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Two members of the New York City Proud Boys, who were stalked and confronted by members of Antifa in October last year, have been sentenced to four years in prison.

Maxwell Hare and John Kinsman were convicted of attempted gang assault, attempted assault and riot, by a jury in the New York State Supreme Court in August.

The convictions were quite stunning in that there were no victims who came forward. The Antifa assailants were not identified and refused to come forward to cooperate with police investigations.

The lengthy prison sentence is due to the attempted gang assault guilty verdict. This charge was originally made due to the New York Police Department and District Attorney designating the Proud Boys as a gang.

The Antifa Confrontation

The confrontation with Antifa occurred after the New York Proud Boys had attended a speech by their founder Gavin McInnes at the New York Metropolitan Republican Club on the night of Friday 12th October 2018.

Despite the Proud Boys being under police escort, six Antifa thugs still jumped them. Five of the Proud Boys immediately responded in self-defence. The whole confrontation lasted around five seconds, once the other Proud Boys saw the threat had passed.

But due to countless fake news stories about the Proud Boys and the politically ordered police investigation by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo who was up for re-election, five of the Proud Boys involved in the confrontation were charged.

At the end of October 2018, the Proud Boys were purged from Facebook in a clear attempt to limit their ability to defend their reputation, promote their message and recruit new members.

In November 2018, Gavin McInnes quit the Proud Boys so that it would be more difficult to be legally argued that the Proud Boys were an organised gang with a leader.

The City of New York was only able to make the charges stick and convict two of the five Proud Boys originally arrested. Judge Mark Dwyer chose to impose the lengthy jail sentence of four years to Hare and Kinsman because “I know enough about history to know what happened in Europe in the ’30s” and wanted to deter “extremists” from rallying in New York.

By sending John Kinsman to prison for four years, Judge Dwyer has now left his wife to raise their four young children without an income and without a father figure in the house. How is that meant to help lead to a cohesive community?

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John Kinsman with his wife and children

Gavin McInnes and Proud Boys Bounce Back

Gavin McInnes, after being completely deplatformed from social media, having his internet program cancelled by BlazeTV and being banned from touring Australia, has bounced back in 2019. He has revived his Get Off My Lawn program on his new self -hosted media platform, FreeSpeech.TV.

He published a video statement in a Fred Perry shirt (the uniform of the Proud Boys) in support of the two Proud Boys who are now political prisoners. Gavin also highlighted the lack of charges and prosecutions against Antifa instigators of political violence and terrorism throughout the United States.

Gavin McInness’ Statement

Earlier this year, Gavin McInnes launched a lawsuit against the Southern Poverty Law Centre for classifying the Proud Boys as an extremist group to damage their reputation. The extremist designation was still made despite the Proud Boys rejecting the alt-right, white nationalism and racism.

The Proud Boys themselves have also bounced back in 2019. Their new Chairman Enrique Tarrio has made the Proud Boys a visible group out on the streets. Their highest-profile presence has been their rallies for free speech and against domestic terrorism in Portland, Oregon which is the sanctuary city for Antifa activists.

The Proud Boys still have a very active online presence. They still have their global website, their online magazine, and Telegram channels on the free-speech encrypted messaging service. This allows them to continue to get their message out and attract new prospects.

The Proud Boys also have an online store which has been crowdfunding the legal expenses for the New York Proud Boys. They require US$100,000 to launch an appeal against Hare and Kinsman’s imprisonment. The Proud Boys are certainly not going to let these politically charged prison sentences stand.

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