On November 21 a group of armed protesters surrounded a Irving, Florida, mosque to oppose the pending influx of Syrian refugees and the “Islamization of America.”

Some of the protesters had AR-15 rifles slung across their shoulders while others carried bolt action rifles popular for their long range accuracy. They explained that they were not carrying the weapons for offensive purposes, but to defend themselves in the event that things went badly during the protest.

According to Fox 4, protest spokesman David Wright said, “We are here protesting Syrian refugees coming to America [and] protesting the Islamization of America.” He is convinced that the opposition he and fellow protesters show is “popular” but people “are scared; they are scared to stand up and say anything about it. They are scared to come out to a place like [Irving] and stand in front of a mosque and protest Islam.”

Wright pointed to recent terror attacks in which ISIS has claimed responsibility and to the alleged use of Syrian passports to move an attacker into position for the recent slaughter of 130 people in Paris. In light of these things, Wright opposes taking Syrian refugees. He says bringing them to the US would provide ISIS the chance to put attackers “into the refugee flow.” He said, “I don’t even want one of them to come here.”

The Daily Mail reported that the Irving protests “[came] just over a week after the Islamic State terrorist attacks on Paris, which sparked a surge in Islamophobia in the United States.”

Follow AWR Hawkins on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.