"Everyone should be carrying around guns at all times, especially in our situation," Joey Gibson said in a video, according to KOIN. "I cannot think of one rally when we didn't have guns with us . . . Everywhere we go, we have guns."
“We’ll have people locally showing up from Vancouver, Portland, Hillsboro, California. We have people flying in from Texas and the East Coast,” he told Oregon Public Broadcasting.
A crowd-funding effort led by Salt Lake City-based far-right darling Haley Adams has raised more than $2,800 to bring Patriot Prayer supporters to Portland.
Gibson's demonstrations have also attracted white nationalists and others who promote racist or bigoted views, including Jeremy Christian, the man accused of murdering two men aboard a MAX train, Portland's public transportation train, after he launched into an anti-Muslim rant last year.
Even as the Patriot Prayer leader moved to denounce racists, some have continued to participate in his events. Members of white supremacist groups such Identity Evropa and Stormers PDX have attend rallies held by Gibson in Portland in the last nine months. Gibson's Patriot Prayer is from Vancouver, Wash across the river from Portland.
Patriot Prayer attracts a growing number of alt-right figures and members of the Proud Boys fraternity. Proud Boys was founded by conservative writer and political commentator , Gavin McInnes, the group bills itself as a street-fighting "pro-Western fraternal organization." Members have also made regular appearances alongside Gibson at his rallies in the Portland area.
"Major wars, major events can pivot on the slightest thing," McInnes said. "This entire war has just changed and it's all because of this unbelievable punch. The greatest punch in the history of Trump's presidency."
Two regular rally attendees, Donovon Flippo and Tusitala "Tiny" Toese, members of Proud Boys, have been involved in at least two reported assaults on people they allegedly attacked on the street.
Alex Jones, the radio host who runs the conspiracy website Infowars and who has promoted the demonstration, told Gibson he "might even come" to the Aug. 4 event.
"The street violence I saw on June 30 was the worst I have seen at any event since Charlottesville," said Jason Wilson, a journalist with The Guardian.
They all come to Portland to riot. The mayor has been roundly criticized for allowing groups with such intent and demonstrated violence to get another permit, making Portland a lightning rod for their hate and "Unite the Right". Charlottesville saw the extremists made up of alt-right, neo-Nazis, KKK, white supremists, various militias, etc.
The Multnomah County GOP said the Republican Party "has serious concerns, in light of the refusal of the Portland Police Bureau to protect the rights of Republican Senate Candidate Joseph Gibson and his Patriot Prayer group during a June 30, 2018 demonstration." Gibson is running for Senate in Washington.
