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Justin Olsen, an 18-year-old from Ohio who posted far-right memes on iFunny, was arrested for threatening to assault a federal agent last week. Olsen used the username ArmyOfChrist and showed his support for recent mass shootings, discussed targeting Planned Parenthood, and urged others to “shoot every federal agent on sight,” according to WKBN.
After his arrest, federal agents seized 15 rifles, 10 automatic pistols, a machete, and 10,000 rounds of ammunition from his bedroom.
From Buzzfeed News:
As for the content the ArmyOfChrist account was posting on iFunny, many of the posts are white nationalist and far-right memes common on message boards like 4chan and 8chan. The ArmyOfChrist account was also using iFunny as a blogging platform of sorts, posting text-only JPGs.
In the 200 posts on the account, which have been viewed by BuzzFeed News, Olsen raged against feminists, progressives, the LGBTQ community, and religious and ethnic minorities, and repeatedly called for the establishment of a Christian ethnostate. Many of the memes he was posting were updated riffs on the Crusades, fantasizing about a religious war between Christians and Muslims.
According to Newsweek, Olsen also urged his followers in a Discord chat to violate gun laws in order to stock up on weapons and ammunition.
“Stock up on stuff they could ban. In fact, go out of your way to break these laws, they’re f*cking stupid,” he wrote.
Olsen ultimately backtracked when talking to agents. He admitted to making the inflammatory remarks online and was responsible for the memes that were shared, but he claimed that any threat and his comments were “only a joke.”
The FBI, however, did not think it was a laughing matter.
Federal agents have been more active when it comes to monitoring online forums and chats in the wake of the recent mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. The El Paso shooter had posted about his attack and released a manifesto on the site 8chan before open-firing at a Walmart and killing 22 people while injuring dozens more.
