A man is shown legally carrying a rifle at a protest against President Obama on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona.
Posted on 08/17/2009 9:52:21 PM PDT by TaxPayer2000
PHOENIX, Arizona (CNN) -- A man toting an assault rifle was among a dozen protesters carrying weapons while demonstrating outside President Barack Obama's speech to veterans on Monday, but no laws were broken. It was the second instance in recent days in which unconcealed weapons have appeared near presidential events
Video from the protest in Phoenix, Arizona, shows the man standing with other protesters, with the rifle slung over his right shoulder.
Phoenix police said authorities monitored about a dozen people carrying weapons while peacefully demonstrating.
"It was a group interested in exercising the right to bear arms," said police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill.
Arizona law has nothing in the books regulating assault rifles, and only requires permits for carrying concealed weapons. So despite the man's proximity to the president, there were no charges or arrests to be made. Hill said officers explained the law to some people who were upset about the presence of weapons at the protest. Watch the rifle being legally carried at rally »
"I come from another state where 'open carry' is legal, but no one does it, so the police don't really know about it and they harass people, arrest people falsely," the man, who wasn't identified, said in an interview aired by CNN affiliate KNVX. "I think that people need to get out and do it more so that they get kind of conditioned to it."
Gun-toting protesters have demonstrated around the president before. Last week, a man protesting outside Obama's town hall meeting in New Hampshire had a gun strapped to his thigh. That state also doesn't require a license for open carry.
U.S. Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan acknowledged the incidents in New Hampshire and Arizona, but said he was not aware of any other recent events where protesters attended with ...
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
A man is shown legally carrying a rifle at a protest against President Obama on Monday in Phoenix, Arizona.
I’m guessing he’s not even a member of a white supremacist group.
AZ is an open carry state. Why is everybody freaking out on this? If the Libs think it will help them to call this out they are wrong.
Things go better with Colt, or Armalite, or Winchester....
/johnny
and their point?
Its a black guy and this was a pro-ObamaCare rally, right??
Man, these elites come from some other planet or continent. They probably thought that regular people only carry weapons in the movies.
Oh, this will really win some PR points for our side and particularly for undecideds on Obama, health care and what not that we want to get rolling with us in the national momentum. I bet the libs hate things like this to happen because it only helps and fortifies our image nationally. They wouldnt dare use this imagery against us or create little PR-reichstag fires to slander us. Never. Perish the thought.
/sarc tag not needed, but supplied anyway. you can never be too careful these days....
The left really freaks out when they see a gun. You’d think they were from another planet, not the US of A.
Liberals won’t care when guns are turned on conservatives, though. They will be really pro-gun when/if THAT happens.
That doesn’t look like an assault rifle. It looks like a semi-automatic rifle.
Idiot press.
So, was he there to protest or to support Obama’s policies?
It probably keeps the ACORN/SEIU in line.
Looks like a pic from Israel, without a good looking babe.
nope...obama won’t go near israel these days
And what’s the body count? Zero? How could that be?
They’re already demagoguing this, and guess what?
The guy was in amongst the Pro-Obama crowd. He was on their side...
They want to stigmatize firearms, screw ‘em. AZ isn’t playing.
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