A group that says its mission is “to halt and push back the forces of darkness” is holding a tactical event in southwest Missouri this weekend to train Christians in “hand-to-hand combat” and “fighting from your vehicle.”
Called the Missouri Embattled Warriors Event, the gathering is reminiscent of the militia exercises and preparedness training that spread across the country in the 1990s. It is scheduled to run from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday on a wooded property along Highway Mm in Newton County between Neosho and Joplin.
“We’re a group of Christian men and women that go out and will stand against unrighteousness,” said Kevin VanStory, a real estate broker from Neosho and a leader of the Salt and Light Brigade MAKO edition, which includes Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Oklahoma.
“This will be an intensive study about self-defense. What happens if you were driving on I-70 last year when all those riots were taking place in Kansas City and St. Louis? It’s about time that Christians start going on the offense — at least stop being always on the defense.” But the head of an organization that has tracked extremist groups for decades said the event raises concerns.
“The group is trying to hide far-right paramilitary training behind a friendly facade,” said Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights. “Whatever the label, the group traffics in racist scaremongering to draw people into paramilitary activity.
Whether or not they call it a militia, everyone should be concerned about a far-right paramilitary group like this coming to Missouri.” VanStory said the “very loosely organized” group is not a militia and that the event is nothing to fear. READ MORE
