MMM and SAS March in DC -- My Take
by Lazarus

For quite some time I have been looking forward to attending the AIMM (Armed Informed Mother's March) in Washington as well as the attendant MMM gathering.

The weather behaved for all concerned, at about 75 degrees with a cool breeze. The previous day was hot, humid and generally miserable...so with overflowing optimism and a true "grassroots" sign, I soldiered on.

The Mall near the Washington monument was thick with the indolent aroma of estrogen as I watched what seemed to be a sea of primarily "soccer mom" types heading toward two huge TV screens with the Capitol Building in the background. My interests, however, lay elsewhere.

A security officer directed me about a quarter mile away to the SAS Site where I observed an obviously somewhat smaller but infinitely more friendly group of folks. We didn't have pre-printed T-Shirts, TV screens or high profile, taped messages from Clinton. What we DID have was a group of people who didn't scream and mouth platitudes every three or four minutes. We had speeches by women who had survived, through the use of armed intervention, rape and worse. We had Professor John Lott who spoke at length...and gave us facts rather than emotion. We had Grandmothers...we had children. We had an excellent cross-section of America. The speakers, from Prof Lott to the organizers of the event were available to the public and the media, which, surprisingly covered the entire affair was eager to speak with those in attendance. THIS was truly a grassroots affair. I believe the total expenditure was something on the order of $40,000. The group numbered (by my estimate) around 2000 or so. A sign of my own making proclaimed; "Today, 83,000,000 armed citizens behaved peacefully." After searching for some friends from our communities, I decided to wade into the opposition's camp.

Subtle though my message was, I was still greeted by numerous sneers and jeers by several seemingly exasperated women. Hmmm...I was NOT confrontational nor glib , but I guess facts are not what they wanted to hear. Nevertheless, I pushed forward...although I must confess, I did avoid the teeming center of mass. (there IS such a thing as pressing your luck) After all, Laz wanted to return to report to you in one piece...so I relaxed on the sidelines, content to observe and talk with any who might question my sanity, and of course, some did. In point of fact, I seemed to attract more media attention than anything else...and I was happy to oblige a couple of newspaper columnists, a film crew and two documentary crews.

Anyone who claims this was not a political event obviously was not there. They trotted out numerous politicians, eager to jump on the bandwagon, Melissa Etheridge, "Rosie," a seemingly endless string of women, grief-stricken by a shooting who sobbed openly most of the time. It was all emotion...no facts, or at best, skewed facts such as the "12 children a day" mantra. No mention was made that most of the 12 were 18 and 19 year-old drug dealers. Clinton was there with a taped message. I found out later that he was not there in person as there were "fears as to whether or not adequate protection could be had." Wait a minute....do you mean there were GUNS at this rally??? Perhaps they were fearful that Rosie might smother him....

The Pope never made it...I'm not quite sure why. I certainly expected him to.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that, occasionally a family would walk by, and often the father or husband, generally bringing up the rear would give me a subtle "thumbs up." I would wink and not give him away. Domestic tranquility y'know. A group of Girl Scouts along with their Den Mother was handing out flyers. I'm happy to report that the flyers contained the Ten Commandments on one side and the Bill of Rights on the other. Nice.

I DID engage in animated discussions with many of the participants, and on several occasions did get them to thinking. For the most part all they were served up was emotion with little or no facts...after all, if it's not a fact, it's an opinion--and there were plenty of opinions to go around. I was truly amazed at many of the participants who would shout a question (?) at me and then run away when I offered an answer. Guess they didn't want to hear it. I vividly recall one lady who verbally accosted me. I tried to explain that there actually WAS some common ground with us. Only our approach differed. I explained that we WERE strongly in favor of mandatory sentencing for criminals who use a firearm in the commission of a crime. I asked her if she was in favor of this for criminals. She replied, "I'm not going to debate this with you." I made it simple..."Don't you want criminals to go to jail? That's a simple yes or no." She just stared at me like a deer in the headlights. I suppose that's how you get when you only deal from emotion. Very sad. I pressed on..."Do you believe we should teach children at an early age that guns can be dangerous?" No response. Easily led, I suppose...or perhaps she was one sandwich short of a picnic. Some were like that...some were affable...some were downright rude. My day would have been somewhat more comfortable had I stayed with the SAS...but nowhere as exciting, I'll wager. I will say that at least we picked up our trash when we left. The MMM site looked like a battlefield when it was over.

The experience confirmed in my own mind that the prime difference between the two factions seems to be that the anti-rights group mourn their losses (as well they may) and demonize the method of their loss while the pro-rights side celebrate their victories at stopping a rape or murder or robbery. Unfortunately, a photo of a dead child is far more emotional than a picture of a live survivor. It is truly difficult to argue facts with an emotionally distraught person, but rewarding nonetheless when you finally DO make progress with them.

I had one gentleman say to me, in exasperation, "Look at ALL THESE PEOPLE!! How can we ever prevail? I reminded him that, even if there were a half million people there, (probably less) the number of honest firearm-owning citizens would be about 170 times as many! He smiled and said, "Yes, you're right."

Just remember, my friends...they don't expect immediate surrender. These folks will always try to press their agenda, year after year after year. They are nothing if not patient. In fifteen years...they'll still be there. But so will we.

If I get any decent pictures back, I'll post them for you. You'll recognize me by the sunburned face!

(Wearily) Yours in Peace & True Liberty,

Lazarus