Energized by the looming threat to their Second Amendment rights – perhaps personified by the image of anti-gun teen media darling David Hogg – gun owners around the country are scheduled to rally at state capitols across the country this Saturday.
A full roster of the events, organized by a group calling itself the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans, is available here.
As explained by a message at the NCCPA website:
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“The second amendment isn’t just about guns. It’s about supporting the natural rights of self-defense, resistance to oppression and the civic duty to act in defense of our families and our communities. From the enactment of the Bill of Rights through most of the 20th Century, the Second Amendment seems to have been understood to guarantee to every law-abiding responsible adult the right to possess arms.”
The rallies are largely a response to the anti-gun “March For Our Lives” protests last month, which put Hogg in the national spotlight. He has been vocal about stricter gun control.
Last month’s demonstrations brought forth tens of thousands of gun control advocates as a response to the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida in which 17 students and adults were allegedly killed by suspect now in custody and facing multiple first-degree murder counts. But instead of placing the blame on the suspect, and the failures of law enforcement agencies to react to his numerous warning signs, anti-gunners and many in the media have perpetuated the notion that the National Rifle Association and millions of gun owners were to blame.
Former Supreme Court Associate Justice John Paul Stevens recently suggested in a New York Times Op-Ed that the Second Amendment should be repealed.
Saturday’s events are intended to provide contrast with the demands from gun prohibition lobbying groups to ratchet down on the rights of law-abiding gun owners who did not commit any crime. A message on Reddit cautioned activists:
“This fight is a culture war. There is no winning path that involves infighting, particularly bickering amongst ourselves about how to appear the most palatable to the opposing side. They want your gun rights diminished, even if you show up in a tuxedo…Just go be a warm body in a large crowd that undeniably shows that the pro-gun rights side is not small…Bring plenty of water and have a good time.”
Gun rights have been under non-stop attack since the Feb. 14 Florida high school shooting. The village council in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield last week voted to ban so-called “assault weapons” and was promptly sued by the Second Amendment Foundation and Illinois State Rifle Association.
A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit challenging the “assault weapons” ban in Massachusetts, and the city council in Boulder, Colo., took a first vote on a proposed ban in that community.
Meanwhile, gun rights activists in Washington State are also planning a separate gathering on Saturday, April 21 at the Capitol in Olympia.
And the Seattle-based Alliance for Gun Responsibility is already pushing its annual fund-raising luncheon on Monday, May 12 at Seattle’s Westin Hotel beginning at noon. The group notes that a donation will be requested.
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