A man arrested Feb. 2 and charged with menacing with a handgun after a road rage incident, was armed with a handgun at a Jan. 30 ICE protest outside Springfield City Hall, despite being legally prohibited from possessing firearms, according to court records and reporting by Eugene Weekly.
Joseph Douglas Alford, 21, was arrested by the Springfield Police Department and charged with menacing and unlawful use of a firearm.
Just days before the arrest, Alford was an armed counter-demonstrator at the Jan. 30 Springfield protest who arrived with a handgun strapped to his belt. At the protest, Alford told Eugene Weekly he was present carrying a handgun strapped to his belt to exercise his Second Amendment rights to bear arms.
According to a SPD press release about the road rage incident Alford allegedly pointed a handgun at two passengers who were in another vehicle on their way to work. The release states that Alford was driving slowly when the vehicles came alongside each other, the passengers observed him using his phone while driving. After they commented on his phone use, Alford allegedly produced a handgun and pointed it at them.
The passengers told police they feared for their lives, which led to his arrest at his home later that evening. Alford was booked into the Lane County Jail, where he remained in custody until his conditional release as of Feb. 3.
In his release documents, it states that he is not allowed to “possess or purchase any weapons or ammunition,” and is required to attend a hearing on March 9. In an interview with Eugene Weekly, Alford admits he was in the wrong for being on his phone, saying, “I was texting my girlfriend back. I just got off work.”
Recounting the road rage encounter, Alford says, The other driver “pulled up next to me, started screaming at me to get off my phone. Me, I was in the wrong. I called her a fat bitch.”
Alford says the situation escalated after that, claiming, “She got mad as fuck, and she started acting like she was gonna ram my car off the road.” He describes the exchange as mutual, adding, “We were screaming at each other. I called her a fat bitch.”
He continues, “I literally ran into a curb and the control arm on my car is all messed up.”
Alford says he brought out the gun because he feared the other vehicle was being used as a weapon. “Then I didn’t even aim the gun at her. I made the gun visible. It was in the center console, and I pulled the gun up with the muzzle facing towards the floorboard.”
Alford had declined to identify himself initially to Eugene Weekly at the protest and wore a mask, hat and sunglasses. But in the later interview , he confirmed that he attended the Jan. 30 Springfield protest, reiterating what he said at the protest that he is “not against ICE” that he was there “for Second Amendment rights because Donald Trump and the FBI came out saying not to bring firearms during a protest.” He added, “That’s the only reason I went there.”
Alford says he did not understand why he is facing a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm, saying that he was pulled over during a traffic stop roughly two months earlier in 2025 near the Sonic fast food restaurant on Olympic Street in Springfield and said a police officer took his firearm during the stop, then returned it by the end of the stop. He adds that the officer even complimented his gun.
In 2022, records show, police arrested Joseph Alford, then 18, for repeated threats against another victim who allegedly feared for their life. He was later charged with contempt of court and stalking. On Nov. 21, 2022, Alford pleaded guilty to one count of stalking, classified as a misdemeanor.
Under Oregon law, a conviction for stalking under ORS 163.732 prohibits an individual from purchasing or possessing firearms or ammunition.
Alford was accompanied by his brother, Tyler Alford, at the Springfield protest. The brothers arrived armed, with Tyler Alford carrying an AR-15-style rifle and Joseph Alford carrying a handgun.
Update: In an interview posted Feb. 4 on YouTube and other platforms Cousin Matt of NightlyNewsThisMorning posted an interview with “Tex” who open carried a gun at the Springfield protest Jan. 30, with Joseph and Tyler Alford. The portion of the interview dealing with Joseph Alford starts at 5:36.