Posted on 05/10/2004 10:51:05 AM PDT by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - It wasn't a "Million Mom March" -- it was a "thousand gang limp," said one Second Amendment supporter, describing Sunday's anti-gun march in Washington.
The Washington Post, which ran the story on page B-1, said "thousands" of people, mostly women, marched to "end gun violence" on Sunday.
The newspaper described the rally as "the largest gun-control demonstration in four years," then went on to say, "The rally lacked star power, and certainly the numbers, of the first Million Mom March in 2000, when hundreds of thousands of women flooded the Mall on Mother's Day."
The Washington Post said organizers of this year's event estimated the number of attendees "at close to 3,000." The Associated Press put the number at 2,000, according to John Michael Snyder, public affairs director of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms (CCRKBA).
Snyder said the rally shows "the good citizens of the United States of America would rather spend Mother's Day enjoying their time with the mothers of America than wasting it on Brady bunch nonsense."
The so-called "Halt the Assault" rally was organized by the Million Mom March in connection with the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The two groups merged after the first Million Mom March.
According to Snyder, Sunday's march "drew such a pitiful crowd of supporters that automobile traffic on the bridges crossing the Potomac River from Virginia into Washington, D.C. flowed more quickly than normal " - despite full-page newspaper ads urging gun control supporters to attend the rally.
Snyder suggested that given the cost of the newspaper ads and the relatively low march turnout, the Brady Campaign is "wasting contributers' money."
The marchers demanded an extension of the ban on certain semi-automatic weapons, which is set to expire in September. But Snyder said the low turnout at Sunday's rally "shows clearly that there certainly is not massive popular support for extending the ban on so-called assault weapons beyond the September sunset date.
"The fact of the matter is that there never was such support for the ban," Snyder said.
He suggested that if the Brady Campaign really wants to boost public safety, "let them join us in supporting congressional moves to overcome foot-dragging on the part of the Transportation Security Administration regarding the arming of commercial airline pilots."
'Big Pink Rig'
Undeterred by the lackluster showing at Sunday's gun-control rally, march organizers said the "Halt the Assault Tour" will now travel across the continent "to raise public awareness" about the impending demise of the "assault weapons ban."
In a press release issued on Sunday, the gun-control group announced that "thousands of committed activists today kicked off a national campaign to save America's assault weapons law, scheduled to expire in September, after a day of pleas that President Bush keep his campaign promise to rescue the ban."
Activists will travel the nation in a 26-foot pink recreational vehicle that will stop in dozens of cities, starting with a visit to the site of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia this coming Thursday. The tour will cover at least 20 states and include stops at both the Democratic and Republican national conventions, the Million Mom March announced.
"America doesn't want to turn back the clock, and see these reckless killing machines return to our streets just as our children are going back to school," said Shikha Hamilton, national spokeswoman for the Million Mom March. "President Bush has the power to save the assault weapons ban. All he has to do is pick up the phone."
It's up to Congress to renew the gun ban, and although President Bush has indicated he supports renewal, he has not discussed it or pressured Congress to act.
"There are 127 days left, beginning today, before the assault weapons ban expires. There are only about 50 legislative days left -- when Congress can receive President Bush's clear call for action on renewal," said Michael Barnes, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence united with the Million Mom March.
"We will not rest. We will do everything we can to ensure that all Americans are aware of this deadline. There are literally lives hanging in the balance."
The "Big Pink Rig" is scheduled to visit Richmond, Virginia; Raleigh, North Carolina; St. Louis, Missouri; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Cleveland, Ohio; Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Portland, Maine; Boston, Massachusetts; New York, New York; Detroit, Michigan; Denver, Colorado; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Phoenix, Arizona; Portland, Oregon; and Seattle, Washington. The Rig will likely tour California, New Hampshire, Indiana, Illinois and other states as well, the Million Mom March announced.
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Oh yes we do, lady. Turn the clock back to 1968...maybe even 1934. It's for the children.
. . . where they plan to take sledge hammers and batter the bell to bits.
Dear, Shikha Hamilton. Please give ONE example where an "assault" weapon has been used to kill ANYONE, let alone a child
Oh, and THEN perhaps you'd like to surprise me with your definition of an assault weapon, hmmm?
Snicker, snicker, guffaw, lady-like snort!
I see The "Big Pink Rig" has decided to leave us alone. Just as well. 'Nuff said :)
Yes, we know a .45 would be better. But she won't carry a .45 around during the summer.
You be the judge:
This is an aerial photo taken from an ABC News flyover of the May 14, 2000 crowd at the Million Mom March at the Mall in Washington, DC. Note that the crowd stops at the uppermost white tent, and green grass (unobscured by people) and a white sidewalk are clearly visible at the top of the picture. The stage for the MMM is at the lower part of the picture, and the photo shows the entire crowd, which, by no means extends from "one end of the mall to the other". The only way you could fit 750,000 people into an area this size would be if you buried them five deep underground.
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The photo on the left is an aerial photo of the crowd of the Promise Keepers march at the same mall in Washington, DC. The official estimate of the size of this crowd (not rally-originated) was put at over one million, for real. The photo on the right is the Promise Keepers march photo with the landmarks from the MMM superimposed on the Promise Keepers photo. The green line marks the position of the sidewalk that appears in the upper portion of the MMM photo. You can see the breaks in the trees where it enters and leaves the mall, and bits of it on the right and left sides. The yellow outline therefore marks the area that the MMM crowd would have filled if viewed from the same angle as this Promise-Keepers aerial photo.
The ABC site, unfortunately, calls it variously "almost 750,000", "over 750,000", and "thousands". ABC also begrudgingly called the SAS-AIM crowd "over a thousand". Of course, twelve billion is "over a thousand" as well, so that's a marvelously misleading way of downplaying any number you care not to deal with.
Hey Snyder, hush! Let 'em keep wasting their money on ineffective efforts. Then they'll have less resources down the road.
Notice they ain't comin' to Texas. :) Maybe they're not quite as dumb as I thought, but they surely are just as crazy.
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