Works for a living, doesn’t block traffic
Comparing Olympia’s gun rights rally to Boston’s #BlackLivesMatter traffic blockage.
I must admit, I had a serious attack of schadenfreude when I learned that the #BlackLivesMatter protesters in Boston were upset by the outrage directed at them after they blocked Route 93. I guess I wasn’t surprised that some protest leaders live at home with their parents in wealthy suburbs.
I guess they were stunned to learn that people trying to get to work felt that their own lives mattered, too.
Let’s contrast this event with another rally by gun rights activists in the blue haven of Washington state. The Washington Firearms Leadership and Activism Group (WAFLAG), Protect Our Gun Rights Washington, and the Gun Rights Coalition hosted Rally for Your Rights against I-594, an “18½-page incoherent, rambling, unconstitutional gun control initiative” that was recently passed by the state legislature.
Given the crowd and the passion, I suspect it will not be the last event.
More than 200 gun-rights activists, most of them carrying firearms, rallied on the steps of Washington’s Capitol Thursday morning to protest the expansive background-check law state voters passed in November.
State legislators and other opponents of Initiative 594’s requirement of background checks on all gun sales and transfers voiced their belief that the new law unfairly infringes on their constitutional rights, and a handful of the protesters carried long guns into the public viewing gallery of the state House of Representatives just as the morning’s brief floor session ended.
A series of speakers urged the crowd outside the Capitol to work to build support to repeal Initiative 594, both by contacting their legislators and by lobbying their friends and relatives. Several I-594 opponents carried signs with messages including “Prosecute criminals not harass us” and “I will not comply” during the chilly morning rally.
….Although the protest was explicitly directed against the new background-check law, a number of speakers and crowd members said their feelings extend to an opposition to gun control efforts in general.
But, like the Boston rally, there was some real drama. This video shows state representatives Graham Hunt and Matt Shea making an appearance to discuss some of their proposals to support the rights of Washington’s gun owners, which seems typical of a political rally.
Victory Girl contributor Kit Lange takes us behind-the-scenes, where the action was really happening.
So-called “gun rights groups” organized a “Rally for Your Rights” where folks against I-594 could come and listen to them talk about how they weren’t going to actually fight to repeal this unconstitutional law, but instead would try to offer a compromise to the legislature. These groups also, because they didn’t want to scare or offend anyone, asked that people leave their long guns at home and dress in business attire. Perception! they urged. Curb yourselves because otherwise you’ll scare the undecided legislators and make them not like us or vote the way we want.
They apparently never learned Liberty 101: The moment you allow your rights to be curbed because of someone else’s fear or offense you have lost the fight to keep your rights, for you have just shown the way to take them all.
Some of us, however, remember that lesson well…because we know the fates of those who forgot it. We are not subjects and our rights are not open to interpretation or other people’s feelings. If anything, the legislature should be afraid, because their job security depends on the people they have refused to serve.
So we came armed with long guns anyway.
It is reported that the State Patrol officers stayed close to the gun-carrying protesters who had entered the Capitol and that no arrests related to the rally were made. It’s legal to openly carry firearms into the Capitol and the public viewing galleries above the chamber floors.
And while the people of Washington are battling to repeal gun control legislation, a Rhode Island lawmaker is trying to prevent road blockages by protesters in his state.
Rhode Island lawmaker said Friday that he’ll introduce a bill making it a felony to block a highway, like protesters did in Boston a day earlier.
State Sen. Leonidas Raptakis said he supports First Amendment rights to free speech and peaceful demonstrations but is concerned some gatherings could threaten public welfare.
Demonstrators alleging racial profiling and violence by police against minorities blocked a busy Boston-area highway used to connect to Providence during the Thursday morning commute and caused lengthy traffic jams, inconveniencing thousands of people and preventing an ambulance from getting through. A similar protest shut down I-95 in Providence for 15 minutes in November.
And just because I cannot watch this video too much, here is a replay of Tyree Landrum’s rant against #BlackLivesMatter road blockers in my hometown. Others must have felt the same way: A crowdfunding site wanted to raise $2000 so Landrum could give his kids a great Christmas. The final tally was over $15,000.
It’s good to see hard-working Americans pushing back on those who would infringe upon their need to get to work and their right to bear arms…and seeing it rewarded.
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Comments
I bet just about zero members of the Washington protest live in mommy’s basement, and that no perfectly decent, innocent steel barrels were converted into moonbat-muffs in the protest.
My wife was one of the organizers of the rally. We specifically did not want this to be an open carry rally. Washingtonians already have the right to open carry and have for decades. Waving long guns around does not fit in with the rally purpose, which was to convince Legislators to begin to roll this idiotic initiative back.
Of course, the only media attention is led by pics of the long gun brandishers. Make no mistake – they were not merely displaying their long guns.
My wife and her crew ggot numerous thank-yous from members of the public for providing maps to the legislators offices and sample letters to be handed to each rep. Half of the people who took the sample letter wrote their own letter on the back rather than go with the printed prose.
The long gun people (15 at most), who were repeatedly told that it was not their rally to crash, ignored us. Now the well is poisoned and no legislator is willing to touch any rollback bill this session. Next year is a short session so there will be no effort then either. Two full years before we can get traction and it’s all due to these jackasses who think they are the cat’s meow.
File this in “why a conservative state is blue” category.
I’ll disagree to this extent…
The public has been successfully programmed to see guns as “scary” things.
For my generation, they were just things…tools, as I aptly refer to them.
For the public to be exposed to people with guns…and who feel passionately…who are NOTHING but peaceful and law-abiding, is no bad thing.
While I do not carry a long-gun in public, I don’t think it should be a provocation if I did. And, for those delicate flowers in the public that would freak…TS. It would be excellent for them to get over that phobia.
PLATYPUS, You come across as believing that you can only exercise your rights if your activities are Liberal approved. If carrying a long gun is perfectly legal then why are your panties in a wad over observing a legal, peaceful activity?
So let me get this straight, so your argument is that its the fault of the people who carried guns safely and legally that there will be no overturning of the legislation you oppose? Seriously, you think it might have anything to do with the legislators lack of integrity and testicular fortitude?
Schadenfreude against the Left is just about my only (political) pleasure anymore. This REALLY cheers me up! (And more proof that OWS – #BlackLivesMatter (which should be #BlackLiesMatter!).
S/B OWS = , not – .
“…Rhode Island lawmaker said Friday that he’ll introduce a bill making it a felony to block a highway…”
Sir, just because some idiots decide to break an existing law, does not mean you must make yet another, far more severe law for them to break. I’m certain that enough existing laws have been broken for these idiots to be flogged through the court system for months if not years, provided that there is any backbone in the enforcement process. If not, passing a law that makes what they did a felony is not only stupid, but counterproductive, as now the State may use it on anybody they dislike who accidently might cross its boundries.
Excellent point.
For years “anarchists” have been coming to Tea Party rallies, Repub conventions and the like and been illegally disruptive. Have there been any consequences? I don’t recall hearing of any.
Just enforce the laws already on the books in smart ways. Most cities require parade permits issues in advance and proof of insurance and the like plus charge fees to issue permits that allow a public road to be blocked for a parade.
Remember too that demonstrators usually want TV images of themselves being arrested and egg on the police to resort to force.
So film the darlings from multiple angles and follow them home and arrest them in front of their parents and the neighbors. .
WA resident here. One correction: I-594 was not passed by the Legislature, it was an inititiative, meaning if one gets enough signatures, the state places your inititiative (no matter how loony or badly thought out) on the ballot. Their campaign backed by huge contributions from anti-2nd amendment types (Bloomonberg, et al), and the lemmings passed it. It was sold as a “background check” measure, but in reality is so poorly written that many innocent transfers (like lending a hunting buddy a shotgun) fall within its prohibitions.
I recall many states voted to ban gay marriages. Those popular referendums were ultimately overruled by courts citing rights which did not exist. I-594 is a blatant and direct disregard of the constitution, and this law should not be repealed, it should be be overruled by the courts as unconstitutional. To seek a repeal is to admit to its legitimacy, which it is not.
How do you know there is no right to same-sex marriage? Have you read the Ninth Amendment? Do you expect to find all of your rights enumerated in the Bill of Rights? How about this – supporters of same-sex marriage have it all wrong, it’s not that they have a right (even though they arguably do have such a right), it’s that the government has no enumerated authority to discriminate against same-sex couples, and to treat them differently from opposite-sex couples who are permitted to marry.
BTW, I was at this rally, and the previous three or four (loosing track of them over the last two years or so). I believe in freedom. That means I have the freedom to do things others do not approve of (like open carry), and they have the freedom to do things that I don’t approve of (like being idiots and morons).
Indeed. (Mr. Eastman, please fix the oversight: I-594 was a ballot initiative passed by voters, not a legislative bill.)
I’m an Oregonian here, but I watch Washington because what happens in Washington often migrates south before too long.
There have been several “regulatory” changes in order to allow officials to comply with the ill-conceived statutes in the measure….
… such as WA Dept. of Fish & Wildlife hunter education instructors now officially being granted “law enforcement” status, just so they can show-and-tell different firearms to students without having to impose dozens of background checks per class (per I-594’s vague language, each time a firearm changes hands, regardless of how long/short a duration, a background check is required for the “transfer” unless it’s done through “law enforcement”).
So WA-DFW hunter education instructors are now “law enforcement” officers, and if a student unthinkingly hands a firearm to another student in the class without first handing it to the instructor, it’s an unlawful “transfer”. Seems legit, right?
It’s a stupid, stupid law, plain and simple.
Also a Washingtonian…
I was surprised to see 594 pass. However the school shooting w/in weeks of the election played a role in that.
Only law abiding citizens will obey it and will therefore do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.
Although Washington is largely blue- it’s better than most for Gun rights. We are a Shall Issue state for conceal carry with reciprocity that exceeds most other states.
Also- liberal Seattle sways most elections. Otherwise the state is fairly red.
Many of my friends are moderate-liberal. They voted for 594. When I talked to them about it (the day after the election), I discovered that they didn’t have a clue what was in it. When I told them, they denied that what I was saying was true (you see – I’m the nutjob because I own guns). They drank the Kool-Aid and weren’t even aware that they had done so.
“Only law abiding citizens will obey it and will therefore do nothing to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.”
Quite right. I-594 also requires all handgun transfers to be recorded and registered by the Dept. of Licensing (who had a year’s backlog on handgun registrations before I-594 passed).
And per the U.S. Supreme Court (see Haynes v. U.S., from 1968), prohibited persons cannot be required to register their guns. To do so would violate their 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, as it would be an admission that they have guns they’re not allowed to have.
So not only will it do nothing to “keep guns out of the wrong hands”, it can do nothing to that end.
Individual dignity. Intrinsic value. Go forth and reconcile.
#AllLivesMatter
Legislature not responding well to the open carry.
http://seattletimes.com/html/localnews/2025497927_gunshousegalleryxml.html
If I lived n Washington I’d be arrested. I don’t believe this ruling comes anywhere close to passing Constitutional muster, and appears to be in direct conflict with state law. Someone needs to carry into the gallery, refuse to leave, and set up a test case.