Thread: Minuteman founder won't discourage guns at border

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Minuteman founder won't discourage guns at border
By Peter Hecht -- Bee Capitol Bureau
Published 3:20 pm PDT Wednesday, July 19, 2006
Minuteman Project founder Jim Gilchrist said Wednesday that he would prefer that his citizen volunteers leave their guns at home when patrolling the border against illegal immigration.

"This is not a war. We do not want it to look like a war. Lose the cammies (camouflage gear). Lose the weapons," Gilchrist said Tuesday in an interview before a speech to the Sacramento Press Club.

But Gilchrist said he won't stop retired law enforcement officers with legal permits from carrying weapons when they join the Minuteman patrols on the U.S.-Mexico border.

A year ago, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called a Los Angeles radio station and lauded "Minutemen" volunteers - whose patrols are intended to dramatize immigration and a porous border - for doing a "terrific job."

While continuing to praise the group, Schwarzenegger has since said he's not comfortable with television images showing armed volunteers participating in Minuteman patrols.

"I'm not for any harassment. I'm not for anyone carrying weapons. I'm not for any of that," the governor said last week at a campaign stop at a Mexican restaurant in Lynwood, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Gilchrist called the governor's remarks "a valid complaint for anybody." But he said he won't take "the law into my hands" and order ex-law enforcement officers legally allowed to carry a guns to leave them behind.

"Someone with a 9 mm in his jacket is not a threat compared to drug runners and human cargo cartels" on the border, Gilchrist said.

As Gilchrist turned out for the Press Club appearance he was greeted by a protester in Revolutionary War-era "Minuteman" garb and a Schwarzenegger mask who held a sign: "Thank you Arnold! For Supporting Us - Anti-Immigrant Border Vigilantes."

Gilchrist, whose group was called "vigilantes" by President Bush, has ridden the intense debate over illegal immigration to become a national figure.

An unsuccessful independent Congressional candidate from Orange County, Gilchrist appeared before the Press Club to promote a new book he co-authored and a new round of Minuteman Project patrols on the U.S.-Mexico border between Sept. 11 and the Nov. 7 election.

A press release for his book - "Minutemen: the Battle to Secure America's Border" - described it as an "action plan to secure America's borders and prevent illegal aliens from further attacks."

The book was co-authored by Jerome Corsi, whose earlier book - "Unfit for Command" - created a political verb as Democrats assailed him for unfairly "Swift-boating" the Vietnam War record of Democratic Presidential candidate John Kerry.


About the writer:
The Bee's Peter Hecht can be reached at (916) 326-5539 or phecht@sacbee.com.

Gilchrist called the governor's remarks "a valid complaint for anybody." But he said he won't take "the law into my hands" and order ex-law enforcement officers legally allowed to carry a guns to leave them behind.

Actually, all law-abiding American citizens are allowed to carry a gun, as long as it's in sight. You only need a permit to carry a concealed weapon. As a matter of fact, if the Minutemen are patroling in Arizona, it is state law there that handguns may be worn in public. When I lived in Phoenix, in the late 70's, it was not unusual to see people wearing a gunbelt and pistol.

With armed drug and human smugglers, not to mention Mexican military crossing our borders daily, it would be foolish not to carry a weapon when patroling the border. I bet you wouldn't get a Border patrol agent to do his job without one.

With armed drug and human smugglers, not to mention Mexican military crossing our borders daily, it would be foolish not to carry a weapon when patroling the border. I bet you wouldn't get a Border patrol agent to do his job without one

Absolutly.......it's for protection. I haven't heard of 1 time where they were just shooting people.

Texas and Arizon are license to carry states. I don't know about the other border states.

Dixie