Audio By Carbonatix
On January 16, President Obama, flanked by family members of some of the first graders killed at Sandy Hook Elementary the month before, laid out his plans to curb gun violence. These included 23 executive orders that tweak the system for background checks, lift a ban on federal funding for gun violence research, and make other minor changes. He also urged Congress to require criminal background checks on all gun purchases, close the gun show loophole, pass a federal gun-trafficking law and renew the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004.
None of that fundamentally calls into question the prevailing interpretation of the Second Amendment, that individuals have the right to keep and bear arms, but a sizable chunk of the country took the speech as confirmation that Obama is hell-bent on shredding the Constitution and confiscating guns.
Hence Saturday’s ominously named “Day of Resistance.” It’s a nationwide Tea Party-affiliated movement scheduled for 02/23 in apparent homage to the .223-caliber rifle. The Dallas-Fort Worth event will be at Flag Pole Hill near White Rock at 2 p.m. and, its Facebook page promises, it will be “epic.”
“‘WE’ are they [sic] essential we in we the people,” one post explains. “If ‘WE’ don’t stand tall and push back against this systematical socialist strategy to erase and replace the Constitution of the ‘UNITED STATES’ that has for over approximate 230 yrs. made our nation the greatest nation on the face of the earth. Then who?”
The group’s Facebook page also promises a raffle featuring “cool stuff” like “guns, gun accessories, gun range certificates for shooting lanes/shooting classes etc.,” though donations seem to have been light so far, prompting organizers to issue a desperate plea last night: “****WE NEED RAFFLE ITEMS****WE NEED RAFFLE ITEMS****WE NEED RAFFLE ITEMS****WE NEED RAFFLE ITEMS****”
The rally doesn’t encourage attendees to bring guns, just “American flags, Gadsden flags, and appropriate homemade signs.” But it also doesn’t explicitly tell them not to bring weapons, which is good enough reason to expect firearms of varying sizes. Because how else can they convey their desired message:
