They turned out in the thousands with assault rifles, pistols, American flags raised and, in some cases, placards comparing gun control advocates to Nazis.
It was titled Gun Appreciation Day, a nationwide event organized through a Web site registered to a “Republican New Media consulting firm” called Political Media Inc. The intent, organizers said, was to “send a loud and clear message to Congress and President Obama” against gun control.
The idea, in the face of moves to curb guns after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., which killed 20 children and 6 adults in December, met with some controversy. The Web site Media Matters
pointed out that one sponsor was a white nationalist group called the American Third Position. (The organizers
apologized, said they had failed to vet the group and removed it from their list.)
News reports and pictures posted across social media, and local news reports, seemed to show that rallies organized by the official group and others at state capitols across America
had attracted anywhere from a few hundred to thousands of gun enthusiasts. In Hartford, “between 200 and 400 people” were expected to attend, according to The Hartford Courant.
In Colorado, where James E. Holmes killed 12 and wounded 58 in a shooting spree at a movie theater in Aurora last year, some compared attempts to control guns with communism.
Hundreds of gun activists gather on the steps of the CO Capitol to rally for Gun Appreciation Day //t.co/Qy7gSeFp
In Buffalo, the name of Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York, who had just signed sweeping gun control laws, was put on placards with swastikas.
Niagara Square rally //t.co/PBiF0c6R
Buffalo “gun appreciation day” rally has a poster of Cuomo on a swastika. From @AnthonyCongi4’s picture: //t.co/ffrYKlmS
Across the country, the views of those attending other rallies, and posting their support online, were equally unambiguous:
Tyrant Obama keep your laws off my piece! //t.co/Wku1jBYq
1st annual gun appreciation rally in Texas. Texans don’t play with their guns. #gunappreciationday#NRA#TXlege#guns#2A //t.co/pOyMJIPD
Today’s Gun Appreciation Day rally. //t.co/KPsqe3ky
At #Gun Appreciation Day rally at #Utah State Capitol just before chants of “USA! USA! USA!”by 2,000 people. #utpol //t.co/i2vQROV8
Gun Appreciation Day Rally is causing some noise at Beacon Hill @Political_Pulse //t.co/NYg5ZC6W
Gun Appreciation Day rally wrapping up. Drumroll please, tricorn hat guy! #mnleg //t.co/mJbXYy6T