Recent 2nd Amendment rally made me proud and sad.

[wusker]

*Disclaimer: what I have to say is my own personal opinion, take it as you will.

So you may ask yourself "Wusker, why were you proud at the rally?" I was proud to stand for something with hundreds of the rest of you. Happy to see folks from all walks of life stand for their beliefs and make signs and speak publicly.
Supporting our contitution is very important and it is under attack whether by the senate or Obamacare or the daily misguidance of a poor president.
I believe the issue of violence is a general degrade in our society and family values. Currently our faith our family/marriage and our general way of life as conserative Americans is under attack and has been for a least 40 years. Our current society and media/entertainment perpetuates the thought that we are here for ourselves not anyone else, that violence and sexuality is a must to bring in money, and money is our god. That everything must be fair, each person must have the same and little johnnys team didnt lose their score ended in a draw cause we dont want to hurt the poor kids and let them feel defeat and know loss.

I am a proud Christian, by no means am I perfect I am far from perfect. It only means I follow Jesus Christ and try to lead my family with him as my compass. I look at americans and watch these families as I walk the mall with my family and go to walmart and I am astonished at the general rudeness and poor examples and morals we set not only for ourselves but our legacy; our children.

I know for a fact that the majority of these issues concerning poor morals & violence whether it be with a gun or not are caused by poor guidance from the fathers first, that we as men ultimately lead the women astray and the children follow our guidance.

You may also say "Well Wusker what would have made you sad at the rally!?" That I sat there and watch some of the conspiracy theory-tinfoil-hat-wearing-nutjobs try to make a tragedy like Sandy hook into some type of a militia recruiting platform and they truly believe that LEOS, feds and our local and federal government are corrupt enough to murder 26 innocent people, just to remove guns from our hands. As soon as that began I looked at my wife and son and said "lets go". I would love to see someone who believed that, confront one of the fathers that lost a son or daughter. I think the tinfoil hat would have been shoved down the mans throut before the crowd could pull the father off of him.

Why did I bring this up weeks after the rally, I saw this video and the emotion the man has is real and his own. I feel sorry for those that spread deceit and lies, and I being the father of 6 feel deeply for this mans loss.

[bkoenig]

I was rather annoyed by the Alex Jones crowd that showed up, as well.  I don't trust our Federal government - far from it, these are people that shipped guns to drug runners and lied about it under oath.  But to suggest that a local law enforcement officer would be complicit in the murder of these children is insulting, frankly.  I know several police, both local and state patrol, and they're all fine people who take their oath to serve and protect very seriously.

People like this distract from the real scandal, which is that people within our government are using this tragedy as an excuse to subvert the Constitution while doing absolutely nothing about the underlying problem of mental illness. 

[ckspeed]

While I don't agree with the tinfoil hats, I do feel there leaves a lot to be desired in trusting our government, and that distrust simply feeds the conspiracy theorists to the point of the absurd. What do you believe or choose not to? Where do you draw the line? Do you not feel that some facts have been distorted and we've been lied to in order to advance an anit-gun agenda?  The middle ground between fact and fiction becomes murky and grey as there is a lack of trust, and history has proven that distrust of the media and our own government to be a valid concern.  What about the rifle, where was it found, in the car or out of the car? I don't know, I wasn't there, I didn't see it with my own eyes. Do I find it at least plausible the information about the weapon used could be altered, you bet I do.

Look at Benghazi, did we really trust the government reports initially? Do we now trust Hillary when she says "It doesn't matter" why Americans were attacked? It's sickening that 4 Americans died for no reason other than partisan politics.

In general, I feel that we as Americans are spoon fed by the media, glued to TV for every ounce of information and take it as gospel. The media is just as sick and twisted as any violent video game or R rated movie, it's corrupt brainwashing entertainment being played off as "news".  I think we can all agree the tragedy in Sandy Hook has been grossly exploited by the current administration and the leftist media. Whether or not the facts presented are all 100% true and accurate, we'll never know.

While I don't agree that you need to be a Christian, Muslim, Indian, or whatever your flavor, to have good moral values, be a good parent, or a good American, I do feel that our current culture is entirely to blame.  As Wusker said, this falls squarely on the shoulders of us as parents and citizens.  We as Americans are soft, we cannot offend anyone, there is no accountability, everyone is a winner, and everybody is entitled. We have an administration that supports the killing of the unborn, yet is appalled at water boarding a terrorist.

Still, many of us, conservatives and patriots, sit and do nothing, waiting for any storm to pass, sitting in the basement confident it will all blow over. The squeaky wheel gets the oil and the good citizens of this country are all too often....silent.

[wusker]

CKspeed I totally agree. I will never fully trust the government, did I like millions of americans see the major news outlets report that there were more than one gunman at sandyhook and also that he used pistols and a rifle was recover at the scene in his car. I will always question this until I see an autopsy report and hear it from LEO on the scene that recvoered the AR-15 near his body. I remember vividly the questions and such that were as far out when 9/11 went down.
But you know what I am talking about the wack jobs that think its all a setup and we had a few of those at the rally, it made us as gunowners at the rally look like paranoid conspiracy theory militia men, and that is the type of thing I do not want at nationally recognized rallys for the right to bear arms. The last thing we need is more people acting like alex jones and supporting the 2nd at the same time it worsens our cause.

And while they have the right (1A)to think and say those things I have the right to vehemently diagree.

Oh and I never said you had to have faith of any type to be moral and or guide your families properly, but that is my compass as it was most of our founding fathers is all I was saying and also it is mine.

[unfy]

I'm a Libertarian, but I don't buy into tin foil hat stuff.

If tin foil hat folks spent time on the microphone about it... that's... bad.  The issue was 2A stuff, not tin foil hat.  Gotta be on key and concise.  Ya can tin foil where it's appropriate

[Hardwood83]

A friend of mine sent me a Video purporting the conspiracy around Sandy Hook. I told him that I don't buy it- not because I don't believe the Govt capable of such a monstrous act, because I most certainly do- but because I don't believe they could keep it secret. I do believe 'they' immediately jumped at the chance to exploit it- which is just about as bad, isn't it? Craven, self-serving tyrants in the making.

Sandy Hook, 9/11, the Kennedy Assassination, bad things happen and they are outside our control and difficult to understand. The question is how do we respond to them.

[springfield40]

All great posts, here!  My son and I were very excited and proud to be there to proclaim our 2A right, and express our commitment and resolve to keep that right.  But like some of you, we quickly turned and exited when the tin foil hat crowd started to talk.  And in hind sight I (we) should have invited them to the side of the stage keep quiet, and or leave, just as if it were a person proclaiming misguide facts about gun violence, or anti 2A talk.  Why?  Because that is not what we are about, or the image we want portrayed about us.
I also want to express great appreciation to those who took the time from their life to put this event together.  I know it takes allot of time and effort to do that.  So hats off to you, and I thank you!!
But the error that occurred was not controlling the open mic.  It's easy for me to armchair comment what was the right thing to do so I want to also express this is not criticism, but observation for next time around.  The mic should have really never been opened to whoever walks up.  As we saw and witnessed, it can, and did turn bad.  Also what if an anti gun plant or passerby stepped up just to act up and make a scene to make us look bad, or to attempt to start trouble to create bad press?  If an open mic was wanted, then it would have been prudent to have one to three trusted members control the mic, ask what they are about to say, and end if necessary any misguided talk quickly.  I respect free speech, but that microphone belongs to this forum.  They can organize their own demonstration later if they want.  That's just my 2 cents on that.
I also agree and believe that whatever your faith is, is irrelevant to this point.  But that morality is taught at home, and not in the classroom, or by government.  There is a huge degradation to the family, and the values that goes with that, and that shame is on us and us alone.  Every day too many allow the TV to baby sit the family, and allow Holly weird teach their views and values to our own family.

It was a great event, and would be a great to do it again too.  Keep the pressure on the elected people and make accountable, that is our only weapon at this time.
Thank you again to everyone who were involved, and stood up for our rights. 

Frank

[Dan W]

That rally was organized by a group on Facebook and NFOA members attended, but did not have any input as to the format or the speakers

[cckyle]

I think there was more of a negative response to the comment, "ladies, I'm going to talk to the men here for a few minutes."