Group aims high with Guns & God Appreciation Day

FPI / August 28, 2019

Are guns to blame for the recent rash of mass shootings? A group of Second Amendment advocates thinks not.

The coalition announced that Guns & God Appreciation Day is set for Sept. 14. The coalition is asking Second Amendment supporters to rally “at their state capitals,” attend guns shows, “shoot off a few rounds at your local gun range.”

“We want to double the turnout of the original Gun Appreciation Day,” said coalition founder Larry Ward. “Half a million people came out to celebrate their gun rights in 2013; we are shooting for a million this September.”

Ward noted that “The difference this time is we are asking everyone to be prayerful about returning our nation to God as the only solution to the hatred and mass murder plaguing our blessed country.”

In 2013, the coalition, led by the Constitutional Rights PAC, held Gun Appreciation Day. Organizers hailed the event as having saved “our gun rights from the Obama/Biden gun grab.”

In the wake of the recent mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton, the coalition believes another attempted “gun grab” is in the works and it is calling on gun rights advocates to push back.

Speaking at the 2013 Gun Appreciation Day, former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino said: “Ladies and gentlemen, there is no such thing as gun-control. There is only people-control.”

Bongino added: “I served 16 years with a badge on my chest, which served as a target for some. I don’t remember ever having the conversation during my years in the Secret Service: ‘hey, listen, we’re taking the president to Baltimore or Chicago, so let’s just disarm because they have really strict gun control laws.' ”

 [Video of Bongino’s speech here].

The coalition has also posted on online petition urging Congress and President Donald Trump to “stand with the Second Amendment as written.”

The petition states: "The Guns & God coalition believes that society’s noticeable lack of faith in God is to blame for the rise of violent crimes, not firearms. The coalition would like to point out that gun ownership has declined in the last 20 years, despite the influx of gun violence. Accompanying the drop in firearms ownership is a noticeable decline in religious participation. Any nation lacking a fixed morality will inevitably fail to maintain a proper societal framework, and taking away guns is not the solution.”

The coalition also cited John Lott Jr., author of “More Guns, Less Crime” and “The War on Guns”, who once noted: "It was common for schools to have shooting clubs. Even in New York City, virtually every public high school had a shooting club up until 1969. It was common for high school students to take their guns with them to school on the subways in the morning and turn them over to their homeroom teacher or the gym coach so the heavy guns would simply be out of the way. After school, students would pick up their guns when it was time for practice."

The coalition noted: “So, guns were freely brought to school, even in New York City, but there were no school mass shootings. The notion that guns are the problem, is at odds with history. What changed? What is the root cause of these mass murders? The wedge the politically correct society has placed between to divide Americans from God.”

Ward added: “The Second Amendment is very clear. Our right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed but that doesn’t stop our government from trying; and the more it tries, the more we will resist.”

Free Press International