Open carrying guns in my state capitol building? It’s more common than you think
Photos from Getty Images ignited a slew of headlines in national publications and tweets from national figures about a large group of people who converged on the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort last Friday for a rally in support of the Second Amendment.
Following the rally, many of them decided to tour (?) the Kentucky Capitol.
A group called We Are KY Gun Owners organized the rally, which included speakers like U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie and Dick Heller, the namesake of the 2008 U.S. Supreme Court case District of Columbia v. Heller.
Gun rights rallies have been springing up in Kentucky, and other states, as a reactionary measure in response to gun control legislation in Virginia. What’s been happening in Virginia has also fueled the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement.
I mention all this to provide background for the impetus behind Friday’s rally in Frankfort. Members of this group also organized in response to some gun control measures that may/possibly/could appear before the Republican-controlled General Assembly. Even if the bills do appear before the legislature, the general political consensus says nothing will actually happen.
The demonstration elicited the clear point of how the entire situation would’ve been different had it not been a majority of white men open carrying rifles into the capitol building. History has shown, after all, that when the Second Amendment is concerned it’s okay for white people to flaunt it but not Black people (re: when the NRA supported gun control to disarm the Black Panthers).
And that’s an entirely accurate assessment; just consider the long-running list of unarmed Black men who have been shot and killed by police, for example. Even the writing of the Second Amendment was favorable to slave owners in order to wield power over their slaves. Had it been a group of Black men, or other people of color, open carrying assault rifles into the capitol building then everything would’ve changed for the worst.
Highlighted in all this is the security measures, or perhaps lack thereof, at the state capitol that allowed the militia men to walk around the decorative metal detector in the lobby.
According to state administrative regulations, there is a long list of things not permitted in the capitol building (skateboards, hoverboards, rollerblades), but guns and other weapons don’t make the list.
The hypocrisy of what is and is not permitted in the capitol was not lost on people. When teachers protested last year they weren’t permitted to bring umbrellas or signs into the building.
In fact, it was the same teacher protests last year that caused the Bevin administration to restrict visitors at the capitol.
Then there was the time the Poor People’s Campaign, a campaign which calls for a moral revival to unite poor and impacted communities across the country, were barred from entering the capitol under a made up rule that only two people in the group could enter at a time. The group was there to rally for the poverty-stricken people and families of Kentucky and to denounce Matt Bevin’s Medicaid work requirements.
At this point, you may think I’m going to pivot to how crazy it is that people are allowed to open carry a firearm in the Kentucky Capitol with no consequences.
No, what I say is give the teachers, the poor, and the working class people of Kentucky a rifle and let them parade the halls of the capitol. What I’m saying is let people with convictions, sense, and principles into the statehouse.
It’s easy to denounce a group of white men wearing masks and camouflage holding semi-automatic weapons up in defiance (??) of a government they think is infringing on their Second Amendment rights; when in reality it’s very much a government that reflects them and their interests. It’s easy to compare them to terrorists or think they’re detached from reality. Don’t get me wrong, I think those are largely spot-on assessments.
Moreover, I think their lust for the Second Amendment only goes so far to the point that they’re allowed to have guns and wave them around in the air. There’s no consideration from them for regard of other people’s safety or wellbeing, or just commonsense gun safety in general. You can see in pictures and videos of their firearms not being properly strapped and just swinging about. In one case, according to reports, one of the firearms fell on the capitol floor.
Their cosplay allows for maximum photographic prowess but little actual substance.
More than all that, these are people who lack the beliefs they claim to have.
These are the people who often claim they’re doing their part to keep the government in check, or to make sure the government doesn’t continue chipping away at the rights of the people. That’s not the case at all.
If these GI Joe’s were seriously concerned about government overreach, the slow erosion of rights and liberties in the U.S., or upholding the constitution and “rule of law” then we’d see them more often and at a lot more places. (The president breaks laws and ignores the constitution all the time, and at this point it’s common knowledge but largely met with apathy from the right)
Where were they when Matt Bevin was repeatedly made accusations of voter fraud, putting the integrity of elections at risk? Why weren’t they standing up in opposition to the legislature’s advances of restricting abortion, which is upheld in the law? Why weren’t they up in arms over Bevin’s pardons many considered to be a flagrant abuse of power?
Where are they right now as Senate Bill 1, an anti-immigrant bill that would surely restrict the rights and liberties of immigrants in Kentucky, is sailing through the legislature?
Not to mention the complete silence of gun owners and the NRA when Black people are shot and killed for possessing guns they’re legally able to carry.
They aren’t there because they care very little about the infringement or erosion of rights of others. They’ve got theirs so sorry to everyone else.
The reason the state government is more fearful of teachers, Black people, and working class people storming the capitol is their beliefs and demands are considered scary and hostile to the state.
Especially in the case of the Poor People’s Campaign where you have a wide coalition of people from different races (not just majority white), classes, religions, genders, etc. and have them show up on your doorstep demanding better conditions for the people heavily oppressed under the state then that’s going to elicit a very startled response.
An armed group of citizens should be considered hostile to the state, but electorally speaking Republican lawmakers know they’re amongst allies in a group of majority white, gun carrying men. The co-opting of the Second Amendment by the NRA has allowed the group to mold it into something it never really was, but it also provided an organized political hold on gun owners at large. Republican lawmakers would never give serious consideration to any form of gun control, no matter how broadly popular it may be.
What this whole rally and subsequent photo-op boils down to is a nice horse and pony show to get liberals to scoff in disapproval and provide fodder for the right to say “Wow huh can you believe that? Whole group of armed patriots and no danger! No crime! What a fine outstanding group of law abiding citizens!”
All of it is just ammunition for an ongoing culture war around guns. The Democratic Party seceded any actual policy they could enact on gun control a long time ago and Republicans know this, but they’ve got to keep their base riled up and active.
So here’s what I say to the teachers, the poor, the Black, and the at-large working class people of Kentucky: if you’re tired of waiting in line, if you’ve got a thing or two to say to your representative that has long been ignored, if you’re wanting things to even just be marginally better for you and your neighbor then strap on a rifle and skip the line.