A tale of two rallies

This morning I was reading the press coverage of last week’s Stop The NRA ‘rally’ in DC.

Despite the fact that it only attracted a whopping 60 attendees, it received quite a bit of positive attention from the mainstream media.

Now … let’s compare that to another rally that took place last week with practically no media attention.

On Tuesday April 23rd, I drove the 430 miles from Bristol Virginia to Harrisburg Pennsylvania for the 8th annual Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally.

This rally, which takes place every year, is a gathering of Pennsylvania gun owners who travel to the state capitol to let their voices be heard by those who represent them.

So how did the two rallies compare?  Well … since the Stop the NRA ‘rally’ was a nationwide effort and the Right to Keep and Bear Arms Rally was only for Pennsylvania gun owners, it might seem that the state rally would have far fewer attendees than the nationwide rally.  Right?

Not so fast … that might be true if the Democrat’s polling about the interest in gun control were valid.  But no … nothing could be further from the truth.  Let’s take a look at the ‘crowd’ that appeared for the Stop The NRA ‘Rally’.

I think the picture speaks for itself. The turnout for the anti-gun rally was pathetic by any objective standard.

Now let’s turn to the Pennsylvania rally.  It was scheduled to start at 10 in the morning and it was about 10:15 when I finished parking my car on 2nd Street and headed over to State Street to walk the 2 blocks to the Capitol Building.  As I rounded the corner, I was absolutely floored by the huge crowd that literally overflowed the steps of the Capitol.

The official police estimate put the crowd at around 1,500 people but it felt much larger than that.  And the people in attendance were fired-up as the speakers took turns addressing the Democrat’s war on gun owners.

I want to particularly congratulate the attendees from Beaver County Pennsylvania who wore matching red hats and red, white, and blue smocks.

There were even historical characters in attendance.

And … like every other gun rights rally I have ever attended, this one was very much a family friendly event.

It was also interesting to see how social media has changed the landscape.  There was a gun rights advocate there who was live tweeting the event.  He took time out from tweeting to pose for a quick picture showing a very cool 2nd Amendment Soldier sticker.

When the speakers finished speaking, I joined Harry Schneider from Pennsylvania Sportsmen’s Association and Dan Campbell and David Green from Firearm Owners Against Crime as they headed into the Capitol Building to meet with legislators.

In the entryway of the Capitol, I noticed that there were displays of civil war era weapons. It was good to see one of the original ‘assault weapons’ on prominent display.

As I watched Harry, Dan, and David meeting with pro-gun legislators, it became clear that Pennsylvania gun owners are dedicated to protecting their freedoms and they have advocates who are very much up to the challenge.

Anti-gun groups can’t hope to compete with that.