Gun-rights advocates at rally: 'Misconception' about what proposed gun control would do

Gun rights supporters rallied in Indianapolis and state capitols across the country Saturday to emphasize their point of view in a debate further heightened by the Florida school shooting earlier this year and the national protests that followed.

Their message at the Indiana Statehouse: They disagree with those who have called to repeal the Second Amendment and to limit their gun rights. To Saturday's participants, the right to bear arms isn't given by the Constitution but simply protected by it, said organizer Bill Slike III.

"We're sympathetic to the fears of ... the people who want to take guns away, who want to ban things, but when you look at the details of what the actual proposals are, they aren't going to do what people think they're going to do. There's a great, huge misconception about what the proposed laws actually would do," Slike said.

Slike said the Indiana rally was organized by a small group who invested their own money to make it happen, including Slike and Jack Pupillo. The two also recently launched the Freedom Restoration Project, which is a grass-roots liberty movement that has begun in the wake of the heightened calls for gun control following the March 24 March for Our Lives rallies. Pupillo said he organized a counter-protest in Valparaiso to the marches.

The students who organized the peaceful March for Our Lives Indianapolis protest were asking for stricter gun control laws, including expanding background checks and raising the age for gun permits. The events here and nationwide followed the February school shooting in Parkland, Fla., that killed 17, the latest in a years-long stretch of school and other mass shootings in the country.

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On Saturday, Americans for America - Indiana joined a nationwide network of like-minded rallies to support their Second Amendment rights. A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans is spreading word of the gatherings on social media.

Coalition co-founder David Clayton said organizers had permits for rallies Saturday in 45 states. He stressed that people should only bring guns in states where it’s legal.

About 500 people gathered at the peaceful Indianapolis event, which encouraged participants to bring their guns — unloaded — but keep them off government complex grounds, in accordance with the law. Some carried guns on the sidewalk by Washington Street but stayed off the Statehouse lawn.

Speakers included State Rep. Jim Lucas; NRA instructor Tami Watson, who is running for Bartholomew County sheriff; and Joe Haney, who is with the YouTube channel 13C Gun Reviews, among several other candidates for office, current representatives and gun-rights advocates.

Indiana Congressman Todd Rokita, who is running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate, also was there.

Haney said he believes that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Department of Justice have muddied the distinction between classifications of semi-automatic weapons with vague language.

"At this point, there's no logical way to ban any certain class of semi-automatic firearms without banning them all," Haney said.

Other speakers called for participants to teach gun safety, to speak to their state legislators and to attend school board meetings to make sure they are heard.

What stood out about Saturday's rally was the relative newness of grass-roots advocacy — both from the organizers and the crowd. One speaker asked how many people had not been to a Second Amendment rally before — and most cheered.

Pupillo said gun control advocates have more practice with grass-roots events. So he is trying to learn more.

"We all have to get out there and start from a true grass-roots movement from the ground up," Pupillo said.

Some of the signs at the rally were familiar, including images of the Confederate flag and early American patriots' symbol of a coiled snake with the words "Don't Tread on Me."

But there were other signs, too, including one that read "If the 2nd (Amendment) doesn't apply to semi-automatic rifles today, then the first doesn't apply to the phone, TV and computers." One man also held a hand-made sign that read "Two things I will die for are my sons and my guns."

After about two hours of speeches, the marchers walked down Washington Street, continued up West Street to Ohio and then headed down Capitol back to the Statehouse. As they marched along the sidewalk, one man held up a sign at Washington Street and West streets that said “Good guys with guns.”

There also was some honking of horns from the street as the marchers passed.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

Call IndyStar reporter Domenica Bongiovanni at 317-444-7339. Follow her on Facebook,TwitterandInstagram.