Gun rights supporters demonstrate across U.S.

Gun rights supporters — many carrying rifles and ammunition — gathered at state capitols across the U.S. on Saturday to push back against efforts to pass guncontrol laws that they fear threaten their constitutional right to bear arms.

From Delaware to Wyoming, hundreds gathered at peaceful protests to listen to speakers who warned that any restrictions on gun ownership or use eventually could lead to a ban on gun ownership, which is guaranteed under the 2nd Amendment.

“If you have a building and you take a brick out every so often, after a while you’re not going to have a building,” said Westley Williams, who carried an AR-15 rif le as he joined about 100 people braving blustery weather in Cheyenne, Wyo., for a gun rights rally in front of the state Supreme Court building.

Among the Cheyenne protesters was Republican gubernatorial candidate Taylor Haynes, who said he was carrying a gun under his leather duster. Haynes told the crowd the 2nd Amendment is the most important amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the Constitution couldn’t be enforced without it.

Organizers of a gun rights rally in Augusta, Maine, said about 800 people showed up to protest what they fear are attempts to limit 2nd Amendment rights.

Dave Gulya helped lead Saturday’s rally, which he said made the point that “we are law-abiding.”

He said they also rallied in support of people who go to work or schools in gunfree zones.

Saturday’s protests were planned in dozens of state capitols less than three weeks after hundreds of thousands marched in Washington, New York and elsewhere to demand tougher gun laws after the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17. Organizers of those protests demanded a ban on assault weapons and high-capacity magazines, and called for universal background checks on potential gun owners.

During a pro-gun-rights gathering in Atlanta on Saturday, more than a quarter of the estimated 160 participants carried weapons, as well as flags and signs saying “Don’t Tread On Me,” as they listened to speakers talk about the right to bear arms. A few people wearing “Black Lives Matter” Tshirts showed up and made videos, but didn’t interact with the demonstrators.

Similar rallies were held in Boston; Indianapolis; Montpelier, Vt.; Albany, N.Y.; Austin, Texas; Des Moines and other cities.

The coalition behind the gun rights rallies describes itself as a collection of patriotic-based groups that “come from all walks of life, including Three Percent groups and local militias.”

The Three Percent movement vows to resist any government that infringes on the Constitution. Its name refers to the belief that just 3% of Colonists rose up to fight the British.

Such groups have far fewer followers than more mainstream gun rights advocates such as the National Rifle Assn.

A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans spread word of the rallies on social media.