Pro-Trump influencer arrested for assaulting girlfriend with handgun once boasted he owned guns to ‘protect loved ones’
Ryan Fournier, a conservative activist who co-founded Students for Trump in 2015, was arrested and charged with assault last week in North Carolina.
The news was first reported by Axios on Tuesday.
According to records obtained by Axios, Fournier allegedly assaulted a woman—identified as his girlfriend—on Nov. 21 by "grabbing her right arm and striking her in the forehead" with a handgun.
He faces misdemeanor charges of assault on a female and assault with a deadly weapon and is scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 18.
Fournier, an adamant opponent of gun control restrictions, previously said he owns "guns to protect my loved ones."
"I'm a law-abiding gun owner, and I am sick of being blamed for the evil acts of criminals," he said last October. "I follow the law, work hard, pay taxes, mind my business, and own guns to protect my loved ones. Why can't the government leave people like me alone and focus on crime?"
Fournier has continued to post on social media since his arrest but has not publicly addressed the charges.
But it's not the first time the 27-year-old activist has had a run-in with the law.
In 2022, Fournier was arraigned on a range of charges including driving while impaired, aggressive driving, driving to endanger, and fleeing arrest after being arrested for driving 101 miles an hour in a 45 mph zone, according to a report by the Daily Beast.
Most of the charges, however, were dismissed, though Fournier pleaded guilty to driving while impaired.
He had been charged with DWI in the same county in 2020 as well, per the Daily Beast.
Fournier was also allegedly involved in a fake law firm scheme helmed by Students for Trump co-founder John Lambert.
Fournier did not face prosecution and court records indicated he provided federal prosecutors information "in the hope of not being charged for his role in the wire-fraud conspiracy."
Lambert was sentenced to 13 months in prison in 2021 for operating a fraudulent law practice.
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