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An alt-right podcaster kept an illegal arsenal of machine guns in his basement, authorities say

One of the guns allegedly found in the home of a Pennsylvania father and son. (U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania)

The podcast hosts said it was just a theory — a “playful thought.”

After noting that “a white man with a rifle can be very dangerous to the system indeed,” Joseph Paul Berger brought up the case of Eric Frein. Recounting how the Pennsylvania survivalist ambushed and killed a police officer in 2014, hoping to start a revolution, Berger mused about the destruction that could be done by a larger group.

“Imagine if there were 10 Eric Freins,” Berger said on the first episode of “Alt-Right Armory.” “Twenty. A hundred. A thousand.”

More than once, he and his unidentified co-host insisted that they weren’t advocating violence, that they were just spitballing.

When federal authorities discovered a trove of illegally modified machine guns in Berger’s home, court documents state, they took his words seriously. The 32-year-old Bethlehem, Pa., man, a Navy veteran and certified armorer who lives with his parents, is being held in federal custody as he awaits trial on charges of illegal gun possession.

In arguing that Berger should be detained despite his lack of a criminal record, federal prosecutors pointed to the podcast. They wrote in court documents that although his views are not the basis of the charges, they reflect an anti-government ethos that makes his release dangerous.

“It is clear,” prosecutors wrote, “that the discussions are serious.”

Arrested alongside Berger was his father, 67-year-old Joseph Raymond Berger. Investigators say the two amassed an arsenal of “extremely dangerous” unregistered weapons in a locked basement room over the past decade — 13 fully automatic machine guns and 12 silencers.

The father and son, who have each pleaded not guilty, could face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Attorneys representing the father and son did not respond to The Washington Post’s requests for comment Sunday. In court on Thursday, the younger Berger’s attorney said prosecutors were overreacting to political speech.

“He never incited violence,” Eric E. Winter said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “To be very clear, this is political speech. He never took any action on it. He made it clear that this was a prank.”

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On the “Alt-Right Armory” podcast, Berger used the nickname “GlockDoctor1488” — the numbers an apparent reference to what the Southern Poverty Law Center has described as a white supremacist code. The show discussed guns and gun rights and was interwoven with extremist and conspiracy-theory rhetoric, along with the casual use of racial, homophobic and antisemitic slurs. The two hosts espoused anti-immigrant views, spoke favorably of the 2017 Charlottesville Unite the Right rally and demanded the fulfillment of then-President Donald Trump’s promises for a wall along the southern border.

Berger declared the show the “alt-right’s favorite firearms-related podcast.”

He opened the pilot episode with an account of how he came to love guns, recalling shooting balloons and milk cartons in the woods of the Poconos with his grandfather at 5 years old. Later, he played the “House of the Dead” arcade game and went to shooting ranges with his father, who he said supported his gun hobby.

“My dad didn’t like me cursing,” Berger recalled. “He didn’t let me watch any bad words or any nudity on TV. But when it came to firearms, he was like, ‘No problem.’ So we went to an indoor range that rented out guns, and we got a Smith and Wesson M29. And from that moment on, I think I found my calling in life.”

Later in the episode, he and a co-host identified only as “American Spartan” railed against Democrats, gun-control legislation and George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who is the subject of persistent right-wing and antisemitic conspiracy theories.

Then they invoked Frein, with Berger saying the man convicted of killing a police officer “ultimately went after the small fish.” They fantasized about bigger targets: legislators, lobbyists and left-wing billionaires.

“When you put people under stress and when the system is rigged against them, eventually they will pop off, which is why leftists don’t want people armed to begin with,” the co-host said. “They don’t want to give them the means in which to most effectively throw off the chains of left-wing oppression.”

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But it wasn’t the podcast that led federal authorities to Berger’s door. Instead, according to court records, the case arose after agents from Customs and Border Protection and the Department of Homeland Security intercepted three packages addressed to the Bergers in January 2021. Inside were firearm silencers imported from China, prosecutors said, with documents listing the younger Berger’s cellphone number.

Homeland Security agents obtained a search warrant for the family’s house, where they seized the silencers and guns, the agency said. An Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives Department expert examined the weapons and determined that each had been “modified, after purchase, to make it capable of fully automatic fire.”

“This type of fire-power is incredibly dangerous if in the wrong hands,” William S. Walker, acting special agent in charge of Philadelphia’s Homeland Security Investigations office, said in a statement announcing the arrests. “HSI Philadelphia was pleased to work alongside our partners on this important investigation to ensure the defendants are held accountable for their crimes and not able to terrorize this community or any other.”

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