”Now that’s some funky freepin’!”
Posted on 05/09/2004 5:19:34 PM PDT by kristinn
The Second Amendment Sisters, some of whom here may remember were born on Free Republic, held their second national rally to counter the Million Mom March in Washington, D.C. today.
While both gatherings had fewer participants than expected, the turnout for the anti-gun MMMs had to be disappointing.
Four years ago, with a White House send off by President and Mr. Clinton, the MMMs claimed 750,000 people attended their Mothers Day rally in D.C. A year later, a few hundred returned to the nation's capital for the MMMs. This year, only 2,000 people made the Mothers Day trek to call for more gun control laws.
With the pro-choice march two weeks ago having drawn hundreds of thousands of supporters, it would seem that the liberal body politic has chosen abortion as its do-or-die issue this year, leaving the fight for more anti-gun laws on the back burner.
The Second Amendment Sisters also saw a sharp dropoff in attendance figures from four years ago. In 2000, about 5,000 people attended their pro-gun rights Mothers Day counter-rally in D.C. This year, about 300 supporters attended their SAFER Rally (Second Amendment Freedoms for Everyone Rally.)
In a strange twist, both organizations had their rally headquarters in the same hotel: The J.W. Marriott. Yesterday afternoon, dueling merchandise and information tables were set up forty feet apart in the lobby.
With the exception of a MMM t-shirt wearing woman who got on an elevator with a SASter and told her she wished she had a gun so she could shoot the SASter, things were pretty calm between the two camps.
MMM leader Donna Dees Thomases later apologized on behalf of MMM to SAS for the death threat.
The weather was perfect for rallies and marches in D.C. The SASters started setting up at Freedom Plaza, located at 14th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, around 6 a.m.
The MMMs started their set up at the West Lawn of the Capitol around midnight.
By 11 a.m., it was apparent to the SASters that they would be drawing a small crowd. They had planned for up to 5,000, the same as four years ago, but that was not to be.
However, the 300 or so people there stayed until the rally ended around 2:30 p.m. The speakers were excellent--the kind who don't make you want to start looking for a museum to escape to.
Shemane Nugent, Kay Daly, Niger Innis, John Lott, Jr., Re-Joyce Smith, and Sarah Roush (Miss Teen New Mexico, 2003) were among the many interesting and passionate speakers.
The rally was emceed by the very funny comedienne, Julie Gorin, from New York City.
Media interest was about what one could expect: The Washington Post and New York Times were there, as were WTOP-AM, WRC-TV, CNN, NRA-TV and ABC News.
There about two dozen FReepers in attendance, along with a few LPers.
FReepers I can remember seeing there include (chime in if I miss you): Angelwood, tgslTakoma, daughterofTgsl, Doctor Raoul, rabidralph, Scholastic, leadpenny, BufordP, stand watie, Badray, basil, pistolpknmama, dbwz, Pro2Amom, BruceFromMtVernon, Exit148, SaundraDuffy, gunsareOK and a few more whose screen names I can't recall.
LPers there were Fred Mertz and Cal.
Besides the rally, the SASters had meetings with their state coordinators and an awards reception the night before. Monday, they have a meeting scheduled on Capitol Hill.
The SASters would of course have liked to see more people attend their rally, but they still consider the entire effort a success. They got their name and message out in the media, their organizational meetings went well and they're primed to expand this year.
The MMMs, on the other hand, have been in freefall since after their first rally and are being propped up by liberal politicians, a sympathetic media and the Brady Campaign.
The SASters have been doing this on their own. The fact that a true grassroots group started on FR by five lady FReepers is still alive and kicking four years later is great news.
”Now that’s some funky freepin’!”
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