Former Virginia police officer Thomas Robertson, seen above giving the camera a middle finger while posing in front of a statue of John Stark, after illegally entering the Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021, is facing a lot of federal charges. He reportedly went and posted: “CNN and the Left are just mad because we actually attacked the government who is the problem and not some random small business … The right IN ONE DAY took the f***** U.S. Capitol. Keep poking us,” on a social media site, as has been detailed in the charges against him. The former law enforcement officer, in response to the above image making its way around the internet, responded on Facebook by writing: “Lol to  anyone who’s possibly concerned about the picture of me going around… Sorry I hate freedom? …Not like I did anything illegal…y’all do what you feel you need to…” But you did do something illegal. 

Robertson and Fracker were are just two law enforcement officials out of at least 30 who have been tied to the events of Jan. 6, 2021. Robertson was arrested for his connection to the raid on the Capitol building in D.C. back in January. He was subsequently released pending his upcoming court date. His release was “conditional,” and one of those many conditions included that Robertson can possess no firearms while he awaits his days in court. Guess which former law enforcement officer who doesn’t understand the law seems to have once again not followed … the law? If you guessed Thomas Robertson, you get 34 guns! According to FBI agents investigating Robertson, he’s been buying and selling guns online. Now prosecutors are asking a judge to send Robertson back to jail as he seems to have broken the conditions of his release.

The arrest order, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia states: “On June 29, 2021, following a lawfully authorized search of the defendant’s residence, law enforcement discovered that the defendant violated his release conditions by possessing a loaded M4 rifle and a partially-assembled pipe bomb at his home, and by purchasing an arsenal of 34 firearms online and transporting them in interstate commerce while under felony indictment, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(n). Because the defendant has shown utter disregard for the Court’s orders prohibiting his possession of firearms and other weapons during the time he has been on pre-trial release, and because he has further flouted his release conditions through repeated violations of the federal firearms laws, the defendant presents a danger to the community that no release conditions will adequately mitigate.”

According to the The Washington Post, Judge G. Michael Harvey’s release conditions included Robertson needing to “relocate” any firearms or “destructive devices or dangerous weapons” within two days of his release. Robertson was given a second chance after “authorities found eight firearms at his Ferrum, Va. home” two days past the time he was supposed to have relocated them. They also found “large amounts of ammunition” in an outbuilding on the property where Robertson lived.

According to prosecutors, while investigating Robertson for the added felony charges of his indictment, the FBI began to find evidence that he was buying and selling firearms, and possibly ammunition, online and shipping them in “interstate commerce.” This act by itself was in violation of 18 U.S. Code § 922 for unlicensed importers, manufacturers, or dealers to “engage in the business of importing, manufacturing, or dealing in firearms, or in the course of such business to ship, transport, or receive any firearm in interstate or foreign commerce.” It’s super not good when you have been released from jail pending a trial by a judge who specifically told you not to even have firearms in your possession.

The FBI got a warrant to go through Robertson’s email correspondence, where they found clear evidence of firearm purchases being negotiated, subsequent searches on Gunbroker.com (an online gun auction site), and numerous orders for firearms made between April and May of this year. All of this evidence led to a search warrant being issued and acted on at Robertson’s home on June 29. “In connection with this search, the FBI not only found evidence that Robertson had amassed an arsenal of 34 firearms through a local FFL in Roanoke, but agents also found a loaded M4 rifle, ammunition, and a partially assembled pipe bomb in Robertson’s home.”

According to the court documents, the FBI found a black box with blue tape on it that had “boobytrap” written on it. Inside of this black box was the making of a pipe bomb, sans explosive powder. Explosive “powder was found nearby in the out-building’s reloading station.” According to the prosecutors, Robertson was served the search warrant at a different location from his home and, though he was reminded he need make no statement as he had representation for the Capitol riots case: “After serving the warrant, the agents told Robertson he was free to leave. Robertson responded that he wanted to make a statement of his own accord. The agents interrupted him, noting that he was represented by counsel in the Capitol riots case. Robertson then stated that if this search warrant related to him buying guns, he had bought them online and hadn’t even picked them up yet.” 

The defense rests? According to prosecutors, the guns are located at a FFL in Roanoke (a location with a Federal Firearms License allowed to engage in the interstate or intrastate sale of firearms). The owner of the FFL told authorities that while Robertson had explained to him that he could not yet pick up the firearms because of his current bond conditions he had come by to handle the guns in person, “as recently as one week ago.”

Here’s the place where the Second Amendment meets madness. There will be people, mostly MAGA people, who will say this is no big deal, but just imagine if a person of color was charged with an illegal trespass at a Walmart, and after being released on bond, purchased 34 guns and was found with a loaded rifle and pipe bomb in his home. Would those Second Amendment patriots kvetch?

Is this all blown out of proportion? According to prosecutors, on June 10, 2021, Robertson posted screen shots of his federal charges in the Capitol riots case, on a forum on Gunbroker.com. Someone in the forum asked if he was proud, in response to which he wrote: “I sure as fuck am.” And while that’s a whatever, insecure masculine response to a thing, he reportedly followed that up by posting this:

A smaller note, the use of the Rubicon imagery is something frequently used by white supremacist-inspired rhetoric. The belief in a mythic cultural bloodline connection to the Roman empire is an old trope. As with all things white supremacist, the use of Ancient Roman and Greek imagery and history is usually pathetically misunderstood by those using it. You can read about Robertson and others and white nationalism’s deep connections to the fascism we saw on display on Jan. 6 in my colleague David Neiwert’s coverage.

Prosecutors are asking that Robertson remain in custody pending his trial.