White, Legally Armed, and Primed for Political Violence

[Celerity]

Ian Rogers was convinced it was up to him to save America. The gun industry’s sales tactics — playing up paranoia and glorifying combat — may be creating a pipeline of extremists willing to open fire.

https://www.thetrace.org/2025/07/gun-sales-nra-white-extremist-violence/



By November 3, 2020, the day of the presidential election, 44-year-old Ian Rogers had been preparing for the implosion of American civilization for so long that it seemed like a foregone conclusion. He could see the coded signals, the power-grabbing, and he was confident it would all culminate in the Democratic Party stealing the White House for Joe Biden and establishing a police state. Rogers, who had spent most of his life in California’s wine country, where he owned a car repair shop, expected to lose cherished freedoms — in particular, gun rights. A feeling of profound, imminent loss had settled over him. If armed resistance became necessary, Rogers considered himself a man of action. When the election results came in, he decided it was time to move.

Between November 25, 2020, some two weeks after most news organizations declared a Democratic victory, and January 13, 2021, court records show Rogers initiated a series of domestic terrorism planning sessions with his best friend, 37-year-old Jarrod Copeland. Over text message, they discussed how to carry out an attack against institutions they saw as liberal. Among the targets discussed were Twitter and Facebook, both of which had recently banned Donald Trump; the California governor’s mansion, inhabited by Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom; and the Democratic Party headquarters in Sacramento.

“Ok bro we need to hit the enemy in the mouth,” Rogers said in November. “I think right now we attack democrats.” He added, “I’m thinking full auto fire with fire will send the message we want.” Two days later, Rogers sent Copeland a map that showed the location of the state Democratic Party’s headquarters, a low-slung building with rooftop solar panels and charging stations for electrical vehicles. “150 rounds shot into [the] building will destroy it,” Rogers said. “And a couple pipe bombs.” He wanted to “send a fucking message man” and “scare the whole country” and “leave [an] envelope with our demands and intentions” that would effectively state “we declare war on the Democratic Party and all traitors to the republic.”

Rogers and Copeland moved on to logistics. “After work tomorrow I’ll …do some recon,” Rogers said. “I’ll scope things out take pictures.” Copeland told him, “If they don’t listen to trump they will hear us,” and in January texted, “we will become outlaws for real.” Copeland, who had joined the military in 2013, only to be arrested twice for desertion before receiving an “Other than Honorable” discharge in 2016, purchased a 10-pack of zip-tie handcuffs. The two men discussed the necessity of “guerilla warfare,” “surgical strikes,” and “civil war.” Rogers declared them “freedom fighters.” As January 2021 progressed, the conversation turned fatalistic. Rogers asked, “Are you ready to leave your wife? What I’m talking about we probably will die unfortunately.” Copeland had reservations about that aspect of the plan, but said, “She has finally come around to understanding.”

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