A radio host and Iraq war veteran will be leading an armed march on Washington, D.C., this July 4, Independence Day, to put government on notice that we won’t be intimidated.
Adam Kokesh
He is Adam Kokesh, 31, a Libertarian activist and talk radio host. Kokesh was a corporal in the United States Marine Corps Reserve and a veteran of the Iraq War, serving in Falujah in 2004 as a liaison between the U.S. military and Iraqi civilians as a member of the 3rd Civil Affairs Group. He is an outspoken opponent of the U.S. military intervention in Iraq.
On September 2, 2008, Kokesh spoke at Ron Paul’s Rally for the Republic in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he stated, “While it is our responsibility now to resist tyranny civilly, while we still can, there may come a time when we will say to the powers that be, be it with your blood or ours we have come to water the tree of liberty … who will stand with me?”
Gregory Gwyn-Williams Jr. reports for CNSNews, May 5, 2013, that Kokesh launched the planned armed march as a group on Facebook, the “Open Carry March on Washington,” and hopes to get 1,000 supporters to march into the nation’s capital with loaded rifles.
The group plans to meet at 9 a.m., July 4, 2013, at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. From there, they will march across the Memorial Bridge into Washington, D.C. and continue down Independence Avenue.
While Virginia permits open carry, Washington, D.C. does not issue any permit/licenses to carry a firearm.
The Facebook page states that the event, though armed, is non-violent and if the group is met with physical resistance, they will turn back:
“This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny.
There’s a remote chance that there will be violence as there has been from government before, and I think it should be clear that if anyone involved in this event is approached respectfully by agents of the state, they will submit to arrest without resisting.”
The event is open to unarmed supporters, journalists and welcomes law enforcement officers to join.
See also “3 of 10 registered voters think U.S. needs an armed revolution,” May 2, 2013.
~Eowyn
