After Action Report:
|
|
Our thanks go out to all those who took the time to stand with us and to the WAC, and in particular, Dan Frank and Joe Waldron of the WAC Board of Directors for working with us to pull off a very successful event. The forces of "gun control" put out the call for what promised to be the biggest anti-RKBA protest of the year. After all, if the NRA National Gun Show wouldn't bring out the troops, what would? But at it's height, the "gun control" crowd grew to only about 35 people, no doubt a deep disappointment to Washington CeaseFire, the protest organizers. On the pro-rights side, a core group of 3-4 dozen counter-protesters, drawn from the ranks of WSTRT, SAS, CeaseFear, DSGL, FreeRepublic and WAC, were joined by reinforcements from amongst the gun show participants as they filtered in and out of the show. We had a fantastic time! As expected, the Misinformed Mommy Minions attempted to take credit for the anti-freedom protest, a common M.O. since their financial collapse and revelations of tax fraud which resulted in their being forced to cut their staff by 90%. The gun-grabbers marched in circles (always to the left, as one of our compatriots pointed out) and chanted various anti-freedom slogans, each one of which we countered with our own version until, each time, their chanting was reduced to an incomprehensible mumbling before dying out entirely. On this day, the voices of freedom were much stronger. Some people honked their horns as they drove by the fairgrounds. Each time, the antis would cheer. They didn't seem to realize who the people were honking for... until they saw a young man on our side holding a sign which read: "HONK IF YOU LOVE FREEDOM." Once again, the voices of freedom held sway. Media coverage was as expected; CeaseFire's numbers were inflated and their lies were given equal status to the truth. WSTRT cofounder, Jeff Stewart was quoted in the Seattle Times, which reported: "The first step in the annihilation of a group is gun control," said Jeff Stewart of the Washington State Tyranny Response Team, which promotes arming teachers as a way to combat school violence. "Look at what happened in Armenia and Cambodia. There are always problems when one group gets to control who can bear arms."While we do support removing the restrictions on self defense in school zones which have been imposed by our government, we haven't supported any program to "arm teachers", we'd leave that to each individual to decide for themselves, thank you very much. Though there were some heated exchanges between a couple of ardent protesters on both sides, there were, thankfully, no physical confrontations. Kudos to the Puyallup Police Officer in charge at the event for a comment he made in response to a question from one of the fairgoers who stopped by to support our side. The fairgoer/protester had become the object of one particularly obnoxious statist mouth-breather's less-than-affectionate attention. Our man had had about enough and began peppering the officer with questions about the legality of the CeaseFire protest, finishing with, "Do they even have a permit for their protest?" The PPD officer answered, saying "Yes, they have a permit, it's called the Constitution." That cop was right. We all have the right, protected by the 1st Amendment to gather in protest. Let's hope the same attitude prevails among "law enforcement" (we like the time-honored term: peace officers) when our side gathers to exercise our rights. We tried to get the WAC to call for all the mothers inside the show to come out and give the MMM a piece of their minds, but no soap. Still there were several mothers out there with us and they didn't hold back too much. The socialist bed-wetters got the message. BTW, the gun show was outstanding! The atmosphere was positive and the aisles were bristling with activity. A whole bunch of people made early National Firearms Purchase Day acquisitions and those of us who hung around for the NRA Banquet and Auction had a splendid time. The auction raised a pile of money for the NRA National Firearm Museum and some very happy people went home with some cool gear and some great guns. Sadly, WSTRT cofounders Jeff Stewart and Bob Anderson were aced out entirely in the raffles. Not so for WSTRT members, and frequent contributors, Rob and Kelli Cochran who scored MULTIPLE times taking home MORE than their FAIR SHARE of the loot... but I digress. Oh, all right! Congratulations Rob and Kel, it couldn't have happened to two nicer people! Don't forget our next ACTION: The Rally Against the United Nations' "Gun Control" Agenda, this coming Saturday, July 14th at the U.S. Courthouse in Seattle. See you there! |