Regarding the Misinformed Mom's March in Washington, DC on Mother's Day, I thought you might be interested in my story.

I live in Chesterfield County, Virginia, which borders Richmond on the South. When I found out that the Richmond City Council had decided to support the Misinformed Moms by funding a dozen buses to haul them to DC, I was outraged. I am not a resident of Richmond, so I had no recourse as a taxpayer, but as a supporter of the Second Amendment Sisters, I saw a wonderful opportunity. I immediately contacted several pro-second amendment supporters around the area and eventually the country, via the internet. Many of us made reservations on the MMM buses, the intention being to take up as many spaces as possible, hoping to send as many empty seats as possible to DC.

I have no way of knowing how effective our effort was, but it was a good exercise. I then decided to go one step farther and ride the bus up with them! My brother, his teenage daughter, and I showed up at the appointed time at the Arthur Ashe Center in Richmond. We were treated to an hour of interesting political rhetoric, poetry readings, singing, and brief speeches from some who had tragically lost a loved one to gun violence. Their individual stories were sad, but unfortunately, their emotional response--that guns are the problem--is misguided. We also heard from the mayor of Richmond who told the crowd that the Misinformed Moms would continue to receive moral and financial support from the City. There were several children, boys and girls, running around wearing t-shirts emblazoned with the phrase "Flowers are good, guns are bad". How sad that these children are not learning about the second amendment, the safe and responsible use of firearms, or the pleasure derived from shooting sports. Tragically, many of these children will become crime victims someday, because they will not be trained to defend themselves. I don't know of a time that burglar, rapist, or armed robber has been warded off by a bouquet of daisies.

As I was standing around watching all this, I noticed that the crowd didn't seem to be as large as I had expected, so I decided to do a head count, while everyone was standing relatively still listening to the speeches. I counted approximately 185, give or take a few. It's difficult to count a crowd like that, so I counted again. About the same--190 or so. It's important to know that I was on standing on a raised platform so that I could see the whole crowd very clearly. At this point, I went and asked two of the bus drivers what they were going to do as far as the number of buses they would be sending to DC. One of them said that there was not enough people here to fill four buses, as the buses seat fifty-five each. He told me he had counted about 200 heads in the crowd. The other driver, a few minutes later said there was no way that all twelve buses were needed, and she estimated that no more than four or five would have to go. I was satisfied at that point that my count was relatively accurate, but decided to count again. The count was this time was about 190. Good numbers according to the bus drivers.

Well, when it finally came time to go, I couldn't believe what happened. I expected them to fill one bus, and then the next and so on, until four or five were full. Not so. They spread the crowd out over NINE of the buses!! What they had here was an opportunity to save the taxpayers of Richmond some money by making efficient use of the buses, but instead decided to make things appear as though there were really a lot more people going than actually did. Unbelievable. I'm glad that I was there to see it. What a sham! And, sure enough, one of the local TV stations was there, videotaping the buses as we left, and on the Sunday night news, reported that a dozen buses full of moms headed to DC marching for more guns laws!

There seemed to be a general lack of knowledge amongst the moms in attendance concerning what the march was really all about, which is the election of Al Gore to the presidency. Sadly, the misled moms don't realize that they're just pawns in this political game, and that the march has nothing at all to do with making life safer for them or any of the rest of us.

I have to admit that I was expecting some skewed numbers on the news for the next few days, but I was appalled to see just how badly the mainstream media lied and misrepresented what really went on that day.

By the way, I don't know Debra Brunner, author of the "Malicious Moms March" story appearing on your site Monday, but I was also towards the end of the crowd marching to the capitol, and suffered some of the same abuse and insults she and her family did. Marching past the misled moms on my way to the capitol was the first time that day that I did not feel safe. How ironic.

Keep up the good work.

Jim in Virginia