MONDAY, APRIL 19, 2010
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POLITICS THE NATION
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Armed and angry, and demonstrating on the capital’s edge
A RIGHTS RALLY IN VIRGINIA
Issues include taxes and Second Amendment
by Ann Gerhart
Daniel Almond, a three-tour
veteran of Iraq, is ready to “muster outside D.C.” on Monday with sev- eral dozen other self-proclaimed patriots, all of them armed. They intend to make history as the first people to take their guns to a dem- onstration in a national park, and the Virginia rally is deliberately being held just a few miles from the Capitol and the White House. Almond plans to have his pistol loaded and openly carried, his ri- fle unloaded and slung to the rear, a bandoleer of magazines contain- ing ammunition draped over his polo-shirted shoulder. The Atlan- ta area real estate agent organized the rally because he is upset about health-care reform, climate con- trol, bank bailouts, drug laws and what he sees as President Obama’s insistence on and the Democratic Congress’s capitulation to a “to- talitarian socialism” that tramples individual rights. Amember of several heretofore
little-known groups, including Jews for the Preservation of Fire- arms Ownership and Oath Keep- ers — former and active military and law enforcement officials who have vowed to resist laws they deem unconstitutional — Al- mond, 31, considers packing heat on the doorstep of the federal gov- ernment within the mainstream of political speech.
Others consider it an alarming
escalation of paranoia and anger in the age of Obama. “What I think is important to note is that many of the speakers have really threatened violence, and it’s a real threat to the rule of law,” Josh Horwitz, executive di- rector of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, said of the program for the armed rally. “They are calling health care and taxes that have
THE WASHINGTON POST LINDA DAVIDSON/ PHOTOS BY
Members of Restore the Constitution plan their strategy for Monday’s rally, to be held at two locations on the shores of the Potomac River. Online talk about the muster has turned threatening.
March at the Washington Monu- ment, want it known that they have nothing to do with the Re- store the Constitution muster. “We are a peaceful, law-abiding group that will follow all local and federal laws,” the march organ- izers’ Web site says. “That group is a separate entity entirely and is not at all associated,” but at least two speakers are appearing at both rallies, including Larry Pratt, the executive director of Gun Owners of America, a key force be- hind the D.C. rally. “It is our own fault that we are in this situation,” Vanderboegh in- tends to tell those assembled, ac- cording to a draft of his remarks. “Each time these revolutionists of gradualism against the Founders’ Republic took another bite out of the Constitution and shoved us back from the natural exercise of our God-given and inalienable rights, we have backed up, grum- bling. We have not shoved back.” Gravelly Point, where the dem-
been duly enacted by a demo- cratically elected Congress tyran- nical, and they feel they have a right to confront that individu- ally.”
On the lineup are several heroes of the militia movement, includ- ing Mike Vander- boegh, who advocated throwing bricks through the windows of Democrats who vot- ed for the health-care bill; Tom Fernandez, who has established a nationwide call tree to mobilize an armed re- sistance to any govern- ment order to seize firearms; and former Arizona sheriff Rich- ard Mack, who refused to enforce the Brady law and then won a Supreme Court verdict that weakened its background-check provisions. Those coming to the “Restore the Constitution” rally give Oba- ma no quarter for signing the law that permits them to bring their guns to Fort Hunt, run by the Na-
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Daniel Almond will carry a pistol and a rifle.
tional Park Service, and to Grav- elly Point on the banks of the Poto- mac River. Nor are they comforted by a broad expansion of gun rights in several states since his election. The brandishing of weapons is “not just an impotent symbol” but “a reminder of who we are,” said Almond. “The founders knew that it is the tendency of government to ex- pand itself and em- brace its own power, and they knew the citi- zenry had to be re- minded of that.” Countered Horwitz: “Our founders thought they got rid of political violence with the Con- stitution. That was its point. The basic idea of
America is one person, one vote, equality.” Vanderboegh and Horwitz both
said: “We have a fundamental dif- ference in worldview.” April 19 is the anniversary of the bombing of the federal build- ing in Oklahoma City in 1995 and
the government’s final confronta- tion in 1993 with the Branch Davi- dian cult members in Waco, Tex. But Almond said he chose the date to honor the anniversary of the 1775 battles at Lexington and Con- cord that began the Revolutionary War, “and that is the only reason.” So-called open-carry rallies
have been sprouting across the country. Hundreds gathered in Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio last week, and rallies also are tak- ing place Monday in Arizona. Where demonstrations were once solely about the Second Amendment, speakers now quick- ly link protecting gun rights to safeguarding all other liberties and decry the new health-care leg- islation as unconstitutional in its mandate that individuals must buy coverage.
On April 12 in Richmond, more than a hundred people, dozens sporting pistols, cheered when Philip Van Cleve of the Virginia Citizens Defense League called for replacing the “anti-Constitution, anti-freedom, anti-gun” leader- ship of the state Senate and when
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli II reaffirmed his vow to be “aggressive in protecting the Constitution, as it was written.” There have been no accidental discharges or arrests at the open- carry rallies, according to a review of news accounts. The Fort Hunt rally, however, has caused partic- ular consternation and alarm in the online world where gun-rights advocates plan, recruit and dis- cuss strategy. Oath Keepers, which in a year has grown to 20,000 online mem- bers, signed on early as an event sponsor but abruptly pulled out on April 12. “It had gotten to the point that it would be dangerous to attend,” said board member Rex McTyeire, citing an escalation of threatening rhetoric online from some participants. “There are people out there willing to do any- thing to create chaos in an un- controlled situation, and [the event] is wide open for disaster.” Organizers of another April 19 rally, the Second Amendment
onstrators will take turns going to from Fort Hunt, was chosen be- cause it is as close to the District as they could get while carrying guns and also comply with local and Interior Department regula- tions.
When they stand on the river banks Monday and preach an ac- tivism that sounds to some like se- dition, the armed demonstrators will have the full support of the federal government they fear, carefully detailed in the 26-page event permit, complete with the gun regulations of both Virginia and the Interior Department and a commitment to provide fencing, barricades and bike racks for the event. “We handle tens of thousands of demonstrations of a First Amend- ment nature annually,” said Dave Schlosser, spokesmen for the U.S. Park Police, “and we are handling this event no differently than any of the others. We assess what their needs are to allow us to facilitate a safe and successful demonstration so they can exercise their rights to free speech and free assembly without interference.”
gerharta@washpost.com
Questions for the nation’s parks director. A13
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