NC Protest Group Founder's Husband Willing to 'Kill People'

The husband of the co-founder of a North Carolina group protesting coronavirus restrictions says in a video he would be "willing to kill people" to fight the state's lockdown measures. 

"Are we willing to kill people? Are we willing to lay our lives down? We have to say yes," Adam Smith, the husband of ReOpenNC founder Ashley Smith of Morganton, North Carolina says in a 17-minute video, adding he will bring guns if armed law enforcement authorities try to stop protesters, reports the U.K.'s Daily Mail.

"'If you bring force, we're gonna bring force," Smith, who has reportedly served in the U.S. Marine Corps, added. "If you're armed with this, we're gonna be armed with this."

The group was formed to protest Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper's lockdown orders, and according to its Facebook page, it claims its grassroots movement has grown to include "68,000 North Carolina Patriots."

The group describes itself as "mostly business owners and employees" who are losing their income and denied the right to work.

Smith deleted the Facebook video from his own page shortly after posting it, but his wife put it on the ReOpenNC Facebook group Sunday, writing, "maybe you agree with him and maybe you don't, but we have nothing to hide . . . he is simply stating, to protect his family and our freedom, he is willing to take up arms like our forefathers did."

The group protests weekly in downtown Raleigh outside the Legislative Building and the governor's mansion and held five protests in North Carolina's cities over Memorial Day weekend. 

Ashley Smith was arrested by police at one protest for not obeying lockdown orders, and her husband, filming the incident can be heard on the video saying "Look at these thugs, people, arresting her for walking on the sidewalk."

Adam Smith was at a demonstration in Raleigh on May 16 in support of Blue Igloo, which protests for the right to open carry weapons. 

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