Militia Members Gather Outside DC

Militia members are gathering on a field just outside of Washington DC today in advance of their Second Amendment March on the Capitol. Outside DC city limits, they are allowed to openly brandish their weapons.

On the lineup are several heroes of the militia movement, including Mike Vanderboegh, who advocated throwing bricks through the windows of Democrats who voted for the health-care bill; Tom Fernandez, who has established a nationwide call tree to mobilize an armed resistance to any government order to seize firearms; and former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, who refused to enforce the Brady law and then won a Supreme Court verdict that weakened its background-check provisions. Those coming to the "Restore the Constitution" rally give Obama no quarter for signing the law that permits them to bring their guns to Fort Hunt, run by the National Park Service, and to Gravelly Point on the banks of the Potomac River. Nor are they comforted by a broad expansion of gun rights in several states since his election. The brandishing of weapons is "not just an important symbol" but "a reminder of who we are," said Almond. "The founders knew that it is the tendency of government to expand itself and embrace its own power, and they knew the citizenry had to be reminded of that."

Not uncoincidentally, today's saber rattling towards our federal government comes on the 15th anniversary of the bombing of the federal building in Oklahoma City. JMG reader and federal employee Jimbo sends us the below photo of seven coworkers killed on that day. It hangs in the office of Jimbo's agency there.