Dozens of Second Amendment rights activists holstered their handguns and slung unloaded rifles over their shoulders Monday at a gun rights rally in northern Virginia, while hundreds of like-minded but unarmed counterparts converged in the nation's capital.
The gun-toting protesters in Virginia were within the bounds of the law but promised to keep the weapons unloaded. Those in Washington, D.C., chose not to carry any firearms in compliance with the district's strict gun laws, even though many believe the rules are unconstitutional.
Signs reading "Which part of 'shall not be infringed' confuses you?" and bright orange stickers saying "Guns save lives" dotted the crowd at the Washington Monument. Across the Potomac River in Alexandria, former Alabama Minutemen leader Mike Vanderboegh told the crowd armed confrontation should be reserved only for instances of the government threatening people's lives.
However, he said it might be justified if people face arrest for refusing to buy insurance under the health care reform package recently passed by Congress.
"If I know I'm not going to get a fair trial in federal court ... I at least have the right to an unfair gunfight," Vanderboegh said.
Nicki Stallard, an official with Pink Pistols – a group that promotes the armament of the gay community – offered a rambling address during the afternoon session of Monday’s gun-rights protest, capped off with a plea for LGBT members to go and get their guns.
“The gay community should be the most heavily armed community in the country,” Stallard said, before suggesting that gays should be joined in their gun-rights advocacy by Jews and African Americans.
Stallard, who is openly transgender, went on to talk about everything from the Second Amendment rights, to the crime problems of urban society, to anti-gay rhetoric in political discourse. It went on far longer than any speech prior. At one point, perhaps sensing lethargy in the crowd, she proclaimed: “If the gay community is full of Vulcans we’d have them. But they are not. They are full of humans.”
It was truly a tour de force. And at various points the crowd grew frustrated and even hostile. “Take off your dress,” screamed one woman, “you’re a man.” Stallard was wearing a black skirt and a pink top.
Stallard did get her share of applause. Discussing the violence to which the gay community is often subjected, she mocked the idea that she and others were supposed to simply call the cops.
“Their answer for self defense is to dial 911,” Stallard said. “And I get a homophobic cop defending my butt? Does anyone see a problem in that!?”
--SAM STEIN
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