Photos: Iced Earth’s Jon Schaffer Carrying ‘Bear Spray’ During Capitol Riot

New photos appear to show Iced Earth guitarist Jon Schaffer carrying “bear spray” during the raid of the U.S. Capitol building on January 6. You can view the photos at the bottom of this post (courtesy of Blabbermouth).

“Bear spray” is an aerosol bear deterrent containing chemical irritants such as capsaicin to create a burning sensation. Schaffer, along with other rioters, is alleged to have use the substance against Capitol police.

Both the Washington, D.C. police and the FBI were looking for Schaffer after a widely circulated photo identified him as one of the siege’s participants. After eleven days, the guitarist turned himself in to the authorities in his native Indiana around 3pm yesterday, Sunday, January 17. He faces six charges:

• “Knowingly Entering or Remaining in any Restricted Building or Grounds Without Lawful Authority”
• “Disrupting the Orderly Conduct of Government Business”
• “Knowingly Engages in an Act of Physical Violence Against any Person or Property in any Restricted Building or Grounds”
• “Violent Entry and Disorderly Conduct in a Capitol Building”
• “Engage in an Act of Physical Violence in a Capitol Building”
• “Parade, Demonstrate, or Picket in a Capitol Building”

When word of Schaffer’s involvement in the Capitol riots spread, his bandmates issued a collective statement distancing themselves from the violence but stopped short of publicly disagreeing with his political views. Vocalist Stu Block indicated he supported the protests until they turned violent, and later deleted comments and banned fans who pointed that out.

A number of folks who donated to the Kickstarter campaign for an upcoming Iced Earth book publicly renounced their fandom and demanded refunds, posting angry comments on the book’s crowdfunding page.

The guitarist has been quite open about his far-right political views for years, openly discussing his mistrust of government (with a special emphasis on the federal reserve), asserting his belief that Trump’s loss in the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election was tipped by illegal immigrants, speaking out in favor of arming teachers to prevent school shootings, and claiming that COVID-19 is a hoax.

In July of last year, the guitarist told MetalSucks (video at the bottom of this post) that he did not believe the coronavirus pandemic to be a real threat, referring to it as the “plandemic,” claiming that coronavirus case counts have been artificially inflated, and suggesting that the current economic shutdown was orchestrated by a small group of global elites with profits in mind:

“I believe this is a psychological warfare campaign on the people more than it is a serious pandemic. I think there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye here, in fact, I know this is. I mean, legitimate doctors and scientists are being banned or censored on YouTube constantly, it’s… unbelievable levels of fraud. Not saying we don’t have a problem but the human race has faced this kind of thing for millennia, I mean, it just goes on and we don’t shut down the global economy. The death and unrest out of these decisions is going to be a thousand times worse than the virus.”

Asked about spikes in specific parts of the country, Schaffer replied:

“I think that’s where we have to start questioning the data, the way the tests are. I mean, look, the information is out there; turn off the television. I don’t give a shit what network you’re listening to, they’re lying to you. That’s the reality of it. There’s no excuse anymore in this day and age for people not to be able to figure out the tyranny we’re living under, there’s just no excuse.

“But you need to disconnect from the mainstream media sources; and I’m not saying listen to Fox News, because in this country it’s Pepsi or Coke. You have two choices, its a duopoly on mind control and I don’t go for either one of those situations.

“I’m just telling you, man, there’s so much evidence out there and if you understand the game plan of the handlers themselves, than you’ll understand why I wrote the things I did in Sons of Liberty, the things that I did on ‘Dystopia,’ and ‘Plagues of Babylon’ [Iced Earth’s 10th and 11th studio albums, respectively] for that matter, because I read their game plan. I’ve read their battle plan, I’ve read their books so I know what they’re up to.

“It’s not rocket science. It’s literally about putting pieces of a puzzle together to see what the controllers of our society and what their vision of the future is and how they’re going to get to that point. This is just another move in this Plandemic.

“There’s a lot to it, but you know, I’ve done thousands of hours of research and this is my understanding of the situation. It goes back, this whole movement is being funded by a very small group of people that have very dark designs for the future of humanity and the world and this is what’s happening. It’s just clear. It affirms everything I’ve studied for decades.”

Pressed for more details regarding these alleged global controllers, Schaffer said:

“It’s not an opinion, it’s a fact. The global elite families that run the Federal Reserve banking system, that’s basically all of the central banks around the world. It’s absolutely the way the world works. So start with reading ‘The Creature From Jekyll Island,’ research the council on foreign relations, Trilateral Commission, Bilderberg.

“All of these things are real, they’re happening, and you’re never going to hear about it on the mainstream news because they’re the gatekeepers of what’s happening. It’s not paranoid conspiracy theory, it’s conspiracy fact. And anybody that is naive enough to think that people with power would not conspire to keep their power, is living in a fucking fantasy. Period.”

He went on to assert that he had no interest in receiving a COVID-19 vaccine:

“I don’t know when my band [Iced Earth] is going to be able to get back together because there’s all these criminal governors all over the states saying, ‘there’s never going to be another public gathering until there’s a vaccine.’ Well, fuck you. Nobody’s going to forcibly vaccinate me. Not happening.”

MetalSucks will continue to keep you updated as this story develops.