SAN ANTONIO — Misty Witt accessorized her bright white sundress in an unusual fashion Saturday.

Witt had a camo-colored AK-74 assault rifle strapped by her side and a Texas flag, bearing a rattlesnake and the words “Don't Tread on Me,” hoisted above her head.

The Houston woman gathered with about 40 other people — many openly toting long guns — in what was billed as a “Goddesses with Guns” rally meant to show support for armed women in San Antonio.

Witt, 29, said she came to San Antonio to “stand up for our Second Amendment rights.”

“I think everybody should be able to protect themselves,” she said, before the group marched through downtown.

The event was organized by a fledgling offshoot of Open Carry Texas, known as OCT: Women.

Open Carry Texas' goal is to legalize the open carry of handguns in the state.

OCT: Women member Emily Grisham said the group formed in response to Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, which has used the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut school shooting to push for reforms of gun laws.

Grisham is the wife of Open Carry Texas' founder, CJ Grisham, an Army master sergeant.

Moms Demand Action does not “hold the copyright on speaking for all women and all mothers,” said Grisham, the mother of three. The Temple resident was carrying an AR-15, a custom-made pink and black rifle.

Grisham said the group wants to break the “myth that OCT is just a bunch of redneck men that all they do is go out there and scare women and scare their children. We don't.”

Open Carry Texas gained notoriety earlier this year when members visited nationally based restaurant chains with semi-automatic rifles in an apparent attempt to test the response of management. Some restaurants reacted by asking patrons not to openly carry firearms in their restaurants.

A Moms Demand Action representative couldn't be reached for comment. On its website, the group says it supports the right to bear arms but wants stronger gun laws.

Sandy Phillips' daughter, Jessica Ghawi, was among 12 people killed in a mass slaying inside a Colorado movie theater in 2012. Since her daughter's death, Phillips, who lives in San Antonio, has pushed for gun control and universal background checks.

Phillips was in Seattle on Saturday, but she had heard about OCT's rally and its message that not all women and moms support gun control.

“The statistics prove that a gun in the home does not make a woman safer,” said Phillips, who works for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. “It actually endangers her life.”

Phillips also opposes legalizing open carry.

“Most Americans do not want to be shopping with people who are open-carrying weapons,” she said. “It's intimidation. It's bullying. I don't care if it's a woman or a man.”

Meanwhile, men slightly outnumbered women at the rally.

At the rally, CJ Grisham disclosed that members of his group planned Saturday evening to challenge a San Antonio ordinance that makes it unlawful to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun on a public street.

CJ Grisham said some members will carry loaded weapons at a Wal-Mart Supercenter on Culebra Road with the intent of getting ticketed or arrested.

The city ordinance conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and the state's constitution, he said.

“If we don't get ticketed or arrested ... then (we) can't go to court and fight this ordinance,” he said. “We're not doing it to be civilly disobedient. That's the only way our legal system allows us to fight it.”

pdanner@express-news.net

Twitter: @AlamoPD

Express-News archives contributed to this report.