Official February 6th day of event thread.

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  • Kilroy

    Ultimate Member
    Jul 27, 2011
    3,069
    This NSSF guy is really good.
     

    rob257

    Active Member
    Jan 17, 2013
    238
    North Central Carroll Co.
    Good report but biased

    So, for complex reasons, I couldn't leave the house until 1030 this morning. I thought, no problem, I'm only 15 minutes from Annapolis; I can take the back roads to one of several parking garages and score. As I was driving in on West Street, I was struck by how little traffic there was. Then I saw the sign: West Circle closed from 9 AM-1 PM. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just park in the garage proximal to the circle." Well, the police shut down West St. at the Toyota dealership WAY before the circle. As I turned right under police direction, I also saw that Spa Road was closed inbound. The only other way I was familiar with to get into Annapolis was via Rt 50 and Rowe Blvd. Of course, as others have noted, the Rowe Blvd exit was a parking lot, even before Parole. I finally made my way onto Rowe Blvd, only to see that literally a thousand cars were lining up in the right lane to park at the Navy lot. I stayed in the left lane over the bridge, and decided to park in a sneaky (but not technically illegal) place 200 yards from the rally. My naive plan was to run in to sign up to speak, lazily return to my car, change into my suit in the public bathroom nearby, get some lunch, then return at 1300 to testify. In retrospect, that was Fantasy Island thinking.

    With the help of a kind female Md Senate staffer, I quickly made my way through the rally crowd to the Senate building, where I went through security around 1145. There I saw that the line to sign in to testify went approximately 100 yards to the stairs, then wrapped around the circular stairs and back and forth on the second floor. I guesstimate that there were about 1000 people standing in line (and perhaps more). After speaking to a cool former Marine (Semper Fi), he kindly agreed to save my spot while I went to deliver my written testimony (all 20 copies) just before they stopped taking them at noon. I must have passed the actual sign in place, but it was quite inconspicuous. I marveled that there weren't 10 or 20 volunteers at a table to take people's signatures efficiently...democracy in inaction, I guess. By the time I returned to the line, it had moved perhaps 10 feet in 10 minutes. I did the math, and realized that I would be able to sign in to speak on Wednesday by Thursday afternoon, at the earliest. One guy with a 2A button who was standing next to the line stated that when he had signed in 1.5 hours before, the list of people wanting to testify was already 10 pages long. I reckoned that I had done my part for the cause.

    I thus went outside to the rally, which I estimate conservatively at ~3 thousand around noon. Sadly, there were far too many 2A supporters who chose to exercise their right to smoke cigarettes in a crowd. Since I have medical conditions (plural) that make me very sensitive to smoke, I wandered back to my sneaky but legal parking place to drive home. On my way out, I saw hundreds of people still streaming in across the College Creek bridge at 1215, with hundreds more taking the shuttle bus, and an unknown but large number of cars lined up to come into Annapolis on Rowe Blvd.

    A few observations:
    1) Tom Toles has an extremely timely cartoon today in the Washington Post: http://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/im.../Editorial-Opinion/Graphics/toles02062013.jpg I really did feel disenfranchised by the poor planning on the part of the Maryland Senate support staff with regard to the mechanism for citizens to sign up to testify. It is the 21st century. Could there not be some electronic mechanism devised, including a requirement for name, address, phone number, and any other reasonable information that was required at the sign in log? Would someone please share what info was asked at the sign in log? I bet fingerprints and retinal scans weren’t involved…though you wouldn’t know that from the slowness of the line. I'm pretty sure that nothing on the log could not reasonably be submitted by e-mail weeks in advance, if someone at the Senate cared enough to improve access for Maryland citizens. I would challenge our elected officials to name one other place where people are expected to line up for 4-5 hours before being able to exercise a constitutionally-protected right (besides voting in minority areas, that is).

    2) The Park Annapolis website is down for the count from the punishing hits all of you provided from your smart phones while looking for parking places. I guess the SEO work they did or money they paid to get them to the top of a Google search for "park Annapolis" (with or without quotes) didn't help them as much as they expected, at least today.

    3) The crowd at the rally was very diverse and peaceful. Not everyone was an overweight, older, balding, white, male, ex-military member with a military or NRA hat like myself...only about half. Sadly, 103% of the people in the crowd chose to smoke cigarettes.

    4) I did not see any organized counter-rally of anti-gun activists.

    5) I have a hard time believing that the Md Senate did not know President Obama was visiting Annapolis on 6 Feb...or that the White House was not aware that Maryland would be Ground Zero for the fight to protect our 2nd Amendment rights in 2013, before it's too late. I am not usually a conspiracy nut, but, given that the Senate meeting is traditionally held in Cambridge, MD on the Eastern Shore, it seems just too coincidental that I was almost prevented from exercising my rights as a citizen of Maryland to submit my written testimony because of the (necessary) security surrounding the President.

    6) Rule number one of sneaky parking: You don't talk about where sneaky parking is (in case I need to return to help defeat the bill when it reaches the Maryland House of Delegates).

    To those of you who successfully managed to sign up to testify and are staying all night: Best of Luck! Go get 'em! Hope the bathroom cleaning staff keeps up with demand!

    Bravo Zulu,

    Those EVIL cigerettes!!! Ban them,dammit, BAN them!!:lol:

    Rob
     

    Afrikeber

    Ultimate Member
    Jan 14, 2013
    6,686
    Urbana, Md.
    Got there really early around 9am found parking at the stadium and took the trolley to the rally. Saw comrade Frosh and gave him a piece of my mind. Saw comrade Gansler as well but he dashed so quickly to avoid us I could not let him know how I feel about SB 281. Overall the rally was awesome saw a bald eagle fly overhead! Speakers and crowd was a very diverse group which pisses hypocrite liberals as they want to create a perception of pro 2A folks as a bunch of ignorant, fat white guys. Md Senate did not do enough to accomodate us as far as speaking against SB 281. I did get my name on the list though and I want to return to speak to the house. Heard those of us that did not get a chance to speak will go to the front of the line when this goes to the house.

    Semper Fi
     

    Mr H

    Banana'd
    Sadly, 103% of the people in the crowd chose to smoke cigarettes.

    It only seemed like it.

    I was splitting time working the crowd in my little corner, and policing the area. Caught a dirty look from a woman who'd been dropping butts. After I picked up her second one, she started getting the idea.

    Thanks to Streetgang's wife, who went around and picked up after folks as well. Too bad we needed to.
     

    lkenefic

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 19, 2011
    3,778
    I couldn't get down today due to work obligations of the new job. I'm very proud of everyone here on this forum supporting 2A. I wish I could have been there! I moved here from a very friendly gun state, but never felt the camaraderie that is invoked from the mdshooters' community.
     

    Celtic159

    Active Member
    Nov 27, 2008
    606
    Poolesville
    Thank you everyone who was able to make it today. I got jammed up with work and couldn't break away. Those pictures of the crowd are awesome!
     

    tdt91

    I will miss you my friend
    Apr 24, 2009
    10,810
    Abingdon
    this was absolutely amazing. and i have something to say about the crowd...i've never been involved in a rally like this, and i want to applaud the lot of you. everyone was polite, respectful, chatty, and just plain NICE. thanks for helping to put a human face on what so many think is an evil monster, guys.

    Just like all the TEA party rallys I attended. :D
     

    sleev-les

    Gata Needs His Gat
    Dec 27, 2012
    3,144
    Edgewater, MD
    I just got back. Myself and 3 other friends were downtown around 10am. We hit the Dunkin Donuts first and saw a lot of the MDS crew. From there, I turned in my written testimony. This was around 11:00. The line was at the entrance to the Senate building. There were stacks of written testimony turned in and more incoming. As 1pm approached, we went to the Senate building. Took about 30 minutes to get in at that time. We also found out you could visit the delegates offices and they had sign in sheets to oppose the bill. We took a handout, commendeered a copier and made about 40 copies that we handed out to get people to go to the offices and sign the sheets. Most of the people were in groups so hopefully we got some "not too advertised" info out there. We ended up leaving around 4:30 and just getting in.
     

    smokey

    2A TEACHER
    Jan 31, 2008
    31,412
    Jenni is saying she saw me on the channel 2 news tonight. I do good? Im the teacher in the red polo
     

    3rdRcn

    RIP
    Industry Partner
    Sep 9, 2007
    8,961
    Harford County
    Was a great day to be in Annapolis and the turn out sure beat the crowds that used to be there a few years ago. Saw some familiar faces that I haven't seen in a very long time, great to see you guys!!

    Bravo to all those that came to show support and fight for our rights!!!
     

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