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 ...
It was a ‘die-in?’
Is there a list of the deceased and their manner of death?
I fear nothing from an armed American citizen. On the contrary, I feel a sense of security.
“When we protest in a similar manner, without guns, they proceed with aggression and arrest,” Poe said.
Give me a break. The gun toters were not screaming racial invectives, spitting on people, blocking traffic, throwing things, or indulging any of the other practices that the so-called "peaceful" protesters in Ferguson do that tick me off. Which is not to say that there aren't peaceful protestors in Ferguson -- the daytime protests sound to be more reasonable -- but to say the Ferguson protestors are getting arrested for nothing more than stating their case is ridiculous.
Shouldn’t it have read “Armed and ‘DANGEROUS’ demonstrators.?
I wonder what the Ferguson demonstrators think about this?
As is their right.
You don’t bring chalk to a gunfight.
They should have let the kids at home and continued on to Ferguson.
“They drew chalk outlines of bodies on the pavement, bearing the names of people shot by police. They called it a “die-in.””
Those against open or concealed carry and most likely firearm ownership defacing public property, apparently without penalty.
exactly
lol
Being disarmed and helpless before violent assault is “indecent exposure.”
Yeah, all the flames and stuff kinda contradict him....
Ditto bump. Brilliantly brilliant “Brilliant!”
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.