Unsound Minds

Words by John M. Phillips

Firearm Dealers like Palmetto State Armory are Using Memes and Hate Speech to Counter the “Trump Slump” while Marketing to Mass Shooters on Alt Websites and Message boards

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. They never have been. The same people who stoke fear, division and animosity among humans directly benefit from the source of their deaths. The overwhelming weapon of choice is the AR-15. 

AR does not stand for “Assault Rifle,” but, to some, it might as well. ArmaLite, a small California gun manufacturer, designed the AR-15 in the late 1950s as a next-generation military rifle. A declassified 1962 report from the U.S. Department of Defense reveals how the AR-15 was developed for the Vietnam War because it was ideal for use by South Vietnamese soldiers, who were smaller in stature and had less training than their American counterparts. To give these citizen-soldiers a fighting chance, they needed a new kind of weapon. The report discloses the quick discharge of high-velocity projectiles was better than its predecessors for five reasons: 1) ease of maintenance, 2) accuracy, 3) rapid rate of fire,  4) lightweight and 5) “excellent killing or stopping power.” Of humans. Not hunting. Not self-defense.

Seventy-five years later, at Shands Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida, doctors see a steady traffic of bullet wounds. Doctors there can quickly identify gunshots from an AR-15, although those victims are less likely to survive. Handgun bullets typically travel through the body in a straight line. By contrast, the high-energy bullets of an AR-15 become unstable as they penetrate human flesh, twisting and turning as they damage adjacent tissues and organs. One anonymous physician told us the damage he sees is not just from the bullet path but that the AR-15 creates a second cavity many times larger than the bullet, which tears through bones, organs and all adjacent tissues.

This story only dives into the lives of a few mass shooters, although we could fill this issue with names and similar stories. Each example chose an AR-15. Each was born between 2000-2005. Each espoused hate for a particular group of people and wanted recognition as a mass shooter. Each was influenced by, if not essentially raised on, websites which have little to no moderation, contain dangerous beliefs and program fragile brains that violence is acceptable. Each grew up in an era where leaders breed hate and division. Much more disturbing than all of that is that each shooter was surrounded by gun dealers and manufacturers who benefitted from political division and directly marketed guns as useful tools to kill people — if — they deserve it.

On May 14, 2022, 18-year-old Payton Gendron entered a Buffalo, New York grocery store. Ten people, all of whom were Black, were murdered and three were injured. In his manifesto, Gendron advocated, “We must ensure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” He noted he got most of his beliefs “from the internet.” The investigation of the shooting revealed Gendron was essentially radicalized on 4chan, which is an anonymous internet imageboard/message board easily available on search engines like Google, Safari or Yahoo.

When officers arrived at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas on May 24, 2022, State Trooper Richard Bogdanski asked, “You know what kind of gun?” A voice responded, “AR. He has a battle rifle.” The shooter was 18-year-old Salvador Ramos Almo, who killed 19 children and two teachers and attempted to simulcast his rampage online. Almo collected articles about Gendron’s murderous rampage. Just days before the attack, Ramos spoke out on social media about his plans to do something that would “put him all over the news.” Nearly instantaneously, news of the murder and stories about Almo’s reached 4chan’s toxic pol/(politics) subgroup. It is believed he frequently used 4chan’s k/(kommando) subgroup, which is dedicated to all things weaponry and includes topics like, “What gun will you use during the race war?”

Months later, on October 24, 2022, 19-year-old Orlando Harris entered Central Visual and Performing Arts High School in St. Louis, Missouri with an AR-15 sold by Palmetto State Armory (PSA) and opened fire on students and staff, killing two and injuring seven before being fatally shot by police. In writings before the murder, Harris wrote, “Also fuck the lgbt community nobody from that community deserves to be loved or accepted by society. Luckily for me central is filled with those kind of people so hopefully I get to kill a lot of people from the lgbt community during my attack.” Despite significant history of mental disorder, he posted on October 12, 2022 that he secured his AR-15 from a private seller thanks to “gundeals.com” and holding the AR-15 made him feel, “as if I was born to kill,” and “like a fucking GOD.”

On July 13, 2024, former President Donald Trump was talking divisively about immigration at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania when 20-year-old Thomas Crooks fired eight rounds before getting shot by U.S. Secret Service. Crooks killed one audience member and critically injured two others. He just missed a fatal shot on the former president of the United States. The AR-15 used in that attack was manufactured by DPMS. DPMS was acquired by JJE Capital in 2020. JJE is the parent company of Palmetto State Armory (or PSA), which is its flagship brand. All three owners of PSA own JJE. Multiple sources have reported Crooks posted antisemitic and anti-immigration ideology, espoused political violence and died wearing a Demolition Ranch t-shirt, which stated, “Demolitia.” Demolition Ranch is one of the largest firearms-centric YouTube channels (known among fans as “guntubers”) on the internet.

Palmetto State Armory

It is not irony or coincidence that Trump visited the same gun merchants that sold the AR-15, which nearly ended his life on a campaign stop before the assassination attempt. On September 25, 2023, the former president visited Palmetto State Armory’s flagship in store Summerville, South Carolina. The media event began with a personal tour by owners Jamin McCallum and Julian Wilson. 

A few minutes into the visit, McCallum lobbied for elimination of “Biden’s pistol brace law.” McCallum claimed Biden’s law immediately turned “40 million pistol brace owners” into felons. McCallum and his contemporaries commonly use “us” versus “them” language to divide. McCallum further whistled Biden was not worried about “inner city crime” but instead making felons out of “regular Americans,” another coded reference that gun owners are good and, well, minorities are bad. With the thought of 40 million votes on his side, Trump vowed McCallum’s proposed legislation would be “an easy one” and he would “take care of it.” In exchange for his visit, Trump got the public endorsement of every major South Carolina politician and plenty of donations.

Appealing to his known vanity, McCallum’s staff showed Trump a Glock with his face etched into it. Trump remarked he wanted to “buy one,” but McCallum insisted he would give it to him. Some of the tweets memorializing this moment were later deleted. As an indicted felon, Trump was not allowed to possess, much less own a firearm.

Palmetto State Armory not only lobbies Congress and has been a significant supporter of Trump, but U.S. Representative Joe Wilson of South Carolina is the father of PSA owner Julian Wilson. Julian’s brother is Alan Wilson, who is the Attorney General in South Carolina. All attended the media event and publicly endorsed Trump. 

Toward the conclusion of the event in his honor, Trump looked around the room for Representative Joe Wilson to pay him a compliment. Trump claimed Wilson’s, “You Lie!” interruption of President Barack Obama’s speech was, “One of the big moments in the history of Congress. One night a long time ago. I remember that.”

For those who don’t remember, then-president Barack Obama gave a joint speech to Congress in 2011 concerning the Affordable Care Act. As Obama refuted an internet rumor that illegal immigrants were receiving free government-funded insurance through the Affordable Care Act, Representative Wilson screamed, “You lie!” The interruption went viral. Some have said it was a watershed moment for shouting and discourse in government. Wilson used the viral moment to raise more than $2.5 million in the subsequent month for his reelection effort. He has since won reelection five times.

The Trump Slump

In an internal interview posted on PSA’s YouTube page under the title, “Relentless Pursuit: What is JJE Capital?” JJE’s and PSA’s owners, Wilson and McCallum discuss how “cyclical” the firearm industry is. They repeatedly reference the “Trump Slump,” which refers to dipping firearms sales multiple years in a row in response to the election of Donald Trump. Why did it slump? Many of the fears stoked by the threat of a Democratic presidency, talk of a race war or need to take up arms were quelled in an attempt to show Trump was succeeding in his promise to “Make America Great Again!” 

However, gun manufacturers and dealers like PSA could not simply afford to accept the victory and resultant perceived peace (if peace can ever be associated with Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency). Dozens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars were at stake, as were political futures. As Wilson and McCallum noted in the interview, they had to keep the firearm market growing. They did so by joining, stoking and exploiting fear and keeping humans fearing or angry at other humans. Long gone were the lies of the NRA simply claiming an AR-15 was a proper rifle used for sport or target shooting.

Throughout the interview, the owners of PSA/JJE openly call themselves “gun nuts,” commonly reference the “liberal media,” “good guys” with a gun, and otherwise use language common to those who benefit from political division. There is no question PSA’s owners systemically market guns, nd particularly AR-15s, triggering the need of its constituents to defend their country, fear their fellow man and not fall victim to other races, immigrants or those who want to “take away” their rights. 

Instead of focusing on other business interests during the Trump Slump, PSA aggressively advertised its “lowest on the market” price point of around $500 for an AR-15. It created an e-commerce portal that distributed its guns all across the country. Perhaps most offensive and dangerous of all, PSA began participating and marketing on alt websites, receiving backlinks and meme ideas from some of the same people posting about race wars and death to politicians. Instead of standing up to the adoption of its brand, PSA literally began engraving political memes and divisive speech on AR-15s and tying them to every politically divisive issue that made the news. Additionally, PSA continued to stoke the fire of a country at war with itself where there was good and evil, where a second civil war or revolutionary war was imminent and where “defending freedom” for the low $500 price of an AR-15, ownership was downright patriotic. 

Leading up to 2018, Palmetto State Armory was highly engaged in marketing through gun enthusiast message boards. One such board, AR15.com (also referred to as “ARFCOM”), featured anonymous users discussing various topics, which would also often result in extensive bullying and criticism. A simple search of its archives reveals racist and hate-filled posts, often coupled with the promotion of the AR-15. PSA was commonly discussed and backlinked on sites like 4chan and 8chan, which serve as a breeding ground of hate, racism and radical speech in a message board format. PSA acquired one of its more popular memes, “No Step on Snek” from 4chan. It was a respectful parody of the Gadsden Flag.

Inevitably, PSA’s low price point led to quality issues. One alleged dissatisfied buyer took to ARFCOM to criticize PSA’s various business practices. “Hebrew_Battle_Rifle” featured an avatar that depicted a child with a gun to his head. He posted criticism of PSA and was significantly “trolled” and “doxed” by other users, including PSA’s official account. He ultimately fought back, saying, “I will not address any of the false accusations leveled at me by a pack of illiterate, poop flinging gremlins.” 

PSA did not just stand idly by and ignore the bullying. It joined in the commentary and demanded, “You have still not answered my question as directed by site staff. What was your order number @Hebrew_Battle_Rifle?” It is one of countless examples of PSA specifically monitoring and contributing to these websites and message boards alongside toxic, violent and threatening posts.

As other users created memes and defended PSA, PSA decided to market the phrase with a lower receiver. The “lower” is the crucial part of a gun which is considered a firearm under federal law. According to Guns.com, “The “Poop Flinging Gremlin Lower” features Spike from Gremlins, with poop in hand, engraved on the magwell. PSA takes the tongue in cheek lower further adding “No Poop,” “Poop” and “Fling Poop” to its selector switch markings. The serial markings also keep to the theme with letters “POOP” prefacing the numbers.”

Despite the Federal Trade Commission and other federal regulations (such as Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act), which Prohibit the use of cartoons like Joe Camel in conjunction with the promotion or sale of cigarettes, PSA was granted permission to literally etch memes, cartoons and sometimes even threats onto AR-15s. Each time a limited edition “lower” was sold, it would go viral and send gun-loving blogs, websites, and alt-right listservs or message boards into a frenzy. 

On March 11, 2020, PSA released the ANGRYJOE-14 lower, which featured a hybrid dog/horse figure in response to Joe Biden jokingly referring to someone as “dog-faced pony soldier.” Its fire selector featured three settings on one side: “WUD HE SAY?” (Safe), “DOGFACED PONYSOLDIER” (Fire) and “FULLA SHIT” (Full-Auto). On the right side: “MEMORY LOSS” (Safe), “DEMENTIA” (Fire) and “LIBERAL” (Full-Auto).

With each new political meme or tagline, PSA stood ready to release an additional viral load to keep profiting off of division. Each time, it pissed off and invigorated more unsound minds. The correlation was clear from the backlinks and traffic it was generating; it had a new breed of consumer.

On October 2, 2021, after a NASCAR race at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama, Brandon Brown won his first Xfinity Series and was being interviewed by an NBC Sports reporter. The crowd began chanting. The reporter suggested they were chanting “Let’s go, Brandon” to cheer on the driver. It became increasingly clear they were shouting, “Fuck Joe Biden.” Weeks later, Florida Republican House of Representative Bill Posey ended his floor speech on the House floor with a fist pump and the phrase, “Let’s go, Brandon!” The phrase was already growing in right-wing circles, as conservative code for “Fuck Joe Biden.” 

Once again to simultaneously flex its marketing to its far-right customers, while engaging in divisive messaging, on October 19, 2021, PSA released its limited edition LETSGO-15 lower. The fire selector featured three settings, “F@CK!” (Safe), “JOE!” (Fire), or “BIDEN!” (Full-Auto). It featured Biden above a checkered-flag, like seen at the finish line of a NASCAR race (or a coded reference to the end of life).

Continuing with the use of memes and cartoons to divide and offend, PSA next adorned its gun parts with the “Vatipants- 15” lower on November 1, 2021. It featured the phrase POTUS (President of the United States) with references to Biden defecating his pants with the term SHATUS, which was a play on the vulgar word for “defecate” with a Latin spin. The meme was based on internet lore as far right message boards and social media claimed Biden defecated himself while visiting Pope Francis at the Vatican. 

With each new meme gun, message boards and far-right gun enthusiasts would spread PSA’s divisive political speech alongside marketing of the deadliest firearm to civilians in modern American history. PSA would even ask members of ar15.com and other sites, “What are your thoughts on doing a Trump 34-themed lower? Let us know your ideas!”

However, what would happen if ever PSA’s owners were tied to a meme worthy event? Of course, it would monetize it. On July 13, Trump stood up from a near assassination with a fist pump, yelling, “Fight.” Within hours user, “Brick Wur X,” posted, “At a loss for words for what our country has become” with an idea for PSA, featuring Donald Trump rising under the name “Free America,” with settings, “It’s Time,” Take America Back” and Fight.”

PSA’s official account quickly replied, “We will be making this lower. We have submitted the variance, and it will go on pre-sale today.” And then Nick Penzenstadler of “USA Today” reported, “AR rifle used in Trump shooting from company with winding history, campaign visit.” The article linked PSA to the gun used to attempt to assassinate Trump. The idea quickly vanished. 

Ryan Palmeter

Ryan Palmeter was born in 2001. Like most his age, by the time he was 12 or 13, he had a decent mastery of the internet. His parents, Stephen and Maryann Palmeter, didn’t pay attention or care about his online footprint. Palmeter’s reckless use of message boards and social media began as early as 2015, when he would have only been 13 or 14 years old. He played and streamed first-person shooters on various video game consoles and started an internet profile named after alleged baby-killer, “Casey Anthony” on Steam, a self-described digital storefront and service for buying, playing and discussing video games. 

By 2016, he was bullying others and joking about child abuse. Before he was able to drive, he was telling another user he, “(S)hould shoot themselves in the face, miss the brain stem and instead hit the motor control center, causing you to lose complete control of your body and be forced to spend what’s left of your sad, worthless life in a hospital bed while your family starts to wonder if pulling the plug is the right option.” 

On November 9, 2016, he celebrated the election of Donald Trump, proudly bragging that he was right and, “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” The rotten apple didn’t fall far from the poisoned tree. Palmeter’s father used Facebook to post pro-Democratic messaging, including insulting his own son’s beliefs. Palmeter’s dad often used memes and random internet graphics to criticize mass shooters while literally letting his own child become one a room away. 

When “shitposting” on Steam wasn’t enough, Palmeter would turn to 4chan, 8chan or soyjak.party, one of many anonymous image and message boards where memes combined with hate, destructive plots and teenagers like him could find enough hate speech to become as radicalized and hateful as anyone in the history of mankind. Seriously, don’t go there. Trust us. 

It is likely there where Palmeter first learned and started fantasizing about, “TND,” “Total N**ger Death.” Soyjak Party is one of the successors of 4chan’s shuttered/qa board, which one user described, “… as if 4chan’s raw schizophrenia was distilled into one website.” 

As a young teenager, Palmeter would take photos and publicly brag about stealing his parents’ alcohol and making cocktails out of any pills or medicine he could find around the house. He would post at times when he should have been at school and got excessively into meme culture, the same culture PSA was steadily tying itself to and etching on weapons.

Like most would-be mass shooters, Palmeter exhibited homicidal and suicidal thoughts and actions, which resulted in minor psychological treatment. He once had to be intercepted after a threat to jump off one of the tallest buildings in Jacksonville and noted in his letter to his parents who were readily aware of their son’s suicidal and homicidal ideations. None of it would ever be visible on a background check, as flaws in the system are too numerous to name and protect minors — no matter how unsound they are. 

Eventually, Palmeter found himself seeing PSA over and over again. They were cheap and on the same page. They literally met him where he was in life. In fact, people like Palmeter found PSA to be funny and edgy. PSA received backlinks and promotion on all of these fringe sites, and their branding was used in hate speech, but they ignored it or embraced it. PSA’s own employees have sued the company because of racism and a hostile work environment with one former Black employee claiming a noose was left on his desk.

PSA Gets More Aggressive

PSA needed a way out of the Trump Slump and directly benefit from people being fearful and angry at each other. Hunting and competitive shooting only sell a limited amount of guns; fear and hate sell far more. They closely watched the news, and their team of now hundreds of employees and gun- and money-loving vendors pounced when division or any justification to stoke fear would surface. 

On April 18, 2019, it was reported that a militia group, calling themselves the United Constitutional Patriots, detained hundreds of alleged immigrants near the U.S.-Mexico border at gunpoint. Instead of condemning the illegal act, hours later, PSA released its first Trump-related lower. It featured Trump’s hair with a sign that said, “Border wall, under construction, stay back.” The xenophobic settings of the AR-15 were, “detain,” deport” and “10 feet higher.”

At the same time, Trump was using the “Border Wall” as a larger symbol alongside denigrating hate speech. About Mexicans, he said, “They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists…” Trump’s demeaning remarks and use of terms such as “anchor baby” and “illegals” to describe immigrants framed immigrants as different and less-than-human, reducing entire groups of people to be negatively defined by their immigration status. PSA profited off of this division while continuing to sell guns and get free publicity from likes, shares and blogs — and political, racial and cultural division.

PSA even admitted it went too far when it sold a lower depicting MAGA and KEIIK. Kekistan is a fictional country invented by users on 4chan, which was adopted by extremists and the alt-right movement. PSA later backed off its mistake, saying, “We understand the original concept of Kekistan was purely innocent, but the current use of it by certain groups is something that PSA does not want to be associated with in any fashion. I know you guys did not mean for this lower to be thought of as a ‘White Nationalist’ lower, but that is what it may come to mean by some.” They didn’t apologize because they wanted to, they apologized because they were caught and reasonable allies started to turn into the vocal gremlins they disliked.

The Boogaloo Next Door

The Boogaloo movement is led by a group of activists who are referred to as Boogaloo boys (bois). It isn’t a club with a membership card, but a conglomerate of typically white male anti-government, far-right extremists. Like most things in extremist parlance, there is a bit of a meme or sarcastic undertone. The term “Boogaloo” alludes to the 1984 film “Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo,” which was boohooed by critics as a money grab type of movie sequel. The Boogaloo movement is the rehash of either the U.S. Civil War or American Revolution, depending on who you ask and their relative hatred for either the federal government, by race or political party.

Boogaloo emerged on 4chan and subsequently spread to other platforms. Individuals affiliated with the Boogaloo movement have been charged with crimes, including the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, multiple murders, a plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and uprisings related to the George Floyd protests. 

As social media and website moderators began to restrict or block hate speech, participants in the Boogaloo movement used other words to avoid restriction, such as “boog,” “boojahideen,” “big igloo,” “blue igloo” and “big luau.” As a result, logos and other imagery incorporating igloo snow huts and Hawaiian prints became used in memes and as de facto uniforms.

Back in Jacksonville, Palmeter frequently posted about the Boogaloos. As devout Parrotheads, his parents owned Hawaiian shirts, so Palmeter wore an increasing amount of Hawaiian clothing without detection. Both to celebrate his 21st birthday and to murder as many Black people as he could, Palmeter adorned the traditional Boogaloo Hawaiian print. In his manifesto, he is critical of the Boogaloo boys, calling them “absolute fa**ots and larpers,” and “cuckservatives.” Yet, he says he supports their beliefs related to total killing of feds and politicians saying he will, “make friends with them for the TFD and TPD portion of le boog.”

Acronyms are very important in alt right spheres. To be clear, TPD stands for Total Politician Death. TFD stands for Total Fed Death. As we’ve noted, TND stands for the Total Death of Blacks based on the degrading racial epithet. Palmeter’s main contention was that the Boogaloo movement wasn’t racist enough.

Not to leave out a sect of anti-government violent extremists, in February 2020, PSA produced and sold a limited edition AK-47-style pistol with a custom, “Big Igloo Aloha” Hawaiian-print paint job. They literally wrapped an AK in Hawaiian print. PSA noted in its own marketing, people were “asking” for it. The model number was PCAKPBUGALOO, directly referring to the Bugaloo or code for the Second Civil War.

Firearmblog.com publicized PSA saying, “It’s one of their AK-P GF3 AK pistols which has a custom paint job to match your Hawaiian urban camouflage and is named Big Igloo Aloha making it a perfect tool for Aloha State Boogaloo preppers out there.” See here. 

Reasonable people began to reject PSA’s marketing style while unsound minds loved it and appreciated its gun supplier standing by “conservative values” like revolution, hate, division and culture wars. 

PSA’s dangerous marketing of anarchy included hauntingly horrifying posts such as the one by user, “The next Arfcom idol,” who posted, “Oh boy, just the gun I need for the mass shooting I’m planning because I can’t stand people who have different views than me, think the only way forward is violence, and believe that any of my countrymen who aren’t already on my side will never be converted through any other means.” 

While likely said in sarcasm, the user correctly summarized an actual target market of people like Palmeter. One Redditt user noted the Hawaiian print AK-47 was “directly targeting the autists.” 

Sound minds began seeing through PSA’s marketing strategy. Unsound minds kept them in business. However, too few care about mass shootings in America. Division and disagreement win elections, as do the padded coffers from donations and the need to make guns, equate to patriotism. Through its new allies, PSA continues to thrive to the point they have a network of affiliated companies.

The Lovely Angela Carr 

Angela Carr was a lifelong Jacksonville resident. She showed love to everyone she met, especially her children and grandchildren. Her last words before she died was complimenting a patron of Dollar General as she entered the store. Mrs. Carr visited the store on Aug. 26, 2023, to help someone get some shopping done. 

Like all of the victims of an AR-15, she never expected she’d be a victim. Not just of racism. Not just of negligent security. But Angela Carr was a victim of a country that elects leaders and funds those elections with hate, division and weapons originally designed to easily kill people. We let children get marketed with weapons far more dangerous than cigarettes and allow companies like PSA to directly go to these unsound minds and “meet them where they are.”

Palmeter literally had the PSA AR-15 box still in his car when he exited his vehicle to commit “TND” and encourage others to do so. His car was decorated with stickers representing some of the same websites and message boards where PSA received backlinks and purchases. 

Mercedes Jones is a survivor of Ryan Palmeter’s shooting. She had her daughter in her arms as she ran out of the back exit as fast as she could. Jones’ saving grace was that she exited at the same time white people exited. Palmeter chose not to shoot her and her child for fear of hitting someone white with the spray of his AR-15.

Anolt Joseph “A.J.” Laguerre Jr. and Jerrald Gallion were shot and killed. All of the victims deserve more than thoughts and prayers. An updated civil lawsuit has been recently filed against PSA and JJE. However, the definition of insanity is repeatedly doing the same thing and expecting a different result. TPD and TFD don’t care what political party you belong to. Websites like 4chan will be there to celebrate and sensationalize all death while more young white males get radicalized and while PSA makes sure they have enough people associating their brand in all the wrong places. No one is talking about any of this. They need to. Now. To the deceased, we owe the truth.

—

John M. Phillips is an attorney who represents the family of Angela Carr, as well as Mercedes Jones. In full disclosure, he also owns “Folio” and wrote this story. He’s filed a lawsuit against Palmetto State Armory, which he hopes will make even his own gun-loving friends take a second look at how the far-right has used hate to divide while the gun industry has literally made millions by directly marketing around, and to, unsound minds.