other suggestions here of course, to try is making yourself a bigger pain in the arse to them than dealing with the problem will be. Document and report everything. Keep on complaining until they are in the position where if (god forbid) the worst would happen there'd be massive a pile of reports about him and they would definately lose their jobs. Then they might step in.
Trust your instincts, don't let them make you feel stupid and document/report everything.
The university also doesn't want to do anything because this guy is a paying customer. You're a paying customer too but, if they kick him out, they're definitely losing a paying customer. If they don't do anything, they'll maybe lose a paying customer if you change schools or get killed.
Plus, this guy's rich, so his family might be donating to the university. Even if they aren't, the university might be hoping for donations from this guy after he graduates.
Stay around friends whenever possible. Fascists are at the end of the day cowards, and he might not feel as powerful with a gun if he's outnumbered. Other people have suggested arming yourself, but that's a worst case scenario. I guess as long as you're only around him in public he will hopefully be too scared to do anything. As others said, unless he explicitly threatens you, it's not likely that staff or police will interfere.
God this is such an awful situation. I can't believe I'm sitting here typing up some advice about how to not get killed by a fascist like it's nothing. Stay strong comrade
he bought a semiautomatic weapon
That's vague. How does your friend know this?
(to the point of posting to his alt-right friends that he’s going to “get” me)
How do you know this?
A friend of mine has taken to monitoring his social media. He made posts about both of these things on his public accounts
Not by name, but by description. We have multiple courses together (from being in a small degree program). I'm a "libtard bitch in his classes". I know it's me because I'm the only female in our program who confronts him.
Until he says he's planning to kill you by name, chances are it'll get blown off like it did before
Also: what kind of firearm, specifically? Did he own firearms beforehand? Were his posts with this new firearm alluding to anything?
That's what I figured, which is why I'm hoping for some suggestions. Should I look into self-defense or something?The university clearly doesn't care. It's a Springfield-type 1911 semiautomatic pistol. It fires .45 bullets. I know that's a small gun, but I worry that it can be easily concealed.
People have been killed by smaller guns.
Aside from not going to class/school or wearing a bulletproof vest at all times, you're not exactly going to be defending yourself against someone gunning for you specifically.
Given that killing you in cold blood would mean his life would be over, I find it unlikely he'll be trying to kill you. Just keep watch, at this point.
Okay. Thank you so much!! I find it's always helpful to have an outside perspective on these things. Fear is the mind-killer, after all.
With that said and his previous record of assault you should definitely at least try and get mace or something because while it does seem like outright murder is unlikely, physical assault could be very real. And having a self defence tool like that will be useful as long as he comes at you with anything other than a gun.
Self defense courses are never a bad idea in my opinion. However don't carry a weapon yourself without knowing and being prepared on how to use it. In an emergency situation you would likely have very little time to react or your device could be used against you. Knife, mace, etc can be very effective against a gun wielding threat. Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu while tending to lean far right is a great martial art to learn if you are expecting to face off against a larger opponent. Though ideally you would be able to avoid being in a situation where you would need to defend yourself in such a way.
There are two avenues here that I would also suggest pursuing. While we have touched on self-defense and others have suggested going to the authorities I would suggest looking into local/state laws on legal ownership of firearms. I assume your university has a strict no tolerance policy on weapons. If he brings his gun onto campus contact the university police or local police department. Learn about your state's laws on carrying firearms. Are you in a state that requires a permit to carry a firearm? Use your knowledge of these laws against him. If he makes a threat while armed in certain states that can be a much more serious offense.
My second suggestion would be to work on your cardio. Seriously they purchased a Springfield 1911 which is a notoriously difficult handgun to shoot accurately and a small magazine capacity of only 8 rounds. You stay more than 20 feet away and that makes you a difficult target to hit. Avoid being close to this person and do your best to prevent finding yourself in a situation advantageous to them. Trust your gut instincts and leave a situation if you feel at risk. Don't be afraid to run. This person has acted in violence against you already and is now equipped to commit greater acts of violence.
You're welcome! Let me know if there is anything else I can help with.
Have you read The Gift of Fear? It's a guide on how to avoid becoming the victim of violence from psychos like this. IIRC a good bit is about how to identify dangerous people but there's also a lot on how to handle stalkers and others who are already threatening you. It's written by a guy who does this sort of risk management for celebrities.
I have no advice but I empathize with and care about you. Stay safe. It's not much, but you can PM me if you need to talk or vent. I'm always down to lend a listening ear.
Buy ARs for you and your group. When he shows up, problem solved.
Serious advice, I'm with others that say advise the pigs. Also, write to any local reporters, so if he does something batshit crazy you'll have known and shown you tried to go through the proper channels. Maybe you'll find a reporter that would find it appropriate to at least run that story.
And report him to the FBI. https://www.fbi.gov/contact-us/field-offices
They're fucking psychos, but good thing about them is they get off on shitting on the cops below them. When the shit cops near me wouldn't stop letting male cops strip search women, the FBI came in and busted their asses.
If you get footage of him assaulting you, you can file a restraining order whether the police give a shit or not.
I second a self-defense class, I took one once and it had specific advice about assailants with guns.
Yeah don't do that. But do buy some mace, and let your friends know. Especially if you have any friends who at least look imposing enough to bully him in case he pulls off this shit again.
My first thought was "if he tries to do anything stupid to you again get some friends and put him in his place, whatever that might involve" but then I remembered that every second American psychonerd has an AR15 and bulletproof vests and then I read that part of your post...
On the other hand it doesn't sound to me like a person who would go there. I don't know for sure of course, you know better. But I knew some people like that and they're usually all bark and no bite. I am sure he won't try to kill you but he may cause you trouble.
Physically remove him (am I allowed to say that)?
If he's destroyed, you've prevented tons of capital being pumped into equally fascist future families.
