Is the Left becoming emboldened to commit acts of violence against Trump supporters and those on the right? It’s certainly easy to come to that conclusion when you see stories like this recent case where a man in Florida drove into a tent full of Trump supporters in Jacksonville.

A 27-year-old Jacksonville man has been accused of assaulting two senior citizen supporters of President Donald Trump as they tried to register voters in a Jacksonville shopping plaza parking lot. Gregory Timm’s weapon of the alleged assault: a van, driven through a tent. Timm’s Saturday night arrest was announced Sunday by the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. He faces two counts of aggravated assault on a victim over the age of 65, one count of criminal mischief and one count of driving while his license is suspended. Sunday, his bond was set at $507,512.

Timm’s attack made national headlines, but only for about five minutes before the story disappeared from our national conscience. It was relegated to the status of a “local news story,” just like other attacks have been.

Rob O’Donnell, a former NYPD officer and one of the guys behind the non-profit Brothers Before Others sat down with me at CPAC 2020 to discuss these cases, as well as the broader policies in place in deep-blue cities that he says are encouraging and fostering an atmosphere of acceptance when it comes to violent acts, either by individuals or groups.

“The police are left, you know, the rank-and-file that want to do their job are left to basically be hands off because the second they do put their hands on someone the media will be all over that. It’s allowed them to attack journalists, it’s allowed Antifa to attack people they disagree with. Here are individuals who are going out to fight. It’s the only reason they’re there. They’re wearing helmets, they’re bringing weapons, they’re there to fight. It’s when the media steps up and actually starts addressing that, it’s when the public starts supporting the rank-and-file police so they can take that extra step [that things will change]. Right now you have the public, especially in places like Portland, demonizing the police. Why wouldn’t the police just stand down, because that’s what they want.”

While politicians in Democrat-controlled cities are putting policies like this in place, they’re also pushing for new laws that would make it harder if not impossible for many Americans to protect themselves with a firearm. O’Donnell, who spent years patrolling some of the worst neighborhoods in New York City, says he saw firsthand how the city’s gun laws deprived many residents of their constitutional rights. In fact, O’Donnell says it wasn’t until he retired from the force and moved to rural Pennsylvania that he had a reality check of his own; the right to keep and bear arms is for everyone, not just the politically powerful, the wealthy, and police officers.

“This is your God-given right, this is your constitutional right, and they have just as much a right to carry that firearm and protect themselves and their family as I always had. And I saw that firsthand and it really hit me when I moved to rural Pennsylvania because I took that for granted, because I was one of the privileged. I was a law enforcement officer who always had that gun. I was always able to protect myself and my family.”

Kudos to O’Donnell for recognizing those facts, which in turn spurred on his activism in support of the Second Amendment. Be sure to check out the entire interview above, and stay tuned for more coverage from CPAC 2020 here on Bearing Arms.