Boston Gun Supporters Have A Peaceful Gun Appreciation Day Rally
WEBN staff photo
By Pamela Cyran 1-19-2013
This afternoon almost 1,000 people rallied outside the State House for the first ever National Gun Appreciation Day. The event reached capital cities across the country where thousands of Second Amendment supporters sent their message to state legislators.
“I’m here because I’m a firm believer in the Second Amendment,” said Brent Williams,who is a 39 year old from Arlington, Massachusetts. “There are a lot of people, politicians and legislators, who are very ignorant when it comes to firearm mechanics, just the nature of how they work.”
Williams said he is being grouped with criminals because of what he legally possesses.
The new Gun Appreciation Day was started by the online community group called Guns Across America. Eric Reed founded the group. He is a pilot from Texas who launched a Facebook event calling gun supporters to head to their local gun shops, gun clubs, and local government buildings with signs that read “hands off my guns.”
Today the Boston demonstrators stood peacefully holding signs that read “law will never control the lawless” and “one amendment falls, the rest follow.” American flags and “Don’t tread on me” flags were evident. Even children stood wearing signs that read “my mom and dad need the Second Amendment to protect me.”
The message about rally plans had spread through Twitter, Facebook, and pro-gun forums.
Lowell resident Mike Doyle who is 63 years old saw the notice on Facebook and cleared his schedule for the day.
“[The Second Amendment] was put there for my defense and the defense of my country and my constitution,” said Doyle. “Not for hunting.”
Last Tuesday New York became the first state in the nation to limit the amount of rounds in a magazine. Doyle however believes that won’t help.
“If someone is absolutely bent on killing people, they practice changing magazines….five, ten round magazines. You keep changing them, you get the same amount of bullets,” said Doyle. He claimed that it takes only a second to change a magazine.