TCM and LCG go to the Million Mom March

(What's in the CD player, you ask? -- "Black Math", The White Stripes...)

Hi all. It’s The Cabinet Man (TCM) here. The Little Chinese Girl (LCG) and I went to the MMM with some flyers I typed up in an effort to harass, errr, uhhh, I mean, convert the Moms. Here’s my report.

It was more like the Few Thousand Mom March, actually...

Short Story: I was told to leave.

Long Story: LCG and I got down there late: ~1:45. We missed most of the speeches (Thank God!!) but we did hear Boxer, Conyers, and some (unknown?) author/writer spew vitriol. LCG and I split up (bad move when so vastly outnumbered) to hand-out the flyers. I handed out just a few then I saw this big quilt with pockets in it. I'll call it the Guilt Quilt. So, I go check out the Guilt Quilt. Seems people could stuff these pockets with supportive messages for the MMMs. Cool!! I promptly start stuffing it with flyers. At this point a very stern woman with an "event organizer" laminated badge charges at me, waves a flyer in my face, and says (and I quote):

"We don't like this kind of thing. You're not welcome here. Leave NOW."

Before I could utter some smarmy response, she turned and headed-off. Unfortunately, she was headed in the general direction of one of the many John Q. Laws and I chose not to wait and see where that was headed. I withdrew to the edges on the crowd and tried to keep an eye on LCG. Apparently, she did rather well. She's pretty bold and, unlike Yours Truly, not one to turn a back to confrontation. Unfortunately for her, she got corralled on at least two occasions and, later, one lady asked for a whole stack of flyers. LCG unwittingly gave her many of them. (The woman promptly tossed the whole lot in the trash.) So, in a sense, LCG was braver than I. [feelings of shame] Perhaps she was treated differently because she lacked a 'Y' chromosome. Who knows. Next time it's going to be "pack mentality" when attempting a similar feat.

Just before the MMMs began their march on the White House, LCG and I high-tailed it down to where the Second Amendment Sisters (2ndAS) had their shindig. We got there just as the last remnants of the stage and PA were being carted off. No joy. So, back to the Metro and home.

Notes:

There were many people at the MMM rally wearing t-shirts with pictures of "gun victims" on them. There was typically some verbiage about how this person was a son, aunt, acquaintance, whatever, and how/when they died. The part about this that really made me sad was that these people wore this trauma as a badge of honor. It was almost as if they were proud these people were dead/killed. Victim nobility. It was quite disheartening and I'm not entirely sure I understand it. The founder of Armed Females of America started that organization after her son was shot and killed. No less a tragedy but she doesn't wear it on her sleeve. Diametrically opposite reactions to an identical situation.

The MMM is definitely emotion-driven. The speeches were full of hate and the bile regurgitated upon the NRA's name was disgraceful. They did everything short of compare the NRA to Al Queda. (Actually, Mr. Unknown Author tried real hard to do just that -- fortunately a weak and pointless effort on his part. At least to this rational mind...) The speeches were simply rehashes of the same tired, incorrect "facts"
we always hear from this crowd. There was the requisite "No one needs an AK-47 to hunt ducks or an Uzi to hunt deer" speech.

There were "organizations" there, all wearing their colors. "Minnesotans Against Being Shot" was my favorite. There was the usual signage tripe:

"30,000 kids dead per year"
"That's why it's called an ASSAULT weapon"
"Bush Lied. People Died."

and the long-ago debunked

"AK-47. A.K.A. 47 times more likely to be killed."

There were MMM t-shirts being sold for $5. I thought about buying a few to use as gun cleaning rags (HAR!!) but I didn't want another $20 in the MMM coffers. There were a plethora of "Kerry in 2004" hucksters.

The LCG actually wasn't too proud of the flyers I put together. She thought them too blunt/abrasive. Perhaps so but I've never been one to be politically correct. I used the image of the Ukrainian policemen shooting the Jewish women from the (defunct?) GunTruths.Org site. On the backsides were four different "The MMMs have lied to you about..." where I tried to debunk the biggest lies we hear from The Other Side. I thought they were pretty good, as did a few previewers I recruited. I admit that at one point I was tempted not to go, thinking my presence would somehow lend credence to their "cause". Obviously, I got over that thought.

In all honesty, I got nauseated once. Boxer was spewing from the podium and I literally became sick listening to her. At that point I was really wishing I was at the 2ndAS rally. (I heard the 2ndAS rally was only about 200 or 300 people. Can't tell you for sure...) I was amongst the enemy and they were keeping a watchful eye on me.

The good news is that the MMM resulted in a paltry turn-out. Every time one of the speakers tried to rally the crowd, there was an anemic response. Only the die-hards showed up yesterday and, because of the small turn-out, there was very little momentum. If this is the best they can do, then we have few worries.

On another note, I have a few "gear tests" to post. I'll trickle them out as soon as I consult with Fuz about how to post pictures. Until then, Ciao!!

TCM