Gun control advocate Jonathan Andrew Tijerina was taken into custody on Monday for allegedly vandalizing New York City’s 9/11 Memorial.
The 31-year-old activist reportedly used red spray paint to inscribe the web address of his anti-gun website on the Reflecting Pool of the memorial.
Tijerina “claimed responsibility for the disgraceful act, posting a video of himself during the incident,” according to reports from a major news outlet. “In the footage, the alleged vandal can be seen approaching the memorial, retrieving a spray can from his bag, and writing his message across several panels.”
The removal of the paint cost approximately $2,500.
Tijerina is facing charges of criminal mischief.
“The 9/11 Memorial serves as a sacred space for reflection, located at the heart of a reconstructed World Trade Center, honoring the 2,983 victims of the September 11, 2001, and February 26, 1993 terrorist attacks,” a spokesperson from the memorial conveyed. “The incident from yesterday was promptly handled by security and law enforcement, and the affected area was quickly restored to its intended commemorative state.”
The vandalism occurred directly over the names of some of the victims.
Tijerina’s anti-gun website (which I’m purposefully not naming) promotes “Civil resistance [which] is proven to change laws and society. We are demanding action — and we will not stop until it happens.”
According to the site, “Civil resistance is different. It does not ask permission. It does not wait for the next election cycle. It applies direct, sustained pressure until the cost of inaction exceeds the cost of change.”
The site outlines two primary objectives: universal background checks and a universal gun registry. However, the conversation around this can get contentious; many people are concerned that a universal gun registry could lead to government confiscation of firearms, leaving citizens vulnerable and unable to protect themselves.
You want to be like Paris? Just give up your guns.
Do you really want to see Democrat-run cities in America, where chaos reigns because no one can fight back? Signing up for a national gun registry could get you there.
Activists like Tijerina often mask their authoritarian aspirations with emotionally charged language about protecting children, the planet, and promoting equity, but what it seems like is a path toward a dystopian society where everyone is equally oppressed, disregarded, and impoverished.
Someone willing to defile the 9/11 Memorial clearly doesn’t respect what’s sacred; they seem to prioritize their own political agenda above all else.
