Dozen Armed With Guns Protest Obama Speech

[festus]

PHOENIX -- About a dozen people carrying guns, including one with a military-style rifle, milled among protesters outside the convention center where President Barack Obama was giving a speech Monday -- the latest incident in which protesters have openly displayed firearms near the president.
Dozen Armed With Guns Protest Obama Speech - Political News - FOXNews.com
Gun-rights advocates say they're exercising their constitutional right to bear arms and protest, while those who argue for more gun control say it could be a disaster waiting to happen.

Phoenix police said the gun-toters at Monday's event, including the man carrying an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle slung over his shoulder, didn't need permits. No crimes were committed, and no one was arrested.

The man with the rifle declined to be identified but told The Arizona Republic that he was carrying the assault weapon because he could. "In Arizona, I still have some freedoms," he said.

Phoenix police Detective J. Oliver, who monitored the man at the downtown protest, said police also wanted to make sure no one decided to harm him.

"Just by his presence and people seeing the rifle and people knowing the president was in town, it sparked a lot of emotions," Oliver said. "We were keeping peace on both ends."

Last week, during Obama's health care town hall in New Hampshire, a man carrying a sign reading "It is time to water the tree of liberty" stood outside with a pistol strapped to his leg.

"It's a political statement," he told The Boston Globe. "If you don't use your rights, then you lose your rights."

Police asked the man to move away from school property, but he was not arrested.

Fred Solop, a Northern Arizona University political scientist, said the incidents in New Hampshire and Arizona could signal the beginning of a disturbing trend.

"When you start to bring guns to political rallies, it does layer on another level of concern and significance," Solop said. "It actually becomes quite scary for many people. It creates a chilling effect in the ability of our society to carry on honest communication."

He said he's never heard of someone bringing an assault weapon near a presidential event. "The larger the gun, the more menacing the situation," he said.

Phoenix was Obama's last stop on a four-day tour of western states, including Montana and Colorado.

Authorities in Montana said they received no reports of anyone carrying firearms during Obama's health care town hall near Bozeman on Friday. About 1,000 people both for and against Obama converged at a protest area near the Gallatin Field Airport hangar where the event took place.

One person accused of disorderly conduct was detained and released, according to the Gallatin Airport Authority.

Heather Benjamin of Denver's Mesa County sheriff's department, the lead agency during Obama's visit there, said no one was arrested.

Arizona is an "open-carry" state, which means anyone legally allowed to have a firearm can carry it in public as long as it's visible. Only someone carrying a concealed weapon is required to have a permit.

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

"To me, this is craziness," he said. "When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you're just making the situation dangerous for everyone."

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. "The more guns we see at more events like this, there's more potential for something tragic happening," he said.

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said armed demonstrators in open-carry states such as Arizona and New Hampshire have little impact on security plans for the president.

"In both cases, the subject was not entering our site or otherwise attempting to," Donovan said. "They were in a designated public viewing area. The main thing to know is that they would not have been allowed inside with a weapon."

Representatives of the National Rifle Association did not return calls for comment.

[sambo42xa]

I just read this in the paper this morning. I just hope this does not give "ammo" to the Anti's who are now going to say something like........."oh my god, people are carrying at Presidential campgains; this is not right, we need to change the law...etc." I honestly can see something happening down the road with this ongoing trend of LAW ABIDING citizens exercising Their Rights to carry. We ALL need to stay educated and stick together to keep Our Second Amendment!
Peace.

[HK4U]

What worries me is that the Marxists, one world order group that is pulling the strings of our government leaders would plant someone to instigate something.

[DougG]

I beleive in the right to carry and I also think open carry is fine in some cases and places. Wish we had it in Texas. I do worry about the getting the Anti-gun groups stired up by open carrying in Phoenix durring Oboma's town hall meeting. This may have been going over the line getting the common person nationwide to side with the anti-gun nuts.

[ricardo900]

The media once again are portraying these guys as "NUTS" and I've said on this board many times, that there is a right way and wrong way of doing things to get your point across. I will repeat what I have been saying all along, "Stop pushing these people". Now, you have people in the middle or on the fence, pushing for tighter gun control and a renewed TOUGHER "Assault Weapons Ban".

[Filbert]

The message is that if we don't exercise our rights, they will be taken away. It's time we work to desensitize the public to seeing firearms. Look, these guys were carrying guns and nothing bad happened. Imagine that!

[Glock Fan]

Originally Posted by Filbert

The message is that if we don't exercise our rights, they will be taken away. It's time we work to desensitize the public to seeing firearms. Look, these guys were carrying guns and nothing bad happened. Imagine that!

+1 I agree. Too many people have decided to give up their right to OC and since most people don't see a lot of folks OC, when they do come across an ordinary citizen who happens to be OC'n, they don't know how to respond and sometimes call LE. We as responsible gun owners need to do our part in educating the public while conducting ourselves in a responsible manner while out in public.

I personally OC when and where it's legal, but do CC when I feel it's appropriate or necessary. Would I OC at one of the places discussed, possibly, would I look down on someone for simply choosing to OC, no. Now if that said person decides to act like a "nut case", then I would treat them appropriately.

The decision to OC, CC or NC (not carry) is a personal decision. As long as it's legal, I have no problem with my fellow American exercising their 2A rights.



gf

[Scooter70]

This is the funny part:

Originally Posted by festus

Paul Helmke, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said people should not be allowed to bring guns to events where Obama is.

"To me, this is craziness," he said. "When you bring a loaded gun, particularly a loaded assault rifle, to any political event, but particularly to one where the president is appearing, you're just making the situation dangerous for everyone."

He said people who bring guns to presidential events are distracting the Secret Service and law enforcement from protecting the president. "The more guns we see at more events like this, there's more potential for something tragic happening," he said.

Originally Posted by festus

Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said armed demonstrators in open-carry states such as Arizona and New Hampshire have little impact on security plans for the president.

Secret Service says it's not an issue yet the media still tries to make a big deal out of it. The more people see that legal, law abiding citizens are not a threat the better off we all will be. They need to realize that it's not that we want to turn the US into a militant society but that we will excercise our freedoms whenever possible.

[ecocks]

+1 to the Libertarians who set this up and I hope the NRA can followup with a positive campaign of gun rights and public awareness.

[Doc and his Glock]

There is a time and place to open carry and there is a time and place to be just stupid.. Give them the ammo and yes they will take your rights away... Get real -- why would you want to open carry around the President?? Do you want to make a stupid move and get shot.. Get real !! It is like the person who is killed at the intersection and everyone there said "but they had the right of way" maybe they did but they are dead.. maybe you do have a "right" to open carry but -- stick it in their eye enough and you will lose that right..