A conservative coalition has scheduled the first-ever "Gun Appreciation Day," calling on gun activists around the nation to rally in support of the right to bear arms.
Gun Appreciation Day is set for Jan. 19. Gun activists are asked to turn “out en masse at gun stores, ranges and shows from coast to coast" in an effort to rally against President Barack Obama's “post-Sandy Hook assault on gun rights," according to a press release on the group's website.
"On 01.19.13 go to your local gun store, gun range or gun show with your Constitution, American flags and your 'Hands Off My Guns' sign to send a loud and clear message to Congress and President Barack Obama," the site's landing page urges visitors.
Said Gun Appreciation Day chairman Larry Ward, according to a press release announcing the planned demonstration, “If the American people don’t fight back now, Obama will do the Second Amendment what he has already done to the First with Obamacare – gut it without a moment’s thought to our basic constitutional rights.”
Gun Appreciation Day is scheduled to be held two days before Inauguration Day, when Obama will be sworn in for his second term as president of the United States. The pro-weapons rally is a response to the heightened focus on gun control laws in America following the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Conn., that left 26 dead. The organizers are also reacting to Obama's gun control task force, headed by Vice President Joe Biden and instated to formulate a comprehensive gun control agenda for the nation.
Conservative groups that make up the Gun Appreciation Day coalition include the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Special Operations Speaks, Revolution PAC, Citizens and Country, Social Security Institute, Committee to Draft Judge Andrew Napolitano, Conservative Action Alerts, Women Warriors PAC, Conservative Action Fund and Political Media, Inc.
Alan Gottlieb, chairman of the 650,000-supporter Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, also endorsed Gun Appreciation Day in a press release on Monday:
Millions of law-abiding firearms owners are not about to be penalized for the unconscionable act of a madman. We will not all be judged by the conduct of a single crazy person. Our intent is to telegraph a message to Congress and state legislatures around the country that trampling our rights is not an acceptable solution to violent crimes committed by people who don't care about laws, much less the lives of the people they harm.
NPR reports that the coalition was inspired to rouse gun activists after Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day, declared in August by those who support the restaurant chain's anti-gay marriage stance.
So far, a Facebook page for Gun Appreciation Day has attracted 1,680 Likes.
[Hat tip, Politico]
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