Three pro-Second Amendment rallies will have been held at the Minnesota state capitol by the end of April, but the events may not be attracting the same crowd, as the sponsors for the events range from an gun group rejected by many pro-gun rights lawmakers to an out-of-state coalition with III Percent militia ties to a final event organized by the more mainstream NRA and its allies.
Here's a rundown of the spectrum by sponsors.
Minnesota Gun Rights
The first rally took place last Saturday, Minnesota Public Radio's Nina Moini reports in A week after gun control rally, gun rights supporters gather at Minnesota Capitol:
Several hundred gun rights supporters gathered at the Minnesota Capitol Saturday, a week after thousands of people turned out to push for restrictions on the sale of firearms.
An organization called Minnesota Gun Rights hosted the event. A permit filed with the state said up to 400 people were expected, and it appeared about that many came to the Capitol grounds.
Organizer Christopher Dorr told the crowd their Second Amendment rights are at risk because of recent gun control legislation introduced at the state and federal levels.
"Gun owners like you and me and the tens of thousands friends and family who couldn't be here, we are getting trampled on. We're getting assaulted by the people in this building," Dorr said. "Gun owners are not respected. We're under full blown attack in this building."
Last weekend, an estimated 20,000 people from the other side of the gun debate descended on the Capitol to press for more restrictions on firearms. It was part of the national March for Our Lives event. . . .
Minnesota Gun Rights bills itself as the state's no-compromise gun organization.
It is not affiliated with the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, which has had a steady lobbying presence at the state Capitol. That group is partnering with the National Rifle Association for a separate rally in late April.
While Minnesota Gun Rights can bill itself as whatever it wants, much of Minnesota's gun rights activists keep their distance. Witness this tweet by Bryan Strawser:
Before anyone asks, the event at the Capitol today is not a @mnguncaucus or @mngopac event. We are not part of it. Our event is on 4/28 with several other organizations from 12-2pm. Learn more here: https://t.co/d0XlWcPQAS pic.twitter.com/0hyKpUGgwr
— Bryan Strawser (@bryanstrawser) March 31, 2018
What's up here? In 2015, Bluestem Prairie reported in what might have seemed like clickbait, Sixteen pro-Second Amendment MN House members disavow Minnesota Gun Rights:
Click bait headline aside, a bipartisan group of sixteen Second Amendment stalwarts in the Minnesota House are warning constituents and the state's gun owners about an Iowa-based advocacy group named "Minnesota Gun Rights," which they insist does little but fundraise.
From Speaker Kurt Daudt and Republicans Tony Cornish, Jim Nash and Mary Franson to DFLers Tom Anzelc, Joe Adkins and Jeanne Poppe, they've had it, according to Christopher Burg's A Geek With Guns blog.
Representative Glenn Gruenhagen has been forced to send certified letters to the group, demanding that it ceased using his name for fundraising in Iowa.
The representatives implore their readers in the letter ... :
We urge you to exercise caution when you hear from people who claim to fight for your rights. We depend on real grassroots Second Amendment groups like the NRA, Gun Owners Civil Rights Alliance (GOCRA) and the Minnesota Gun Owners Political Action Committee (MNGOPAC) to help us fight for your rights, and we urge you to support these groups.
Don’t be fooled by the fake, out-of-state “Minnesota Gun Rights.” They’re not working with us, and they’re not working for you.
Conservative blogger Mitch Berg wrote Monday in This Is Not The Rally You Want:
Over the weekend, there was a “gun right rally”.
The rally was put on by a group called “Minnesota Gun Rights”. We’ve addressed this group in the past – for being a scam that fleeces Minnesota gun owners, and is politically ineffective at best (and at worst, they do more harm than good). Some legislators that once supported it have seen the light and condemned the group as a scam. . . .
The next rally also has sketchy out-of-state origins, though as far as we know, the militia-style groups behind it aren't raising money off the effort.
The National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans: April 14 Americans for America - Minnesota
Bluestem Prairie first learned about this event via the website of disgraced Minnesota House Chaplain-for-the-Day Bradlee Dean.
At Sons of Liberty Media, Tim Brown reports in April 14, 2018: Patriotic Americans Plans Second Amendment Rallies At All State Capitals:
A West Virginia man is organizing a national rally at every state capital in the nation in support of the Second Amendment on April 14 of this year.
David Clayton, who worked as a short-order cook in a bar, was talked to by Matthew Simmons about the “Patriot Movement.” Clayton, a self-proclaimed lover of history, took some literature and read it and became excited so he decided to look further into the matter.
Mr. Clayton started off in his state in the Three Percenters Original and advanced to Zone Lead and then State Lead, and finally opened up Three Percent Republic in May of 2017 and became the national public relations representative for the group. . . .
Via The National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans Facebook page, Clayton has organized times and places for each rally at each state capital in the united States.
The NCCPA describes itself on its website's About page:
The National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans is a coalition of various Patriotic based group Leadership that has come together to unify our ideals and diligently work together to uphold the Constitution and improve the lives of Americans.
We come from all walks of life, including Three Percent groups and local Militias, in order to unite and tell the Country that it’s time to put America back on track!
If you're into the Three Percent and Militia movement, this might hit the spot, but so far, only 29 folks have signed up. One is State Senator Mark Koran (Majority Leader Gazelka might have a conversation with the North Branch Republican about that):
For more on Minnesota's own Three Percenters, check out Fox 9's Minnesota militia group says they're ready for 'civil war'. Certainly the group has the right to peaceably assemble at the state capitol--and the public has a right to know about the background of the sponsors.
April 28: Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus, National Rifle Association, MNGOP and Republican National Committee
According to the Gun Owners Caucus event page for the Gun Owners Rally at the Capitol, 1819 people have RVSPed for the event sponsored by the Gun Owners Caucus, the NRA, the MNGOP and the Republican National Committee. There's little information posted yet about the details of the event.
The Gun Owners Caucus maintains a political action committee, Minnesota Gun Owners Political Action Committee and the MN Gun Owners Independent Expenditure Fund. At the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board, there's no report for 2017 for either committee.
The PAC's spending can be viewed online; curiously, the group gave $400 to the DFL state central committee, although most of the giving to parties and (one) candidate went to Republicans. The PAC spent $12,449.85 on independent expenditures for various Republican candidates or against DFLers.
In 2016, the latter committee spent only against Thomas Trehus's house bid in Southeast Minnesota against Preston Republican Greg Davids.
This rally will be the largest and most mainstream of the Second Amendment events; moreover, it's likely that warm weather may also help attendance.
Photo: Leadership of the Second Amendment movement has been pried from Charlton Heston's hands and passed to a new generation.
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