Pistol Packing Protesters: Gunning for Power?

It is a common misconception that all liberals are anti-guns. I am a pretty far left leaning liberal and I have nothing against guns or people who use them for hunting or self defense (and no, I do not consider shooting wolves from a helicopter "hunting"). I grew up in a hunting family, and my father, the rifle range master for the local police, used to make bullets in our back yard. My husband has a concealed weapons license and wears a .357 magnum when he is closing the bar at night and sometimes when he is riding his motorcycle. I live in Tucson Arizona, a city with one of the highest crime rates in the country and know many people who keep guns in their homes and / or cars for protection, but, I am appalled by what I see as a very disturbing trend; the use of guns to threaten and intimidate.

At several town hall meeting that President Obama appeared at over the last couple of weeks people showed up wearing guns. At the assembly in Phoenix, one man was armed with an AR 15 assault rifle.

The Phoenix protest was in fact staged by online radio host and libertarian activist Ernest Hancock, with, he says, the cooperation of the Phoenix police, to warn the "tyrannical government that would rob the next generation" that their efforts would be met with resistance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfN7woo2xRY.

In the video Hancock produced of this event, participants speak of "watering the tree of liberty." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63GiXzpfGhA&feature=related) This phrase comes from the quote by Thomas Jefferson, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Back in Jefferson's day we did not have the law enforcement capability or military strength that we have today, so militias were sometimes necessary, and that is, in fact, why we have the second amendment. Today we have not only the police, but the FBI , CIA, and four branches of military, all armed to the teeth and ready to serve and protect. So what is the point these people are trying to make? Is the gun replacing the noose of Jim Crow days as a warning to back off, shut up or die?

In some cases, extremists are not just making threats. In May, an anti abortionist shot and killed a Wichita Kansas doctor who was attending church services. In June a white supremacist fired into a crowd of tourists at the Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, fatally wounding a security guard.

I am not alone in my alarm at this situation. The Department of Homeland Security voicing concern that "the current economical and political climate was fueling a resurgence of radicalization and recruitment" issued this April a report originally commissioned by the Bush administration. http://www.fas.org/irp/eprint/rightwing.pdf.

Even the right wing's Right Side News (The Right News for America) has warned, "bringing a loaded gun to a free speech rally is not a wise or prudent exercise of one's Second Amendment right to bear arms. All it will do is endanger innocent lives and discredit these kinds of activist movements. For instance, while these gun-toting protesters may be few in number, they are already being identified with the protest movement as a whole." http://www.rightsidenews.com/200908226119/editorial/its-time-to-stop-carrying-guns-to-town-hall-meetings.htm

We live in a democracy where people vote and the majority rules. Laws are passed and people are expected to obey them, even if they don't like them. If you do not agree with a law, then you have the right to work through the system to change it. If you believe imposing your will on people with the threat of violence or at the point a gun is a good idea, then I suggest you move to Afghanistan. I hear the Taliban is hiring.