There were a lot of villains and tyrants who emerged during the draconian and unconstitutional COVID-19 lockdowns in America, but there were also a few heroes. One of them was Ian Smith, the owner of Atilis Gym in Bellmawr, New Jersey. Smith was arrested and charged with 80 crimes for refusing to comply with Democrat Governor Phil Murphy’s insane and inconsistent lockdown orders. In a major victory this week, a New Jersey court threw out all the charges against Smith.
The entire saga started back when President Donald Trump was duped by liars in his own administration on the whole “10 days to slow the spread” hoax. Trump quickly realized what a farce that was in April 2020 and started calling for the economy to reopen after a five-day shutdown. Many US governors, including both Republicans and Democrats, got a sexual thrill from their newfound powers and refused to lift the lockdowns.
One of the governors who enjoyed crushing small businesses in his state was Phil Murphy. His lockdown orders were truly crazy. Churches and gyms were ordered to stay locked down, even as Murphy reopened weed dispensaries.
By May 2020, Ian Smith had decided he’d had enough of Phil Murphy’s unconstitutional lockdowns. He reopened Atilis Gym while still exercising many of the futile health guidelines that were being recommended by Tony Fauci. He had visitors to the gym wear masks and engage in social distancing, both of which have since been proven to be completely pointless. Smith also imposed limits on how many people could be in the gym at once.
Smith became a folk hero over the following two months in New Jersey as the saga played out. He was featured on Tucker Carlson Tonight on Fox News for his brave act of civil disobedience. Gov. Murphy kept sending law enforcement to shut down Atilis Gym, and Smith kept reopening. At one point, Murphy had the police chain the doors of the gym shut. Smith took the doors off and started living inside full-time, just so he could remain open and continue serving his customers.
In July 2020, cops with K-9 units swarmed the building and finally arrested Ian Smith for the “crime” of operating a small business against Gov. Phil Murphy’s say-so. Smith was hit with 80 charges by the state, and Murphy also seized $165,000 from the gym’s business account. A lot of that money had been sent to the gym in the form of donations from patriotic Americans who supported Smith’s stance against tyranny. Atilis Gym had its New Jersey business license revoked, and Murphy had the health department permanently shut it down.
After four years of being targeted by the Murphy regime in New Jersey, Ian Smith finally received justice last Friday. The judge overseeing the case against him dismissed all 80 charges—with prejudice. This is a legal distinction that means the state cannot come back and attempt to revisit or recharge the case.
Ian Smith issued a succinct statement after his crushing victory over the tyrants running his state:
“Suck my d*ck, Phil Murphy.”
He also encourages other Americans to stand up and resist the next time that a pandemic or some other emergency comes along and elected officials overstep their bounds.
As a reminder, here is one of Ian Smith’s appearances with Tucker Carlson from back in 2020:
