Briggs was a partner in a waterbed store at that time (1972) and Scott Camil had asked him to order slingshots for the the VVAW. They were to be used as a defense during planned demonstrations at the summer Republican Convention in Miami. Once this was discovered by the FBI, the VVAW was charged as a subversive organization and a threat to the U.S. government. Many came to the aid of the eight who were arraigned in Tallahassee and tried in Gainesville. Among them were folk singers Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs. A more famous supporter of the eight was paralyzed vietnam veteran, Ron Kovic, whose life was later dramatized in an Oliver Stone film, "Born on the Fourth of July". The eight contended that they wanted the slingshots to lessen the chances of violence against demonstrators as had happened at the 1968 Democratic Party Convention in Chicago. Eventually all eight were acquitted of the charges and were allowed to return to what was left of their lives after they had been made martyrs for the cause.
When reached for a comment, Scott Camil had this to say:
"The conspiracy was the government's doing. We didn't want to be the 'Gainesville Eight'. The government was lying about the war. The government tried to detract from the anti-war movement by saying that protesters were unwilling to serve--that they were unpatriotic. They couldn't say that about us (the VVAW). We felt that there was a demand for people to know the truth and then they would help us stop the war."
This strife was an indication of the times. The public had found its voice through not just the uninvolved protester, but also through those who had been a part of the carnage and hysteria that was Vietnam. There are many sites that express the views of those who were soldiers during the Vietnam War and historians who have collected pictures and facts from that period in America's history.