So, Who attended the rally?

[Bearcatrp]

Checking to see who attended. I got down there early to get a descent parking spot. Guess about 2000 folks attended. No issues. Did have some carrying AR's and did see one carrying a AK. Overall, good trip.

[Jackpine Savage]

It was a nice day for a rally. Much nicer than the January 2013 rally!

I drove 2.5 hours to get there. Stopped at the last rest area on 94, and in the parking lot ran into a couple that lived only about 10 miles from my home that were talking to a group of 4 from Morris that I used to shoot with.

On a somewhat related note. Representative Lucero posted a picture of the crowd on Facebook. Facebook recognized me in the picture. Truly some scary technology.

[BigBlue]

I did, along with my adult son. Got a decent parking spot in the lot straight south of the capitol. Easy in and out of downtown. See the other rally thread for more discussion.

[Ramoel]

I noticed the local media didn't spend a lot of time covering the event. Channel 11 gave it about 30 seconds at 6:00 PM, nothing at all at 5:00 PM when I tuned in to see what they had to say.

FOX 9 had to show some anti's with signs and when they talked about assault weapons they ran a clip of someone shooting full auto. That helps to educate the unknowing that you can purchase full auto assault weapons

I bet if 2000 anti-gun protesters held a rally they would probably run a 30 minute news special. I'm so sick of the media bias. At least since the last election it's become easy to spot all the bias. They don't try to hide it anymore.

[Jack's My dog]

I made it out for the last half. Nice day for a rally.

[Bearcatrp]

I parked on south side too. Think it was K parking. Should have been allot more though. Watching kstp morning talk. Had that byach on there touting all semi auto’s need to be banned crap. She wasn’t happy that past bills got shot down. You can bet more crap will get introduced again.

[Lumpy]

I was the guy in the lawn chair (at least I didn't see any others).

[nhluke]

That was the first time I've attended a gathering like that. I think I've honestly been reluctant to be "officially associated" with some of the folks that I have seen in the media attending similar functions. I vote, write letters, get new people every year their first firearm experience and their own equipment, hunt, etc. I own a lot of the stuff that I typically look down at others for displaying at these events. I get that part of these displays are showing citizens could be ready for armed conflict blah blah blah. I guess I've leaned towards the more subtle approach but as I get older I'm more open and thankful for the more bold approach. There may be merit to appearing "normal" and still siding with everything or most things spoken about at this rally. If every rally has the tactical dressed crowd, biker gang etc look that's what the media and antis seem to lump the group into. Maybe that softer tactic would allow more laws against my freedom. I still agree with others that a large group with out the "extreme looking" crew may swing some of the people on the fence or who are exploring their thoughts on 2a laws. Politics are not something I'm extremely well versed in but I figured I should at least make some additional efforts in learning and supporting in new ways.

Random things that stuck out as I think back.
There were a lot of comments in the crowd when one of the speakers mentioned politicians wanting to take away guns that hold 7 or 9 rounds in the chamber.

The banners that say "come and take it" make me think Jerry Seinfeld would have some funny quips

I was happy to see a nice mix of kids and women in the group.
It appeared that lots of females were involved in the leadership

Several volunteers were picking up trash and a speaker also asked rally members to clean the area on the way out.

Law enforcement seemed pretty casual even with several people open carrying (I imagine they have seen it at these events prior without incident)

I didn't notice one counter protester but others said there were a small number of them.

The former Duluth police officer who's running for office used his story of being shot while off duty effectively.
Thanks to all who made it happen though

[bstrawse]

That was the first time I've attended a gathering like that. I think I've honestly been reluctant to be "officially associated" with some of the folks that I have seen in the media attending similar functions. I vote, write letters, get new people every year their first firearm experience and their own equipment, hunt, etc. I own a lot of the stuff that I typically look down at others for displaying at these events. I get that part of these displays are showing citizens could be ready for armed conflict blah blah blah. I guess I've leaned towards the more subtle approach but as I get older I'm more open and thankful for the more bold approach. There may be merit to appearing "normal" and still siding with everything or most things spoken about at this rally. If every rally has the tactical dressed crowd, biker gang etc look that's what the media and antis seem to lump the group into. Maybe that softer tactic would allow more laws against my freedom. I still agree with others that a large group with out the "extreme looking" crew may swing some of the people on the fence or who are exploring their thoughts on 2a laws. Politics are not something I'm extremely well versed in but I figured I should at least make some additional efforts in learning and supporting in new ways.

Random things that stuck out as I think back.
There were a lot of comments in the crowd when one of the speakers mentioned politicians wanting to take away guns that hold 7 or 9 rounds in the chamber.

The banners that say "come and take it" make me think Jerry Seinfeld would have some funny quips

I was happy to see a nice mix of kids and women in the group.
It appeared that lots of females were involved in the leadership

Several volunteers were picking up trash and a speaker also asked rally members to clean the area on the way out.

Law enforcement seemed pretty casual even with several people open carrying (I imagine they have seen it at these events prior without incident)

I didn't notice one counter protester but others said there were a small number of them.

The former Duluth police officer who's running for office used his story of being shot while off duty effectively.
Thanks to all who made it happen though

Thanks for being there!

We coordinated closely with the State Patrol which provides security at the Capitol - they attended our pre-event briefing and we were connected on communications. They had no concerns about our group, but we all shared concerns about counter-protestors.

The MN Gun Owners Caucus have many women in leadership roles -- Lisa ran all of our volunteer activities on the ground at the event, Sarah was doing drone photography during the event. The NRA-ILA staff at the event was led by their regional director, who is also female -- and more than 1/3rd of our event volunteers were women.

Not to mention the speakers

Thanks again for coming out!

[atomic41]

I was there for the last half. It was a great event.

[crbutler]

I noticed the local media didn't spend a lot of time covering the event. Channel 11 gave it about 30 seconds at 6:00 PM, nothing at all at 5:00 PM when I tuned in to see what they had to say.

FOX 9 had to show some anti's with signs and when they talked about assault weapons they ran a clip of someone shooting full auto. That helps to educate the unknowing that you can purchase full auto assault weapons

I bet if 2000 anti-gun protesters held a rally they would probably run a 30 minute news special. I'm so sick of the media bias. At least since the last election it's become easy to spot all the bias. They don't try to hide it anymore.

I saw the same clip, I think.

It was a slide fire bump stock that I saw- pretty obvious they were trying to help the anti's out.

That and the Washington Press corps dinner... and the news media wonders why folks don't trust or believe them...

[warrlac]

Here's the Breitbart article today regarding Saturday's rally. Looks like they used excerpts from the Star Tribune piece. The most amusing to me is reading the nearly 800 comments.

http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/04/29/thousands-rally-gun-rights-minnesota-state-capitol/

I noticed the local media didn't spend a lot of time covering the event. Channel 11 gave it about 30 seconds at 6:00 PM, nothing at all at 5:00 PM when I tuned in to see what they had to say.

FOX 9 had to show some anti's with signs and when they talked about assault weapons they ran a clip of someone shooting full auto. That helps to educate the unknowing that you can purchase full auto assault weapons

I bet if 2000 anti-gun protesters held a rally they would probably run a 30 minute news special. I'm so sick of the media bias. At least since the last election it's become easy to spot all the bias. They don't try to hide it anymore.