Crowd at Kentucky Capitol gun rally says the Second Amendment is under attack

FRANKFORT — The crowd was mostly men and mostly armed. Many were wearing camouflage.

And their rally Friday had one central theme: Kentuckians would resist any attempts to chip away at their Second Amendment right to have guns.

“We can’t just whittle away one little piece here, one little piece there,” said Calen Studler of Frankfort. “Then the (U.S. Constitution) doesn’t mean what it says anymore.”

Studler, 42, also a candidate for the Kentucky Senate, was one of an estimated hundred-plus people who gathered at the state Capitol for the last of three gun-rights rallies in January, this one organized by the group We Are KY Gun Owners.

Many made their way into the Capitol, where they complied with security as they were directed to step around metal detectors while carrying their rifles and handguns. Some then posed for photos in the Rotunda, wearing dark ski masks as they displayed their rifles across their chests near the Abraham Lincoln statue.  

In the cold rain outside, the gathering included speeches by U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Dick Heller, a former Washington, D.C., special police officer whose landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court victory in District of Columbia v. Heller overturned the district's gun ban and, in doing so, affirmed the rights of individuals to keep weapons for self-defense in their homes.

“Be vigilant,” Heller told the crowd. “Don’t let the comrade governor turn Kentucky into Baltimore, Detroit, Venezuela ... Chicago.”

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Massie, meanwhile, told the crowd he introduced federal legislation on Thursday to lower the legal age of buying a firearm from 21 to 18.

“If you can die for your country, you can buy a gun,” Massie said.

Fresh in the minds of many in attendance were the events in Virginia, where Democratic lawmakers have pushed for a host of gun-control bills.

“We see what’s happening in Virginia and we may say to ourselves, 'That won’t be us here in Kentucky,'” said state Rep. Savannah Maddox, a Republican. “How many years are we away from being like Virginia? It can happen just that easily, if folks just like us are not willing to stand up and do exactly what you are doing here today.”

Others were concerned about talks in Frankfort of a proposed extreme risk protection order, commonly called a "red flag law," which would allow for the temporary removal of firearms from people deemed in danger of harming themselves or others.

While so-called red flag laws have not been formally introduced this legislative session, a handful of firearms-related bills have been proposed. One aims to repeal last year’s passage of a law allowing people to carry concealed guns without a permit; another would require background checks for private firearms sales and mandatory reporting of lost or stolen firearms to law enforcement.

Replay:Gun-toting protesters in camo condemn red flag laws at Kentucky Capitol

“We’re watching,” said Tony Wheatley, a leader of the group We Are KY Gun Owners. “Not only for the gun issues but for all constitutional issues that come up.”

Wheatley and others praised the Second Amendment “sanctuary” resolutions that have passed in the majority of Kentucky’s 120 counties.

“It’s kind of like the Declaration of Independence — it was basically a letter to the king saying we’re tired of what you’re trying to feed us,” Wheatley said. “Same thing here. It’s symbolic. We’re listening. We want changes.”

Pop-up tents lined the soggy grass outside the Capitol, under which attendees could get a free cup of coffee or hot cocoa, join a National Rifle Association mailing list, or enter a raffle to win an AR-15 courtesy of the Kentucky-based nonprofit Vets Serving Vets. A food truck from DT's Rack of Ribs & Catering sold pulled pork and sides.

The crowd was largely subdued as it heard from a host of political candidates and out-of-state supporters.

Previously:At Capitol, you can carry a gun ... but don't conceal those umbrellas

In a sea of camouflage, Chris Jankoski, 34, and his friends stood out with their bright-blue Hawaiian shirts. The group drove 10 hours from their homes in Virginia Beach, Virginia, to attend the rally in support of the Kentuckians who came to Virginia’s capital city for a Jan. 20 protest. The shirts, they said, were meant to lighten the mood.  

“You show up with a rifle, to what media claims is a crazy white supremacist rally, and you see guys with Hawaiian shirts, grilling,” said Wesley Gross, 29, also from Virginia. “The entire point was to break the narrative.”

Jonathan Bullington is an investigative reporter. Reach him at: 502-582-4241; JBullington@courierjournal.com; Twitter: @jrbullington. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/jonathanb.