Texas Gun Owners Rally At The Alamo – Update: Armed Protest Ends Quietly And Peacefully
SAN ANTONIO — Gun enthusiasts gathered at the Alamo Saturday to rally for the right to openly carry firearms, without state and local restrictions that are now in place.
Demonstrators, many carrying rifles, shotguns or 19th-century pistols, cheered speakers who urged them to hold tight to their firearms, as their protected Constitutional right.
Featured speaker Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, a candidate for lieutenant governor whose General Land Office oversees the Alamo, approved the use of the Alamo grounds for the event. Until 2011 the Alamo was overseen by the Daughters of the Republic of Texas, which limited demonstrations at one of the state's most recognized landmarks.
Police Chief William McManus said this week that police would oversee the protest, which he expected to be peaceful.
Excerpted from NBC NEWS: Hundreds of gun-rights advocates, many toting rifles and shotguns, gathered early Saturday at the Alamo in San Antonio to rally in support of gun ownership and the right to bear arms.
The rally, called "Come and Take It San Antonio," comes in response to what organizers called San Antonio police's "disregard for Texas law and The Constitution." Organizers said the police department has harassed gun owners and created a hostile environment for legal gun ownership.
Gun-rights proponents flooded a plaza near the historic site — considered a shrine of Texas liberty since a small band of Texans fought and died in a battle against Mexican forces there in 1836. Many of those gathered carried banners, flags and sundry firearms.The rally launched with remarks from organizers: "We aren't here to start a war today," one said, according to the San Antonio News-Express. "We are here to show that an armed society is a polite society."
The day's keynote speaker, Texas Land Commissioner Jerry Patterson, is a Republican candidate for the lieutenant governor and an avid gun-rights advocate.
Patterson told NBC News that the rally was about the right of Texans to openly carry their pistols.
According to Texas law, gun owners cannot openly carry handguns, but there is no such law prohibiting the carrying of long guns. San Antonio police have recently made arrests of people carrying long guns, citing a more restrictive city ordinance banning weapons in public places.
"The premise is that someone who is openly carrying a handgun is not a criminal," he said, adding that "criminals tend to be discrete" when carrying a hand gun.
Patterson said he supports a person openly carrying a hand gun in most environments, excluding a bar.
He said a bar is "one of the few prohibitive locations that might make some sense."
Victoria Montgomery, public relations manager with the pro-gun rights organization Open Carry Texas, told NBC News that Saturday's rally was about "people who want to be free" and about the right to openly carry arms of all sizes.
"People are starting to wake up – they have rights," she said. "And they're standing up to protect those rights."
Montgomery said she is in favor of openly carrying a weapon in schools, restaurants and churches.
Texas Gun Owners Rally At The Alamo – Update: Armed Protest Ends Quietly And Peacefully
http://patdollard.com/2013/10/texas-gun-owners-rally-at-the-alamo-update-armed-protest-ends-quietly-and-peacefully/
Comments
Post a Comment
Please leave a comment, just make sure they are not vulgar or they will be removed.