We Protect Ourselves: Heroic Patrons Stopped Club Q Shooting

For more than two decades, Club Q has served as a safe gathering place for the LGBT community in Colorado Springs, but yesterday, November 19th, the nightclub was the site of yet another act of terrorism against the queer community. The assailant has been identified as Anderson Lee Aldrich, a 22 year old man who brought a rifle, and possibly other guns, into the nightclub and began shooting, leaving 5 people dead and 25 injured. So far, only two victims have been identified: Daniel Aston and Derrick Rump:

Our heart goes out to the victims, the families of those effected, and to the entire Colorado community.

It was two patrons of the club, so far unnamed, who successfully subdued the assailant, preventing further deaths until the police finally arrived to take him away. We owe a debt of gratitude to the heroism of these patrons who risked their own lives to save that of others, something the police have often failed to in the midst of shootings (for example: Uvalde, the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, the Pulse nightclub shooting, and many others).

Also consistent with previous acts of domestic terrorism, it appears that the assailant was previously known to El Paso County law enforcement. A press release from a year ago reads:

On Friday, June 18, 2021, at approximately 1:56 PM, deputies with the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of a bomb threat in the 9800 block of Rubicon Drive. 

The reporting party said her son was threatening to cause harm to her with a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition.

…

The suspect, Anderson Lee Aldrich, DOB: 05/20/2000 … [has been] booked into the El Paso County Jail on the following charges:
2 counts of Felony Menacing, and 
3 counts of First-Degree Kidnapping.

Sheriff’s Office Responds to Bomb Threat in Lorson Ranch Neighborhood, June 18, 2021

The spokesman for the 4th Judicial District Attorney’s Office has refused to confirm that this Aldrich was the same man arrested as in June 2021, and has not determined whether the assault was a hate crime. Consequently, various elements of the mainstream press have made ludicrous statements such as: “A man with the same name and matching age was arrested in June 2021 for threatening his mother with ‘a homemade bomb, multiple weapons, and ammunition.'” It’s obvious to all that the emperor has no clothes: When the police and media collaborate in dragging their feet in naming this incident a hate crime, when they try to avoid admitting that they had been aware of this dangerous individual previously, they must naturally reveal themselves as enemies of the people.

Indeed, The Gazette reported after the bomb threat incident that: “No formal charges were pursued in this case, which has since been sealed, according to the DA’s office.” No official explanation has ever been offered for why charges were dropped or why the case was sealed. Perhaps worthy of consideration is this report from Heavy regarding Aldrich’s family connections:

Heavy has confirmed that Aldrich is the grandson of outgoing Republican State Assemblymember Randy Voepel, the former mayor of Santee, California. Voepel represents the 71st district in the San Diego area. There were calls to expel Voepel from the state Assembly after he made comments comparing the January 6 attacks to the Revolutionary War. 

Anderson Lee Aldrich: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know, Updated Nov 20, 2022 at 10:04pm

It is certainly no coincidence that a man with violent tendencies and fascist-sympathetic family would attack an LGBT nightclub that had been planning on hosting an “all ages musical drag brunch” in celebration of Transgender Day of Remembrance the following day.

Fascist attacks on the trans community in particular have been emboldened in recent months and years by the right-wing media apparatus, which routinely ‘badjackets’ trans people as ‘groomers.’ Attacks on drag-related events have been particularly common. Therefore we believe this attack is only one in a pattern of escalating fascist violence against our community. The very same day as this attack in Colorado, fascists in Texas attempted to attack a “Transgender Storytime” event, but were repelled by members of the Elm Fork John Brown Gun Club:

Fascist Control, Not Gun Control

Predictably, the mainstream media has been quick to use our pain and tragedy to push their own agenda of increased police budgets and the disarmament of the population. Vice President Harris commented that: “The epidemic of gun violence in America has struck again in Colorado Springs.”

We must be very clear on this matter: what we have is not an epidemic of guns, but an epidemic of fascism!

The history of the queer liberation movement has made this very clear: our struggle is not just against the chauvinism of the masses, but against the violence of the state that purports to protect us. In other words, the very same state that puts trans women in men’s prisons, that steals healthy and happy trans children from their supporting parents, that criminalizes our healthcare, that in previous years beat and arrested us on charges of “female impersonation.” In recent history the queer struggle against police brutality has often been pushed under the rug, so we must emphasize that the police will not and can not protect us: only the armed and organized community can protect itself! The institution of the capitalist police only exists to protect private property, if there is to be a force that truly protects and serves the people then we must create it ourselves independently from the capitalist state.

Whether out of innocent incompetence or malicious conspiracy, the state can clearly not be trusted to prevent further shootings. They have been aware of most major shooters in the last decade, and yet none were stopped. None were stopped by red flag laws, none were disarmed. We point this out not to suggest that the capitalist state should be more vigilant, but that, in our most generous interpretation of this trend, it is demonstrably too incompetent to do so (and yet it has historically been quite effective at disarming popular people’s movements). Should disarmament be allowed, it is we the people, vulnerable to stochastic terrorism, who will be disarmed, while police militarization continues, while criminal elements get their weapons by other means. What we demand is fascist control, not gun control!

How To Proceed From Here

Our hearts are heavy with grief over the epidemic of fascist violence in America and the innocent lives it continues to claim, but we will not be demoralized or intimidated! The Lavender Guard was founded on the prediction that these kinds of attacks would continue and escalate unless something is done about them. It’s certainly no solace to be proven correct. Where we go from here will define whether or not we allow ourselves to be annihilated by the forces of reaction or whether or not we will successfully stand up against fascism. We can not, must not, and will not resolve ourselves to be dependent on either individual acts of isolated heroism nor on the capitalist state that routinely threatens, oppresses, and brutalizes us. The mission of the Lavender Guard is to enable communities to directly defend themselves through armament, training, and organization. This militant direct action, we believe, is the only reliable strategy for countering and preventing further tragedies.

In light of all this, the Los Angeles branch of the Lavender Guard will be accelerating its efforts to prepare a safe space for any and all queer people to learn the basics of firearm safety and to get their firearm safety certificates (a necessity for purchasing a firearm in California). We encourage others across the nation to follow suit, and those who believe in our mission may reach out to start branches where they are. We furthermore extend our gratitude and support for other groups doing similarly.