GREENVILLE, SC (WSPA) – Candidate for US Senate Bill Bledsoe got his message out Saturday by asking people to bring their guns and rally outside the Greenville County Courthouse.

The group had their flags high and guns at their sides as they gathered in downtown Greenville.

“Our rights are being taken,” says Bledsoe, “Our rights are being stolen, right and left, from a criminal government.”

Upset by what he calls an intrusive government, the candidate for the Constitution and Libertarian parties says he organized the event to promote freedom and the right to assemble peacefully.

“The purpose is to show people how to work with police to get our rights back,” Bledsoe says.

Alice Horky heard about the long gun rally on Facebook.

“I just found out about it a few days ago and I thought here we go,” said Horky.

The rally didn’t just stop in Greenville, the group also came together in Spartanburg and Cherokee counties.

“It’s near and dear to my heart,” says Jim Horky.

With her husband at her side and a rifle over her shoulder, Horky says she’s taking a stand for freedoms growing increasingly frail.

“If we don’t stand up and fight for that right, we will lose that right.”

Bledsoe says he will hold these rallies every Saturday until he hits each county in South Carolina.

Bledsoe also says he talks to law enforcement agencies before these rallies and asks demonstrators to have guns shouldered with breaches open, empty, and without magazines.