We went to Frankfort early on Tuesday to cover the gun rally put on by Kentucky United. Before the rally started, Jack Brammer of the Herald-Leader and Bruce Maples of Forward Kentucky got an interview with one of the organizers, David Gardner.
David Gardner interview
What are you trying to do here?
Basically, we’re trying to unite as many people across the state, no matter race, sex, whatever — you’re all citizens, you all have the right to defend yourself. And that’s our big thing.
Is this part of the NRA?
No sir. The NRA has, in our opinion, not stepped up like they should have in the past few years.
How many members in your Facebook group?
As of this morning, about 77,800.
Are you the leader of the group?
John Cartwright is the leader of the group, but I help out from time to time.
What is the group’s purpose?
The new laws that have been proposed by the incoming governor – the red flag laws, the semi-automatic weapons ban, the high-capacity ban – everything that we’ve not had for the past 100 years, that we’ve been fine without. Why do we need new laws all of a sudden? We need to enforce what we have on the books.
What’s your problem with the red flag laws?
The biggest problem with the red flag laws is that anybody can complain about you, say you’re a threat to him, you’re a threat to me, you’re a threat to yourself. They can take your firearms without any due process.
So the due process is the real issue.
That’s just it — it violates the 2nd, 6th, and 5th amendments.
Would you be willing to meet with the persons writing the laws to try to work out some way to make them better?
That’s part of the purpose here, is to get their attention so they will talk with us.
I saw on your FB page a set of rules. Are those the official rules of the group?
Those are the official rules. We have several moderators. We’ll go through and try to keep the content directed at what the group’s purpose is. We don’t allow harassment of any type, political division — your political party does not determine your rights.
I noticed some posts on there from members that were inflammatory. And those have been removed.
Anything that is regarded as inflammatory we will remove. We constantly monitor and scan the page, and we do not want anything inflammatory. The purpose here is to show yourself as a regular citizen with your rights intact.
One of the rules was about militias. There are militia members in the group. But the rule was pretty emphatic that this is not about militias, and if you start recruiting we’re going to get upset.
Correct. This right here is just about everyone’s rights. If you are part of a militia, you can do your own thing on your own time. We don’t discourage, but at the same time, that’s not our goal here.
The group Moms Against Guns says there are over 600 gun deaths in Kentucky each year. And they don’t understand why anyone needs a semi-automatic weapon.
Why does the government need them? It’s a simple fact: the 1st Amendment was created to guarantee free speech, and the 2nd was created to defend the 1st. It is not about deer season or whatever; it is about keeping the government in check.
If you look at the past 100 years, every country that has enacted gun control had total control over the citizens.
After the interview
About 9:15, the rally attendees that had marched from downtown Frankfort began arriving at the back of the Capitol, where the rally was going to be held. Some were carrying signs, some were armed. Almost all were male, although there were a few females here and there.
The official rally started with prayer. The prayer invoked God’s blessing on the group as they tried to do everything in peace, and included thanks to God for the right to bear arms, stating that the right “was given by You.” The prayer ended with a hearty Amen from the group.
After the prayer, the speaker asked for veterans to identify themselves by which branch of the service they served in. Based solely on the number and volume of respondents, it seemed that the Army had the most people present, with the Marines close behind, and some from the Navy and the Air Force.
Finally, the speaker got to the nut of the issue: the bill requests having to do with guns. There was general condemnation of bill request 354, which includes regulations on large-capacity magazines and assault weapons. The overriding concern, though, seemed to be the Red Flag laws, and what the group saw as the possibility for “gun grabbing.”