A gun show in Wichita, Kansas showed the disparity between Second Amendment supporters to those who seek a disarmed population. On Saturday the 16th of July, five protesters showed-up. The ratio of vendors to protesters was 20 to 1. From kake.com:
Inside Century II Expo Hall today was a gun and knife show with more than 100 vendors selling firearms, knives and accessories.
Outside Century II, the Wichita Coalition Against Gun Violence held a vigil for those who have lost their lives in recent gun-related attacks.
Rev. Michael Poage is co-director of the Coalition. He says there are many reasons he wanted to hold a vigil at Century II today.
“Well one reason are the three flags at half mast back here,” Poage said. “That’s been the scene too often – too many killings. Too many guns, too many killings.”
I’ve attended many gun shows as a vendor, organizational representative, blog promoter or simple attendee. In my opinion, attendees normally outnumber vendors by 20 to hundreds to one. The ratio of attendees to protesters at this show was likely thousands to one.
Kansas is where the “collective rights” argument about the Second Amendment was created, in the Kansas Supreme Court, in 1905, in Salina v. Blakesley.
A hundred years later, in 2005, Kansas changed from banning the concealed carry of arms altogether, to a shall issue concealed carry law. In 2015, just 10 years later, Kansas became a permitless or “Constitutional” carry state, where no permit is required to carry a firearm either openly or concealed.
Much of the organizing and education required for that change happened and was facilitated by gun shows. It is easy to see why those who want a disarmed public are so motivated to destroy gun shows. They have become a political force multiplier.
©2016 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
Gun Watch