There has been some concern over this part of the March rules.

I want to make it very clear that we are not telling you not to bring weapons, we are simply asking you not to bring weapons.  Whether or not you arm yourself is entirely up to you.  It is a free country after all, and we are fighting to keep it that way.

I have included an email written to us from someone voicing their concerns.  (I have left off their name because I have posted the email without first contacting them for permission, thus they shall remain anonymous.)  I have also included the response from Glenn V. Domingo, which quite nicely sums up our position and why we made this decision.

Anonymous wrote:

>  You asked me to give you feedback on the rally web page.
>  I have only one criticism, and it is a vehement one.
>
>  For you to tell people who live in CCW states NOT TO BRING THEIR GUNS
>  because you want the rally to be "peaceful" is a terrible mistake, and
>  one that I hope you rectify IMMEDIATELY.
>
>  First of all, for you to presume to dictate/request that people NOT
>  EXERCISE their constitutionally protected rights in the course of a
>  dead-serious protest against government usurpation of rights (in fact,
>  the VERY ONE you are focusing on) strikes me as utterly irrational--and
>  more.
>
>  You must understand: these people have a RIGHT to bring their guns! That
>  is EXACTLY what this is about! For you to say this makes me think you
>  misunderstand the whole concept of the Second  Amendment, and that you
>  have ZERO appreciation for the effort and sacrifice of those citizens
>  and politicians who who labored to get CCW laws passed (for the record,
>  I believe such laws are unconstitutional--that we don't need ANY
>  permission to carry such firearms, but we'll hold that debate for now.
>
>  Furthermore, your implication that if they bring their guns the rally
>  might not be "peaceful" is EXACTLY what an anti-gun fool would say. What
>  do you mean by this, exactly? that one of these CCW people might go
>  berserk and start shooting.
>
>  I must tell you that, though I respect the efforts you are expending,
>  and though I understand that it's difficult to get more than two people
>  to agree on the details of any collaborative effort, this part of your
>  website irritated the heck out of me. I believe it is very wrongheaded
>  and counterproductive.
 

[Anonymous], I don't exactly know everyone else's spin on your
criticism but this is mine...

I fully understand your displeasure, and in a perfect world we
wouldn't be having these rallies in the first place.  But there are a
couple reasons for the decision to not bring along firearms, or even
knives, or anything that could be used as a weapon.

1st.  WE are fighting a propaganda war.  The Anti's and the
Politicians (is there a distinction here?) will use every possible spin
they can use.  The fact that a bunch of red necks, (Mine's a brown
neck) show up toting guns, saying that they demand freedom, will
not play well.

2nd.  God forbid the BATF or some other gov agency shows up to
hassle us, and they actually get aggressive, if none of the participants
are armed, even in a defensive capacity (pepper spray) it will give
them a black eye that will be hard to cover.  Fifty points for the
good guys.

There are more but these are the most important.  And the ones
that the public will find most important.  I know you disagree, and
there was much discussion on the subject, but the over whelming
choice among all those participating in the decision was in favor of
going un-armed.

Just to let you know the decision was made back in early April at
roughly 32 to 2.  We hope you will attend even if this choice
offends you.

GVD/Glenn V. Domingo/choir-boy out.