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Armed demonstrators stroll through downtown St. Louis
STLToday.com (St. Louis Post Dispatch) ^ | October 26, 2014 | Jim Gallagher

Posted on 10/26/2014 1:37:54 PM PDT by Da Bilge Troll

About 40 demonstrators armed with pistols and rifles — and a 19-month-old toddler with a toy gun — took to the streets of downtown St. Louis on Saturday afternoon to assert their right to carry guns openly in public.

The crowd walked peacefully along sidewalks from Citygarden to the Gateway Arch, surprising tourists along the route. The heavily armed crowd shouted “Congrats!” to surprised wedding parties posing for pictures in Kiener Plaza.

They carried pistols in holsters and long guns slung from their shoulders.

About 10 St. Louis police officers watched the gathering at Citygarden but didn’t interfere or follow the group on their walk. National Park police snapped pictures as the group walked on to the Arch grounds.

At Citygarden, a slightly larger group of counterprotesters gathered, many coming from a nearby meeting of Amnesty International. They drew chalk outlines of bodies on the pavement, bearing the names of people shot by police. They called it a “die-in.”

“Open carry is indecent exposure,” read one sign.

The two groups milled together at times and argued their points with each other, for the most part politely.

The protest was organized by Jeffry Smith, an accountant from Cincinnati who came armed with two holstered pistols and an Israeli Tavor long gun, with a 30-round magazine, draped across his chest. He has organized similar demonstrations in Ohio.

The demonstration was called “to exercise the newly codified rights in the Missouri Constitution,” he said. Voters in August passed a state constitutional amendment strengthening the right to own firearms. The Missouri Legislature passed a separate law that effectively removed municipal bans on openly carrying weapons.

(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: banglist; missouri; opencarry; stlouis
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The demonstration would have been much larger if the organizers had allowed Tea Party signs and flags. Still, it made its' point.
1 posted on 10/26/2014 1:37:54 PM PDT by Da Bilge Troll
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To: Da Bilge Troll
At Citygarden, a slightly larger group of counterprotesters gathered, many coming from a nearby meeting of Amnesty International. They drew chalk outlines of bodies on the pavement, bearing the names of people shot by police

Gotta love the ability of leftists to juxtapose completely unrelated issues to attempt to make a point.

Oh, and regarding Amnesty International - how many person oppressed abroad would NOT be oppressed if the citizens could bear arms?

2 posted on 10/26/2014 1:40:21 PM PDT by dirtboy
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To: Da Bilge Troll
Counter-demonstrator Tef Poe, of Hands Up United and the Organization of Black Struggle, said the calm police reaction was in contrast to police behavior at protests in Ferguson.

When we protest in a similar manner, without guns, they proceed with aggression and arrest,” Poe said.

Ironically, that's as good a defense for the 2nd as I have ever seen.

3 posted on 10/26/2014 1:43:09 PM PDT by eddie willers
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To: Da Bilge Troll

An armed society is a polite society.


4 posted on 10/26/2014 1:43:27 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!!)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

Impress me. Do it in NYC.


5 posted on 10/26/2014 1:43:46 PM PDT by SpaceBar
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To: dirtboy

Why didn’t they make chalk outlines of people shot by gang members or killed by “kids” on the corner?

Idiots !

.


6 posted on 10/26/2014 1:46:15 PM PDT by Mears
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To: eddie willers

That’s exactly what I was thinking!
Is the guy trying to support the open carry advocates, or just too stupid to know that he made an excellent point in their favor?


7 posted on 10/26/2014 1:46:32 PM PDT by Clump ( the tree of liberty is withering like a stricken fig tree)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

St. Louis was a great place to do this.

Have the “community organizers” started screaming it was a racist KKK-style display yet?


8 posted on 10/26/2014 1:47:28 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods (....Let It Burn...)
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To: eddie willers
Ironically, that's as good a defense for the 2nd as I have ever seen.

That's a good point. Somehow I don't believe Tef Poe when he says his folk demonstrated in a similar manner though.

9 posted on 10/26/2014 1:48:02 PM PDT by TigersEye (ISIS is the tip of the spear. The spear is Islam.)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

So AI protests people shot by cops, while demanding that only cops carry guns??


10 posted on 10/26/2014 1:52:12 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: eddie willers
Besides the correct point already made above, there's this:

Protest Leader: “When we protest in a similar manner...”

The people marching with guns weren't screaming obscenities, throwing things at police, destroying property and ignoring lawful orders.

11 posted on 10/26/2014 1:52:21 PM PDT by SaxxonWoods (....Let It Burn...)
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To: TigersEye

Same way the unionistas complain they were locked out of the state capitol building in Michigan while open carry advocates were allowed to walk around in the building with impunity.

The difference being that the open carry advocates weren’t screaming, hollering, kicking doors and trying to disrupt state business.


12 posted on 10/26/2014 1:53:49 PM PDT by cripplecreek (You can't half ass conservatism.)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

13 posted on 10/26/2014 1:58:37 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: cripplecreek

The MSM will be showing side-by-side footage to demonstrate the similarities. /BS


14 posted on 10/26/2014 1:58:43 PM PDT by TigersEye (ISIS is the tip of the spear. The spear is Islam.)
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To: Da Bilge Troll
St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay held a press conference after the walk Saturday.

"What you saw on the streets of St. Louis today, was like a scene out of a bad western," he said, surrounded by women representing "Moms Demand Action For Gun Sense in America" and State Representative Stacey Newman.

The mayor dismissed Saturdays demonstrators as "extremists".

15 posted on 10/26/2014 2:03:14 PM PDT by smokingfrog ( sleep with one eye open (<o> ---)
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To: dirtboy

I was told a great story by some Ex-SpecOps guys that I swore on a beer I would never reveal; but the gist of it goes like this. They were in a part of the world where citizens are not allowed to own guns. Some dogooder group got in the way of a local warlord and were under direct pressure to leave the country. Some manhandling of the dogooders happened just prior to my friends arrival. When my friends arrived a gun fight broke out and the dogooders were herded into a compound protected by two of my friends. One of the dogooders was a loud mouth lib peace nut. She was highly offended by the actions of the warlord and demanded that the guys “give him a good talking too and explain that it was not acceptable to manhandle women!” About that time the warlord and his troops roared into the town square exactly into the crossfire ambush the guys had set-up. They wiped them out to a man. When the all clear sounded the dogooders were horrified that they had killed all the bad guys. One of the soldiers looked at the woman and said “He didn’t want to talk, so we ended meeting.”

No idea if it is true but it is a great story and I have no reason to doubt it.


16 posted on 10/26/2014 2:06:52 PM PDT by mad_as_he$$
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To: GeronL
So AI protests people shot by cops, while demanding that only cops carry guns??


17 posted on 10/26/2014 2:07:49 PM PDT by TigersEye (ISIS is the tip of the spear. The spear is Islam.)
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To: Da Bilge Troll

With the way America has gone under the Obama regime, it is more important now than ever that Americans are armed for their own self defense.


18 posted on 10/26/2014 2:11:34 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Ebola and Enterovirus-D68. Proud members of Viruses Without Borders.)
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To: Jim Robinson
"An armed society is a polite society."
Robert Heinlein - Belongs on every bumper!
19 posted on 10/26/2014 2:15:17 PM PDT by Da Bilge Troll (Defeatism is not a winning strategy!)
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To: mad_as_he$$
“He didn’t want to talk, so we ended meeting.”

LOL

Like the new ads with the Dead Mouse Theater. "Summer camp is over".
20 posted on 10/26/2014 2:16:22 PM PDT by cripplecreek (You can't half ass conservatism.)
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