The CHAZ has undergone an identity crisis. It now wants to be called the CHOP. Except no one can agree on what “CHOP” stands for.

The area formerly-and-nationally-known-as CHAZ (Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone) has now been sort of converted to the “Capitol Hill Occupied Protest.” Or the “Capitol Hill Organized Protest.” Yes, there really are arguments about what the “O” stands for, so let’s just stick with calling it the CHAZ. Let this be a lesson to all the wannabe anarchists out there – you only get one shot at naming your new independent collective before it is forever remembered that way.

Regardless, the CHAZ now has armed security in the guise of the “Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club.” While they just got a glowing profile in The Daily Beast (what do you expect when the author of the article discloses their membership in the Socialist Rife Association?), the group is, despite their claims to the contrary, an Antifa militia. (Click on image in tweet to see the full message.)

This is an Antifa group that promotes “active resistance” and is vaguely threatening to kill cops. @jack and @twitter haven’t removed the tweet yet. pic.twitter.com/aLMq9Mxici

— (((Jason Rantz))) on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) June 1, 2020

And casually dropped into The Daily Beast’s article is this little rememberance:

Members of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club (PSJBGC)—a leftist community defense and firearms education organization that gained a spate of notoriety last year when a former member, Willem van Spronsen, set fire to an ICE parking lot—have been a constant presence. The club is often asked to provide security for protests and rallies around the Seattle area, and while their involvement in CHAZ is structured more loosely, the presence of armed civilians has raised a few eyebrows.”

In case anyone has forgotten, Willem van Spronsen tried to do a little bit more than just “set fire to an ICE parking lot.”

The reason that van Spronsen is a “former” member is because he was shot and killed while throwing Molotov cocktails at the ICE detention center building while armed with a rifle. So yes, this is the crowd that he belonged to. What a group of charmers they are.

A masked man in a car with no license plates says he is with the John Brown Gun Club. He followed the people who were chased out of #CHAZ and was communicating with others on an ear piece. pic.twitter.com/2CII33k0LR

— Jorge Ventura Media (@VenturaReport) June 14, 2020

Yes, they tracked down the two people who dared walk through the CHAZ with American flags, and slashed their tires. Aren’t they just the kind of people that you want to have running your new autonomous zone’s security?

Now, they aren’t the only armed group within the CHAZ. The problem is, NO ONE is supposed to have weapons in the CHAZ. Who said so? Mayor Jenny Durkan, back on May 30th. Is she enforcing that emergency proclamation? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAno.

In a Saturday statement, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office told The Daily Beast of the Zone, “There have been individuals with weapons—open carrying is legal in Washington State. While the CHAZ is within the area of the City currently under a weapons ban, the Emergency Order establishing the weapons ban does not mandate enforcement. It gives officers the option to take certain actions (i.e., confiscate weapons) if they deem it necessary”

Meanwhile, Seattle police cannot get to calls that come from within the CHAZ, and now the protests seem to be trying to push their luck. After all, they have the East Precinct under their control… why not try for the West Precinct?

The crowd gathered outside the Seattle West Precinct after claiming the East Precinct a week ago. The speakers said they are not there to be peaceful and promised to return when there were more of them. #BlackLivesMatter https://t.co/5iLoLsWfow

— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) June 15, 2020

Seattle Police cannot and will not give up the West Precinct, and I would lay odds that Chief Carmen Best would defy Mayor Jenny Durkan if she dared suggest doing so. Why? Besides the absolute surrender involved in giving up yet ANOTHER police precinct, this one houses the 911 call center for the city of Seattle. If the CHAZ group, plus their Antifa militia pals of the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club, are allowed to get into the West Precinct, it would be chaos beyond imagining. President Trump is probably content to let Mayor Jenny and Jay Inslee look like incompetent fools over six blocks in Seattle right now. Would he just sit by and let the CHAZ seize a 911 call center, when he’s already said that he could send the military in to restore control? I’m going to put money on that being a firm no.

Would the Puget Sound John Brown Gun Club be ready to take on the National Guard, or Army military police? My guess is no, but there is probably someone in the CHAZ right now who imagines themselves the next Willem van Spronsen. And THAT is a horrifying thought.

Featured image: SDOT/Flickr.com, cropped, Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 2.0 Generic (CC BY-NC 2.0)