Holy Cow!

The scene Saturday at Ace Speedway in Alamance County.
Photo Robert Willett for the News and Observer

Adam Smith, a retired Marine and the husband of ReOpenNC organizer Ashley Smith, posted a string of Facebook Live videos on Facebook last Friday that culminated with a chilling threat:

“But are we willing to kill people? Are we willing to lay down our lives? We have to say, ‘Yes.’ We have to say, ‘Yes.’ Is that violence? Is that terrorism? No, it’s not terrorism. I’m not trying to strike fear in people by saying, ‘I’m going to kill you.’ I’m gonna say, ‘If you bring guns, I’m gonna bring guns. If you’re armed with this, we’re going to be armed with this.’ ”

In this context, who is this "you," and have they brought guns?

Mr. Smith is all about resisting "the New World Order" and, closer to home, the emergency COVID-19 provisions imposed in North Carolina by executive order. He calls himself a "constitutionalist," much like some of the folks criticizing Boone's attempt to impose quarantine restrictions on out-of-county visitors. (Raw Story has a complete rundown on Adam Smith's video proclamations along with his history of participating in the gun-toting "bugaloo" displays in Raleigh. According to Raw Story, Smith took down his video threat after being contacted by a reporter.)

Boone Town Council member Nancy LaPlaca, the lone vote against the restrictions imposed last Thursday night, said on Facebook that Judge Gregory Horne's temporary restraining order against Boone means that "the Town likely passed a measure that is NOT constitutional." Well, hardly. It only proves that Judge Horne thinks there's an argument to be made on the constitutionality of the restrictions, and he wants to hear it. In fact, Horne's order explicitly discounts any initial belief on his part that the Constitution has been violated: "The Court did not consider the likelihood of the Plaintiffs to prevail on the merits of the lawsuit in deciding this matter." Horne will hear the arguments a week from today, which is running out the clock on the time-frame for Boone's proposed quarantine restriction anyway, which was due to expire on June 16.

Threats of violence and temporary injunctions -- mainly pursued by citizens who either don't believe there's a credible threat at all or who think the governor and town councils like Boone's have over-reacted. Seconded by citizens who seem to believe that wearing a mask signals a political affiliation and that being unable to sit at Chik-Fil-A and order a Deluxe is an unacceptable infringement of their constitutional rights.