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Anti-gunners often ask why people like me “need” an AR-15. They want to know precisely why I feel like I need a “weapon of war.” After all, they argue, it’s not like anyone is threatening me or my life, now are they?

Well, maybe not me personally, but it seems at least one Democrat in Maryland is doing a bit of threatening.

A Democratic Party leader in Maryland is facing criticism for last month posting on Facebook a call to “dox” gun rights activists.

Maryland Democratic Party Secretary Robbie Leonard took to social media to post photos from a Maryland House Judiciary Committee meeting in late February, where gun rights activists wore “We Will Not Comply” shirts during the hearing on additional gun control measures, along with a message calling the advocates “homegrown terrorists” and calling on his followers to “dox” them.

“I hope the FBI runs the name of every witness who is wearing a t-shirt that says ‘We Will Not Comply,’ Leonard said in one Facebook message. “They’re a bunch of terrorists in the making.”

Why do I think that Leonard is the kind of guy who would have said the same thing about black activists refusing to comply with segregation laws in the South?

However, he didn’t stop there.

In another message, Leonard posted a photo of a protestor along with the comment: “Time to dox some homegrown terrorists.”

Doxing is a practice of researching and broadcasting over the Internet the personal and private information of an individual or organization, normally with malicious intent.

That malicious intent is usually so they can be threatened and harassed.

When people ask why folks like me own guns, this is why. It’s because there are wannabe tin-pot dictators who think it’s OK to open their opposition up to harassment, threats, and violence.

I need an AR-15 because when Leonard sends a horde of bloodthirsty thugs to my house–whether he does so actively, by directing them himself, or passively by setting the stage for them to find my address–I doubt I’ll have the opportunity to call for a time out to reload.

If there is a good side to the story, it’s that Leonard isn’t getting support on this from his party.

The executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party, Ben Smith, basically slapped Leonard down. Oh, he took shots at those who said they won’t comply, but he had plenty to say about Leonard stepping out of line.

What remains to be seen is if that’s where it ends. I suspect it will. The problem isn’t that Leonard wants to dox opponents, in my opinion, but that he said it where people could see behind the curtain. Many anti-gunners have never really liked the fact that we’re permitted to exist, but they try to hide it. Leonard didn’t, and now we know what at least some of them are thinking.

Probably not the best move he could have made, now was it?