First Gun Appreciation Day Goes Off With a Bang

Yesterday was Gun Appreciation Day. According to its press release, its purpose was to urge "Americans nationwide to show their support for gun ownership by turning out en masse at gun stores, ranges, and shows from coast to coast." Gun enthusiasts rallied in Washington DC and pretty much anywhere else to fight back against any effort to restrict access to weapons:

Gun Appreciation Day member organizations are urging their supporters to line up “around the block” at gun stores, gun counters, gun shows, and gun ranges to protest the Obama administration’s post Sandy Hook assault on gun rights. The organizations expect to reach more than 50 million Americans over the next two weeks in support of the Gun Appreciation Day online, on air and in their members’ inboxes.

It makes sense that Gun Appreciation Day would occur days before the Inauguration. However, I think GAD chairman Larry Ward jumped the shark a bit when he commented on some critics' complaints that Gun Appreciation Day falls two days before Martin Luther King Jr. Day:

"I'd like to address the Martin Luther King Day charge," Ward replied. "I believe that Gun Appreciation Day honors the legacy of Dr. King."

He added: "The truth is, I think Martin Luther King would agree with me if he were alive today that if African Americans had been given the right to keep and bear arms from day one of the country's founding, perhaps slavery might not have been a chapter in our history. And I believe wholeheartedly that's essential to liberty."

Keep in mind that -- though he owned weapons to protect himself and his family because of constant death threats and because his home was bombed -- Dr. King promoted pacifism and non-violent means of protest. Plus, he was slain by a sniper's bullet. So using King's movement to promote gun rights kind of seems tacky.

In the spirit of Gun Appreciation Day, 22-year-old Joseph Kelley decided to take his unloaded assault rifle and a loaded Glock pistol to JC Penny in Riverdale, UT, to "protect children and other people from 'criminals, cartels, drug lords' and other 'evil men.'" Presumably, he planned to club any passing cartel members with his unloaded AR-15 after he'd discharged all of the bullets from the Glock 19C.

According to the Gun Appreciation Day website, hundreds of thousands of gun owners took to their communities to demonstrate their support for the Second Amendment. Unfortunately, five people were injured by accidental gunfire at three different gun shows. Otherwise, it appears that the event was successful for all who attended such events.