What happens when former sex workers, who are BLM supporters, subscribe to Antifa ideologies, and practice the Mandalorian religion start teaching firearms classes for free? They get busted on something. A duo of advocates for firearm ownership for all, “anyone who is not a white supremacist,” opened up a business in 2021 because “it was really really hard for me to get a rifle for home defense. Up here [upstate New York in Ontario County], if the stores don’t like the look of ya, they’ll just give you the runaround.”

I had a chance to chat with the Director General and Treasurer of Red Right Hand Rifle Syndicate, LLC, the DBA of parent company Stea Rosie Rifle Syndicate LLC, from Victor, New York. Their story is pretty interesting. The business and partners, according to them, were subject to a New York State Police bust, they were victimized further when responding officers allegedly fabricated evidence, and were subjected to signing documents under duress.

Keenan Fisher and Theresa Krenzer are the Director General and Treasurer of Red Right Hand Rifle Syndicate, LLC, respectively. Due to past instances of threatened violence, doxing, and having had, as Fisher said, “the FBI showed up at my house and said they had a duty to inform [me] my name was on a neo-Nazi hitlist,” pseudonyms were going to be used to respect their privacy. However after discussing this with the pair further, we decided that light is the best disinfectant, and we’re using their legal names. Fisher and Krenzer provided many evidentiary documents to corroborate their story, and everything seems to be authentic. Their case is sealed in the State of New York.

Why would I be covering self-described former sex workers that could find themselves in editorials based on philosophical differences that the stereotypical gun owner might have with them? It was Fisher and Krenzer’s attitudes when we spoke that impressed me most. I asked them, “Why did you reach out to me? There are plenty of ‘gun writers’ out there.” Fisher said, “Honestly, and I checked out a lot of the articles you wrote and you’re definitely a Second Amendment is for everybody kind of guy,” with Krenzer adding, “Yeah. You’re not exclusionary.” In the end, take it or leave it, the story they had to tell is one worth repeating.

Krenzer talked a bit more about the inception of their business and business model:

Like a big problem [is] for people [who] don’t have cars. So how are they supposed to go and buy a firearm? Towards the end, before we were shut down, we were planning on starting to offer rides [to people], because how is somebody supposed to go and buy a firearm and then bring it home? If they’re stuck using the bus, you can’t legally do that. So it really makes it hard for people to get things for self-defense because [they] can’t [take] it on public transportation.

Fisher capped off her remarks by saying, “Yeah, no matter who you are, you should be able to defend yourself in your home, to have the tools necessary.” They further explained that they offered up free training to members of what they referred to as “the community,” and when asked who “the community” is, they said, “anyone who is not a white supremacist.”

There’s two sides to every story, and admittedly, I have not gone out to interview the ATF or New York State Police for this piece. It’s through the opinion – and other documents – of the judge presiding over the grand jury indictment, that Fisher and Krenzer’s claims have teeth.

Krenzer and Fisher said that the ATF had started “messing” with them as soon as they opened up shop. A colleague of theirs said that by offering free training to members of the community is what fouled them up at first. Their friend said they should have charged people for training, which would go against their credo of getting access to Second Amendment related activities to those who can’t necessarily afford them.

Fisher was being accused of training a militia. This theme of “training a militia” is something that we’re now seeing rather widespread in the Union as a new attack on training. Keeping someone from giving away free training in firearms, if they wish to, is a First Amendment violation as well as a Second Amendment one.

On January 6, 2022 a letter from the ATF was sent to the New York State Police. The topic of the letter related to a series of ATF compliance inspections of the Red Right Hand Rifle Syndicate, LLC’s gun shop. In the letter an agent described his visit and reported to the State Police a number of items he alleged were against New York law for them to be in possession of. The ATF further cried that the sky was falling over the free training they were offering, being in fear that they were raising a militia. He also was worried about any association they had with the Socialist Rifle Association; the agent found SRA brochures in their place of business. The two page letter with 37 pages of exhibits is worthy of its own reporting.

According to the FFL issued to “Stea Rosie Rifle Syndicate LLC,” the parent company of Red Right Hand Rifle Syndicate, they were in possession of a valid “08-Importer of Firearms Other Than Destructive Devices” license. Many of the claims made in the letter to the State Police, and other allegations further after the raid, would be nullified by the fact they had this type of license.

I was told that on January 27, 2022, the ATF agent who conducted the on-site inspections had called them to go to their location for a “final inspection.” While in transit to their business, they say about eight to ten cop cars stopped them at a roadblock at the North Main/North Street intersection. The officers surrounded them and they conducted a felony stop. The police had their guns drawn, they were taken into custody, and transported to the State Police Barracks. Krenzer said:

They immediately pull us out of the car. I mean, we have our hands up, but they take us to a trooper barracks for five hours, not telling us anything, having us chained to a desk.

NYSP: This is in our investigations. We can’t tell you anything
Krenzer: Am I being detained? Am I arrested?
NYSP: You’re being detained. But I can’t tell you why.

Fisher added that “they didn’t have charges until the next day.”

According to Fisher and Krenzer, the NYSP fabricated evidence by taking unassembled firearm parts and putting them together. Regardless of possession of such firearms being legal for an 08 FFL, this assembly was allegedly done by an officer. Per the pictures provided, there’s a before and after, showing a firearm not assembled, then mysteriously put together and being held by an officer.

Fisher noted:

They took a lower with a pistol grip that had never been attached to an upper and slapped it on an upper that actually had a live round jammed in the chamber that was in for service that belongs to a client…where it belonged to one of the other FFLs. They were having me fix it and pay me for it.

After the raid of their place of business, home, and vehicles, lists of extensive amounts of property seized were generated. From those lists of items, 58 felony charges were made against both Fisher and Krenzer. The charges were related to criminal possession of so-called “Assault Rifles” and “Ammo Clips.”

Listening to the pair tell me their story, I told them the details were falling into what I would consider a stranger-than-fiction plot for a movie. They told me things got weirder after the arrests and asset seizures, with Krenzer saying, “Honestly it gets crazier. Like we have so much more.” Fisher continued where Krenzer left off:

When the trial started…we didn’t make it to trial, when the case started going poorly for them, they sent over two ATF agents and eight state police [officers] all armed and armored, who entered our home without a warrant and forced us to sign paperwork saying we wouldn’t sue them for damages. August 18 2022.

Krenzer interjected, “Yeah, this happened last August. We were sleeping and all of a sudden we get a knock on the door and the papers were not written by a judge, they weren’t official in any capacity.” Fisher said of the morning visit, “They [the papers] were from the desk of John DeVito, Special Agent in Charge of New York. And the threat was if we didn’t sign them, we’d be immediately arrested. And they would try to get us 10 years in prison.”

Krenzer said to me that they kept threatening them:

I was told over and over again, “if you do not sign these today, you’re going to jail.” And I said, “I’m going to call my lawyer.” So I walked back into my apartment, he pushes the door open…pushes it open, grabs me by the shoulder, and pulls me out of my doorway.

Ultimately they acquiesced in signing the documents under duress to avert any type of violence. They said during the encounter that one of the ATF agents present even said to the officer manhandling Krenzer, to take his hands off her, and that things were getting heated. To date, they have yet to receive the bodycam footage they requested via a FOIA request.

How did everything shake out for the pair? There was a grand jury indictment. And according to court documents, remarks made by the agent in charge were considered faulty. The judge presiding over the whole matter said in his opinion:

Upon motion of the defendant, dated November 14, 2022, for an Order, pursuant to CPL §210.20(1)(c), dismissing the indictment upon the ground that the grand jury proceeding was defective, within the meaning of section 210.35;and

Upon the People’s Affirmation in Opposition thereto, dated January 14, 2023; and
Upon oral argument heard by the Court on January 17, 2023;

       The Court now finds that the integrity of the grand jury was impaired by the admission of erroneous testimony concerning the license required by the defendant to possess the items charged in the indictment; therefore,
It is ORDERED, that defendant’s motion to dismiss the indictment upon the ground that the grand jury proceeding was defective, within the meaning of section 210.35, is hereby GRANTED, and the indictment is DISMISSED.

DATED: February 17, 2023
[Signed] Hon. Brian D. Dennis
Ontario County Court Judge

There’s still a lot of unfinished business for the pair. This was only a filet of their story. Severe civil rights violations may have occurred. The pair also said that there’s a good amount of property that was never returned to them from Ontario County, and denied they have possession of the missing property.

Do they have ground to stand on that some of what occurred was religious discrimination? Religious discrimination? The partners explained how:

Fisher: There’s also a fun, First Amendment religious claim to all of this. And that few years ago, we became Mandalorians. And now Jedi have an actual religion. If the government recognizes you can get it on your dog tags…Mandalorian is now, we follow the 12 tenants; wear armor, carry weapons, protect those who can’t defend themselves, be self-sufficient…Look out for your communities, orphaned and abused children…like we’re fairly religious.

Krenzer: We’re all about like, I practice your [Fisher’s] religions now. Because honestly, this is all about community. I’m all about servicing and helping communities. I’ve worked at shitty gas stations. And there’s been so many times where I’ve had to step in and I wish that I had a plate carrier or a Byrna, which is literally like a CO2 pistol which is non lethal.

Would the treatment they received be in violation to what Mandalorians believe in and how they decide to practice their religion? I can’t say for sure, I’m no expert on such theologies, but there could be an injury claim in there somewhere. They further explained how what happened to them created conflict with their beliefs more clearly:

The specific religious Tenets of the Way of the Mandalore that have been violated: 

Tenet I (Remain Armed), Tenet II (Remain Armored), Tenet V (Weapons and Armor are Holy Articles of the Faith), plus the malicious prosecution stopped us from exercising Tenet IV (Defend Those Who Cannot Defend Themselves), Tenet 8 (Be Self-Sufficient) and Tenet 9 (Keep Some Aside for the Foundlings/Orphaned and Abused Children) by stopping our normal business operations that provided those platforms through our work. 

Krenzer’s commitment to community is something that she continually pressed in our conversation. Fisher told me that there’s a misconception about their politics and that they don’t hold to any specific political identity. When talking about their bylaws, Krenzer told me:

It’s against our, it’s against our bylaws, to join a political party or endorse a politician. And you’re supposed to focus on your community and ignore people’s political differences. Because we’re all human. Every time we’ve gone to, we went to the Syracuse gun show, we participated there, we went to the Hamburg Gun Show, we were very active. We never had advertising, we were very open about what we were doing. And we will get some looks at the gun shows. But a lot of times people will come up and like…try to be like, “Oh, you’re Antifa?” And we be like, “Yeah.” But we also, you know, we believe in workers rights, and all these other things. And then those people start to be like, “Wait, you, you believe in gun rights? Do you think everybody should?” And it’s kind of funny, because then they start warming up to us. And asking us more questions along the day, especially the other shops…like we’ve made so many friends with the other gun shops.

Fisher summed up his experience with others in the gun community, “They’ll get nervous about the logo [which is a kitsch Russian Communist design] and then realize we’re just people.” Krenzer punctuated their experience on the optics, “Yeah, we’re just shock value. We’re there for the shock value. Attention – retention – whores.”

Is this the last that we’ll hear from Fisher and Krenzer? I don’t know. Are these “good people”? I’m not sure if that question was on the table, but just because I may not see eye to eye with them on every element that they believe in, that does not equate to good nor bad. Are there smear campaign articles out there about them? Yeah. Can I corroborate other peoples’ claims via their conjecture and opinion? No. However, the pair do believe that self-defense and gun ownership is for every person, regardless of socio-economic status or political leaning. Like most, they’re not saints and have their own histories – human histories.

It’s doubtful the pair will be found in headlines in the future engaged in some violent act. Is that biased of me to even conjure up such a scenario? Perhaps. Given their history, even acts of lawful self-defense would be scrutinized by many as being acts of far left progressive Antifa zealots. Not that we’ve ever seen the polarization of lawful self-defense to push a political agenda over the last decade.

These could be the badges we’re forced to wear when a society in love with labels judges us prior to juries of our peers. In their case, their peers did not have to judge them, as according to a judge, a sullied testimony – for whatever those motivations were – removed the opportunity for all the facts to come out in a full trial.

On one hand, it’s great they did not have to endure more alleged potential abuse by the system, as well as the financial burden that comes with that. On the other hand, their story is likely to garner attention only here, or through other sources they deem trustworthy with their information. Given their allegations against the ATF and NYSP, whatever may come next will certainly be newsworthy, and I’ll be standing by to report back if they’ll have me.