Report: Ohio National Guard trains to fight 'anti-government' Second Amendment supporters

On January 18, 2013, WSAZ (NBC Huntingon/Charleston, WV) reported that Scioto Co., OH held a mock disaster drill held in conjunction with Scioto County first responders and the Ohio Army National Guard 52nd Civil Support Unit.

The mock "enemy?" As BuckeyeFirearms.org reported at the time, WSAZ described them as "two school employees who were disgruntled over the government's interpretation of the Second Amendment."

In its coverage at the time, WSAZ reported that "the make-believe scenario is timely." And indeed it IS important to keep in mind the timing of this exercise, which occurred in the immediate wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary massacre, and in the midst of a large, coordinated national effort on the part of the White House and the U.S. Senate, as well as anti-gun rights legislators here in Ohio and all their media sycophants, to blame law-abiding gun owners for yet another mass murderer in a "gun-free" school victim zone.

One year later, MediaTrackers.org reporter Jesse Hathaway has finally received and reported on the details of the training via a Freedom of Information Act request, and his report is drawing international attention.

From the article:

Documents from an Ohio National Guard (ONG) training drill conducted last January reveal the details of a mock disaster where Second Amendment supporters with "anti-government" opinions were portrayed as domestic terrorists.

The ONG 52nd Civil Support Team training scenario involved a plot from local school district employees to use biological weapons in order to advance their beliefs about "protecting Gun Rights and Second Amendment rights."

Portsmouth Chief of Police Bill Raisin told NBC 3 WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia that the drill accurately represented "the reality of the world we live in," adding that such training "helps us all be prepared."

Internal ONG documents provided to Media Trackers after repeated delays provide further context to what WSAZ-TV reported last winter.

In the disaster-preparedness scenario, two Portsmouth Junior High School employees poisoned school lunches with mustard gas, acting on orders from white-nationalist leader William Pierce.

The ONG team discovered biological weapons being produced in the school, requiring activation of containment and decontamination procedures.

Participants in the disaster drill located documents expressing the school employees' "anti-government" sentiments, as well as a note identifying Pierce as the fictional right-wing terrorists' leader.

Additional information about the motive of the faux terrorists is being reported in a follow-up article from RT.com:

According to that report, the first responders who handled the mock emergency took special note of what appeared in the classroom of a school that was searched during the exercise.

"On the chalkboard as well as the tables there were several statements about protecting Gun Rights and Second Amendment rights," the summary read.

...Although it's not referenced specifically in the incident summary report, the 38 pages of documents obtained by MediaTrackers also includes a 2011 article pertaining to gun control that's on file alongside other evidence obtained from the school, including the name and phone number purportedly belonging to William Pierce, a now-deceased notorious neo-Nazi.

The 2011 article contained among the released documents is a CNN piece entitled "Why the NRA won't talk gun control with Obama."

Click here to download the documents obtained and released by MediaTrackers.org.

The MediaTrackers article notes that when ONG's 52nd Civil Support Unit participated in a similar drill involving left-wing terrorists with Athens County first responders late last year, public officials apologized the next day in response to complaints from local environmentalist groups.

The mea culpa, released in December 2013 by Athens County officials, said "the scenario caused distress to people who have spent countless hours striving to protect the environment and our citizens."

Thus far, no apology has been issued in this case involving Second Amendment supporters.

Scioto County Emergency Management Agency director Kim Carver refused to comment, telling Media Trackers she was "not going to get into an Ohio Army National Guard issue that you have with them."

Ohio National Guard Communications Director James Sims II suggested Media Trackers was "inferring" from the ONG document's contents as opposed to "what's actually in the report."

After excerpts of the report were read to him, Sims said it was "not relevant" to understand why conservatives may feel unduly targeted by ONG's training scenario.

"Okay, I'm gonna stop ya there. I'm going to quit this conversation," Sims concluded. "You have a good day."

Buckeye Firearms Association spokesman Chad Baus told Media Trackers that "it is a scary day indeed when law enforcement are being trained that Second Amendment advocates are the enemy."

"The revelation of this information is appalling to me, and to all citizens of Ohio who are true conservatives and patriots, who don't have guns for any other reason than that the Second Amendment gives them that right," Portage County TEA Party Executive Director Tom Zawistowski said in a separate Media Trackers interview.

Zawistowski has sent a letter to Ohio Congressman Jim Jordan demanding an immediate investigation into what he calls "an even more onerous type of targeting" by the federal government.

Since the article was published, it has received international attention thanks to a link from DrudgeReport.com that as of 7:00 a.m. February 12 is entering its third day of being highlighted on that site.

Last evening (February 11, 2014), a statement was posted at the official website of the Ohio National Guard:

"In January 2013, Ohio National Guard 52nd Civil Support Team members participated in a one-day training exercise in Portsmouth that was created and run by the West Virginia National Guard. The exercise — one of more than 20 the Team did last year — was designed to test team members' ability to respond to an unknown chemical, biological, radiological or high-yield explosive incident. To maximize the realism of the exercise, the Ohio National Guard wasn't involved in the creation or execution of the exercise's fictitious scenario and was deliberately not informed of its details in advance. It's not accurate to suggest that certain details of the exercise somehow reflect views or opinions of officials of the Ohio National Guard."

In the Athens County incident last year, it was similarly noted that the scenario was not created by the ONG. In speaking of that scenario, which involved a left-wing anti-fracking extremist group, Athens Co. Commissioner President Lenny Eliason observed that "you want to have it as realistic as possible, but you don't want to single out an issue as emotional as that."

Indeed.

Chad D. Baus is the Buckeye Firearms Association Secretary, and BFA PAC Vice Chairman.

Media Coverage:

FoxNews.com - Ohio National Guard drill's villain was school janitor who supports Second Amendment

Critics say it is telling that a government group's chosen bogeyman would be Second Amendment supporters.

"They were characterizing gun owners and Second Amendment supporters as white extremists," Chad Baus, of the Buckeye Firearms Association, told FoxNews.com. "It was a month after Sandy Hook. There was a large debate where gun owners were being blamed. I think the timing of it was extremely important here."

OpposingViews.com - Ohio National Guard's Anti-Terrorist Drill Targets Second Amendment Supporters

However, Buckeye Firearms Association spokesman Chad Baus told MediaTrackers.org, "It is a scary day indeed when law enforcement are being trained that Second Amendment advocates are the enemy."

RT.com (Russia Today) - Ohio National Guard portrayed gun rights supporters as domestic terrorists during drill

"[I]t is a scary day indeed when law enforcement are being trained that Second Amendment advocates are the enemy," added Buckeye Firearms Association spokesman Chad Baus.

VoiceofRussia.com - Ohio law enforcers consider right-wingers as potential terrorist threat

Chad Baus, Buckeye Firearms Association spokesman says that it's disturbing to find out that law enforcers are trained as if Second Amendment supporters are the enemy.

WorldNetDaily.com - National Guard trains to fight 'anti-government' Americans

However, Buckeye Firearms Association spokesman Chad Baus told MediaTrackers, "It is a scary day indeed when law enforcement are being trained that Second Amendment advocates are the enemy."