Gun extremists brought loaded assault weapons and handguns to a rally of mothers calling for common-sense gun laws to protect children and adults from mass shootings and daily firearm fatalities and injuries. A local chapter of Moms Demand Action was gathered for the event in Indianapolis as part of Mayors Against Illegal Guns’ National Day to Demand Action. The event was aimed at keeping the need for new gun laws at the forefront of public attention and pressuring senators and representatives to stand up to the National Rifle Association and pass stronger gun measures that the majority of Americans support.
ThinkProgress reports that “at least two or three men showed up at the rally site before the event began and engaged in a discussion about gun regulations with the group…The armed men — who were later joined by another man carrying a handgun and a woman who runs Indiana Moms Against Gun Control — insisted that they had a right to carry the loaded weapon.”
A local news report showed video of a man from the gun control group asking one of the armed men, “Who goes on a hunting trip with this?” as he pointed to the loaded assault rifle slung over the man’s shoulder. Another armed man answered, “Lots of people. It’s legal in this state to hunt deer.” The man from the gun control group said he didn’t know anyone who goes on a hunting trip with a military-style assault weapon, before asking the man with the assault weapon if he went hunting with it, to which the armed man responded, “This firearm is not about hunting for me… it is my right to have this firearm and I don’t have to defend or show a need for this firearm to own it.”
Gun safety groups held events similar to the one in Indiana all over the country, including at the White House, where President Obama made an emotional appeal for Congress to act on stronger gun laws. “The entire country pledged we would do something about it and that this time would be different,” said the president. “Shame on us if we’ve forgotten. I haven’t forgotten those kids.”
Photo: Indiana WTHR 13 News
