Thread: Protestors can carry guns at rally In New Mexico Saturday

Protesters can carry guns at Alamogordo rallies Saturday By Michael Johnson Alamogordo Daily News
Posted: 12/31/2009 12:00:00 AM MST

ALAMOGORDO - Saturday's planned protest of the Obama administration's policies, organized by the Otero Tea Party Patriots, the Alamogordo Second Amendment Task Force and the Sons of Liberty Riders, will proceed as planned.

The Alamogordo Department of Public Safety approved two permits late Wednesday afternoon - one for the Tea Party Patriots and the other for the Second Amendment group.

The permits were filed Monday with the Alamogordo city clerk's office, then forwarded to ADPS for review because, in addition to being billed as a protest against the health care reform bill that the U.S. Senate approved on Christmas Eve, it also was being called an open-carry event.

In an e-mail message to the Daily News on Tuesday, potential protesters were being urged to bring a gun to the demonstration, which is slated for 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at the corner of 10th Street and White Sands Boulevard, a high-traffic area within the city.

According to New Mexico law, anyone over the age of 19 is legal to open-carry a holstered firearm. A person can openly carry in most places, except in a bar, jail or prison, a school and other locations.

"It's legal for them to do that," said ADPS director Sam Trujillo, "unless there is a felon present, alcohol is present or a crime committed."

Tuesday's story in the Daily News announcing the protest gained nationwide attention and generated a flood of phone calls to state legislators, media outlets and law enforcement agencies.

"We received a lot of calls about it," Trujillo said.
State Rep. Nate Cote echoed the same sentiment.

"It's their right to open-carry because it's not against the law in New Mexico," he said.

Trujillo said the issue was never about whether a person would be allowed to openly carry a holstered gun on their hip, and ADPS isn't concerned about the nature of a protest.

"The content that people are protesting is something we don't get involved with. Our process looks at interference with public safety," he said. "We want to make sure we have the resources available to handle the number of people who plan to attend."

Trujillo said if a large number of people attend the protest, it may shift to another location away from 10th and White Sands.

"That is one of our busiest intersections in town," he said. "If we get 1,000 people showing up at an intersection, it will overflow into traffic. Those kinds of things will be a problem and we'd have to limit them or tell them they'll have to move to a different location."

Trujillo said DPS has contingency plans in place to deal with large groups of people.

"We just want to make sure everyone will be safe, both the protesters and the general public," he said. "Those are the things we look at. We don't look at the political part of it."

Saturday's protest will, for the most part, resemble previous events in Alamogordo, with people carrying signs and walking in front of Alamogordo Airborne Memorial Park. The Tea Party Patriots will set up shop in front of the memorial park, while Second Amendment Task Force members will be in front of Founder's Park, located diagonally from the tea party group.

"We want to put a positive light on gun ownership," said Dan Woodruff, founder of Alamogordo's Second Amendment Task Force. "We want to show people that your average Joe, who goes to work and does his job, abides by the law.

We're not out there brandishing our guns and threatening people."

Woodruff said guns are a tool people use to commit crimes.

"We want to show people that gun ownership is a good thing," he said. "Guns don't kill people; people kill people. Spoons don't make people fat; people make themselves fat by using the spoon to eat. There is no such gun that is a 'cop killer.' I can pick up an ink pen, put it in the right spot, and kill someone. All this does is label guns as a bad thing and scare the general population."

Trujillo said DPS receives several requests for permits each week for various public events. Communication with the police, he said, is the key between a peaceful event and one that could quickly get out of hand.

"We haven't had many problems when people work with us to make an event safe," he said. "The things we have problems with is when people just show up and they never contact us."

Ellen Wedum, of the Democratic Party of Otero County, said individuals who bill themselves as Democrats plan to attend the protest and show their support for the Obama administration. As a whole, she said the party is not organizing or sponsoring a counter-protest.

Don Omey, coordinator of the Otero Tea Party Patriots, said while the Second Amendment group will open-carry their firearms, he's not necessarily asking his members to tote a gun Saturday.

"I've had a couple of friends call to say they don't like the idea of guns being there. I'm a gun owner myself, but I don't want to have it out in public," he said.

Omey's purpose, he said, is to protest the health care reform bill and cap-and-trade, among other issues, proposed by the Obama administration.

"I'm not really concerned with gun issues right now," he said. "My main concern is taxes and the health care bill. Why does it take more than 1,000 pages to describe health care for the needy. There's something wrong witH that. It's not about health care for the needy. It's about the government trying to control every damn thing we do."

Woodruff said he and his group will ensure that things don't get out of hand Saturday.

"We are going to keep an eye on people at the protest to make sure they're not playing with their guns or anything like that," he said. "We are going to do our absolute most to make sure people are safe. Yes, there will be guns. That's the point. We're expressing our Second Amendment rights - and we're going to do it safely."

Omey said he's never heard of a politician advocating gun control.

"I've never heard a politician come out and say, 'We need gun control in the worst way and I'm going to put this bill forward.' They don't do that. It's insidious. It's almost like having cancer and not knowing it. If there is a Second Amendment problem - and we'll call it that - and it goes away, I feel like the group will go away. Some of them may lose interest, drop out and go target shooting - or whatever it is they like to do. Some of them may peel off and join our group."

Woodruff also has issued a warning to people in the group to avoid trouble at all costs.

"If someone comes up, starts antagonizing you and tries to get you to react, don't," he said. "Walk away from the situation, call DPS, do whatever you have to do. Do not touch the firearm. This has to remain absolutely civil.

It has to. It's our right to peacefully assemble - but it has to be peaceful."


Michael Johnson is the managing editor of the Alamogordo Daily News, a member of the Texas-New Mexico Newspaper Partnership. He can be reached at mjohnson@alamogordonews.com.
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