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A Resurgence of Armed Community Patrols by Stop ICE Alerts Network MAY 2 2026 updated 13:19:16 PDT SAT MAY 2, 2026 A majority-Black town started an armed protection group after neo-Nazi rally.
“I feel like it’s more secure now,” one woman said. “I know my son can walk home and be OK.” The Lincoln Heights Safety and Watch program launched started shortly after Feb. 7, when a neo-Nazi group waving swastika flags and shouting racial slurs demonstrated on a highway overpass just on the edge of the majority-Black community about 30 minutes north of Cincinnati. Officers from Evendale, which borders Lincoln Heights, and the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office both responded that day. No arrests were made, and Evendale police officers did not take down any names or identifying information from members of the neo-Nazi group, according to the mayor’s office. But for Daronce Daniels, the safety and watch group’s spokesperson, the police response was just as alarming as the neo-Nazi appearance, making residents feel they wouldn’t be protected if another hate group were to visit their town. “They’ve been very clear that if it happens again, they’ll allow it to happen again, that their hands are tied,” Daniels said. Lincoln Heights residents said the police response to the incident was insufficient, prompting Daniels and other members of the Heights Movement, an existing community empowerment organization, to devise the safety and watch program, which includes armed volunteers wearing tactical gear and face coverings. Some of the same volunteers who helped mentor youth through the Heights Movement are now going on armed patrols. Ohio state law allows anyone legally allowed to own a gun to open carry without a permit. Black Lions of Philadelphia & the New Afrikan Black Panther Party in Harrisburg demanding ICE out of the state.
Black Lions of Philly, PA & the New Afrikan Black Panther Party drove to the capital of Pennsylvania (Harrisburg) to demand ICE out of the state. Members of the Black Lion Party patrol the streets of Philadelphia.
The Black Lions state their mission is to protect their neighbors from gun violence, drug dealers, sex traffickers, police, and most recently, ICE agents. Policing the police was a hallmark of the original Panthers, which disbanded in 1982. That legacy continues with Chairman Birdsong, who said he is not afraid for his safety when confronting armed law enforcement officers. Armed members of the Revolutionary Black Panthers march at Mar-a-Lago.Members of the Revolutionary Black Panthers marched alongside anti-Trump protesters during a "3 Miles to Mar-a-Lago" demonstration, demanding impeachment, March 7, 2026. The group provided security for the demonstration, exercising their legal right to open carry which is legally permitted in Florida following a First District Court of Appeal ruling that declared the previous ban unconstitutional.
While state laws on open carry vary from fully permissive (no permit required) to completely prohibited, most states allow open carry in some form, though states such as California, Illinois, New York, and DC largely prohibit it, while others require licenses or have local restrictions. In some communities, residents are forming armed patrol groups to protect themselves, especially in response to perceived threats from hate groups and reckless tactics of ICE. This trend reflects a desire for safety and self-defense in areas where residents feel inadequately protected by law enforcement. Community defense patrolling has been a popular tactic for marginalized groups under siege in the past. In the 1960s the Black Panther Party—originally named the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense — famously organized armed patrols in cities from Oakland, California and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to defend Black people against police brutality. Members of Queer Nation later created the Pink Panther Patrol of New York City, also inspired by the Black Panthers, to deter anti-gay violence in the city’s East and West Village neighborhoods in the 1990s. This patrol model spread to San Francisco as well. In response to the Black Panther Partys armed patrols of Oakland neighborhoods, the 1967 Mulford Act was passed and signed by Gov. Ronald Reagan which aimed to disarm the Panthers significantly restricting gun rights under Californias new strict gun control laws which repealed the open carry of loaded firearms and was supported by the NRA.
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