South Carolina Adds Voice to Nationwide Pro-Gun Demonstrations

On January 19, I attended a pro-gun rights rally on the steps of the South Carolina Statehouse in Columbia, South Carolina. The rally was a part of a larger series of demonstrations organized at State Capitols all across the United States in order to voice support for gun rights as well as opposition to the recent unveiling of a variety of unconstitutional Executive Orders and legislative proposals from the gun-grabbing Obama administration as well as other anti-gun politicians at both the Federal and local levels.

The rallies were being referred to both as “Gun Appreciation Day,” and “Guns Across America” and were almost exclusively organized via social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

Although the turnout at the event I attended, which was made up of about three hundred people when I arrived an hour late, was not what one would consider to be stellar, the national turnout was also not merely in the “hundreds” as CBS News has deceptively reported, but in the thousands.

Still, while the overall turnout was low, the fact is that the events were plagued with significant confusion and lack of resources, a notable lack of promotion from the NRA, the largest gun-rights organization in the country with unparalleled influence in the gun-owning community. Instead, the rallies were organized and promoted by smaller nationwide organizations such as the National Association for Gun Rights and Palmetto Gun Rights.

Thus, being handicapped by lack of real media attention, reliance on social media for advertisement, lack of support from larger organizations, very short notice, and the unfortunate but general apathy expressed by many gun-owners, the rallies were not capable of drawing out the millions we would have preferred. Still, the numbers were by no means a failure and one can only hope that they are merely the first shot to be fired (pun not intended) in a larger wave of indignation coming to the country.

Regardless, the South Carolina demonstration took the form of most other political rallies on the Statehouse steps, full of signs with pictures of guns, the text of the Second Amendment, and other pro-gun slogans as well as scheduled speakers, communicating with the crowd via a bullhorn. When the scheduled speakers were finished, members of the crowd were invited to come up to the “podium” and speak.

Most of the speakers, at least the ones I was present for, discussed many of the facts gun rights activists are already familiar with – crime and homicide statistics, the need for self-defense, and anecdotal stories about how gun ownership has personally kept them safe.

Many of the speakers, however, did address the issue that the Second Amendment not only exists for self-defense from individual predators but also from tyrannical government. Surrounded by police (who, to their credit, acted in a very professional manner for the duration of the event), it seemed that the speakers and the crowd were content to dance around the issue that it would be the very police and military they were “thanking for their service” who would be tasked with conducting the particulars of any confiscation scenario, thus pitting the two against one another.

This potentiality was no longer brushed over when a member of the crowd walked up to speak through the megaphone. Very calmly, he stated something to the effect of the following,

I’ve heard a lot of things get said up here today and I’m not disagreeing with them. I’m not looking to disagree with them. But I keep hearing that the second amendment is about self-defense and how guns keep us safe. Let’s be real. Guns are there to shoot bad people in the face. And the Second Amendment is there for when our government becomes so tyrannical that we can’t take it anymore, we can turn our guns against them and shoot them in the face. And the reality is when tyranny comes to us, it will be wearing a uniform. And a badge. As long as it is words on paper, these meetings like this matter. But when it stops being just words on paper, and it becomes reality, then we are going to have to make some hard decisions. And there may come a time when we have to shoot law enforcement in the face. Now I sincerely hope our local officers will refuse to try and confiscate weapons if they are given the orders. But there are going to be those who don’t refuse. And that’s something we all are going to have to think about. [1]

While his statement obviously stunned the crowd (ironically, the police did not seem as shocked or alarmed as the audience), the gentleman, whose name is unknown this writer, did address an issue that many have worried over but have been afraid to voice, particularly in venues such as a public demonstration. Without a doubt, it is certainly a scenario none of us would like to see. Unfortunately, if current trends continue, it may be a scenario that many gun owners find themselves in.

In addition, another man who rose to speak began to educate to the demonstrators about the billions of rounds of ammunition that the Department of Homeland Security has recently purchased, a fact that was clearly unknown to many of those present in the audience.

In the end, while the numbers across the nation and in the state were not what we would like to see, one positive note is that a successful demonstration by pro-gun rights activists was launched by smaller, state-wide and independent organizations as opposed to the traditional organizations which have historically been behind such rallies.

Even with such obstacles in their paths, these organizers and activists were able to create a nationwide demonstration that still managed to draw the attention of even the mainstream media.

Let’s hope the January 19th rallies were only the beginning.

Footnote:
[1] This is a paraphrase and should not be taken as a direct quote as the statement was not recorded. The statement is transcribed as well as possible and the integrity of the statement remains intact.

Read other articles by Brandon Turbeville here.

Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of three books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, and Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident. Turbeville has published over 190 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.