The mainstream media at most, if not all levels appear to back the idea that Joe Biden is President of the United States of America. With a Democrat back in the White House, at least in their minds, it’s time to step up the hysteria about militias.

This is pretty much how things work, after all. For all the fearmongering during the Trump administration about militias, they weren’t really viewed as a threat. Instead, they were called “cosplayers” or “LARPers” or what have you in an attempt to discredit them.

Now, though, they see an opportunity to create fear. They write articles with headlines like, “Militias challenge gun laws in Virginia: It’s about shooting tyrants in the face’” and such.

That quote in the headline? That’s there for a reason, and it’s not because they’re really trying to understand the membership’s beliefs about the Second Amendment. It’s because they want people terrified.

Here’s the quote with a bit more context, though.

The formation of the Campbell County Militia is part of a larger movement organized by gun rights activists pushing back against gun laws Virginia enacted in 2020. They claim the new regulations, which include a “red flag” law and universal background checks for gun purchases, infringe on their Second Amendment right to bear arms. Virginia lawmakers shelved more controversial proposals that would have banned semi-automatic guns and high capacity magazines. Still, gun rights activists are bracing for a possible future ban.

“We won’t comply. We won’t give up our guns,” said Feigel.

Virginia became a battleground for the gun policy debate after Democrats swept both houses of the state legislature in 2019 on a gun safety platform, consolidating Democratic control of the state government.

Gun policy has long been a divisive issue in the United States. Even as support grows for stricter gun laws, the country remains deeply divided along partisan lines. A 2019 Pew Research Center survey found 60% of Americans think gun laws should be more strict, up from 52% two years earlier. But the same survey also found 80% of Republicans think it’s more important to protect gun rights than to control gun ownership, while just 21% of Democrats agree.

In Virginia, gun rights supporters pushed back against the Democratic legislative majority. Over 90 counties and municipalities in the state passed Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions opposing the enforcement of certain gun laws. And there were calls to form local militias to give their movement some “teeth.”

“If we have the numbers, we can back up the statement — we will not be disarmed,” said Feigel. “[The Second Amendment] is not about hunting. It’s not about self-defense. It’s about shooting tyrants in the face.”

In other words, the comment isn’t a threat to anyone, but a simple statement of Feigel’s belief regarding the meaning of the Second Amendment.

But that’s not what it says in the headline, and that’s what’s most important.

See, journalists and their editors like to play tricks. They put a headline like that up in the headline because they know it’ll freak you out. They’re trying to get you to click the article for the ad revenue, but don’t want to resort to outright clickbait.

Further, they also know that people will read the headline, freak out, then share it so all their friends will freak out, often without reading it.

If these two things seem to be contradictory, they’re not. Not if your goal is to both create revenue and create fear. It’s the epitome of a win-win situation.

However, what the media needs to remember is that there are millions of Americans who, while not formally part of any militia, agree with what Feigel said. Further, we refuse to roll over and die because a group of urban self-appointed elites wet their panties at the mere thought of an armed citizen.

Regardless of who ends up in the White House when all of this is said and done, our gun rights aren’t up for negotiation.