Adam Kokesh is organizing a mass civil disobedience Open Carry March in Washington on July 4. They will be carrying loaded rifles. Kokesh is doing it right, working with law enforcement, working out in advance what the ground rules are should hundreds (or thousands) choose to be arrested.
I’ve helped organize mass protests, including ones where dozens on people sat in the street and got arrested. Kokesh has this planned well. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if several thousand came and the event got worldwide press.
Wikipedia entry on Kokesh
[Kokesh] is an American activist and former talk radio host. Kokesh was a corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and is a veteran of the Iraq War. He is an outspoken opponent of the U.S. military intervention in Iraq and has received media attention related to anti-war protest activities.
In October 2007, Kokesh, along with six other students, created controversy by putting up satirical political posters across the university campus. The posters featured a picture of a stereotypical Arab man and the headline “Hate Muslims? So do we!!!,” with illustrative captions explaining that the typical Muslim is equipped with a venom-spouting mouth, laser-shooting eyes, and hidden AK-47’s, among other parodical features. The poster was signed “Students for Conservativo-Fascism Awareness,” and encouraged students to visit the right-wing website terrorismawareness.org. Kokesh and the six other students publicly admitted to responsibility amidst accusations that the poster was Islamophobic, maintaining that their intent was to spread awareness of what they considered to be the overtly racist intentions of the above-mentioned website’s “Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week” organized by a conservative student organization and featuring David Horowitz.
Fucking brilliant, you ask me.
From Open Carry March Facebook Page
On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.
There will be coordination with DC law enforcement prior to the event. I will recommend that they do the best they can to honor their oaths and escort us on our route. Failing to provide that commitment to safety, we will either be informed that we will only be allowed up to a certain point where we would be arrested. If this is the case, we will approach that point as a group and if necessary, I will proceed to volunteer myself to determine what their actual course of action with someone crossing the line will be at which point fellow marchers will have the choice of joining me one at a time in a peaceful, orderly manner, or turning back to the National Cemetery.