Americans Rally Nationwide Against Stricter Gun Control Measures — Here Are the Pictures

(TheBlaze/AP) — Concerned citizens are gathering in state capitals nationwide to rally against stricter gun control measures, days after President Barack Obama unveiled a sweeping package of federal gun control proposals.
Roughly 600 people turned out in Austin, Texas, many carrying signs with messages like “An Armed Society is a Polite Society” and “The Second Amendment Comes from God.” Police in Connecticut said about 1,000 people showed up on the capitol grounds in Hartford, about 50 miles from the site of last month’s mass shooting at Newtown’s Sandy Hook Elementary School. Demonstrators there urged state and federal authorities not to introduce new restrictions on gun ownership as task forces created by the Legislature and Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy consider changes to state gun laws.
The event’s primary Facebook page lists more than 20,000 people as planning to attend.
Texas pilot Eric Reed, who organized the event, explained his motivation: “…I realized I’m part of the problem. It takes somebody to stand up and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to accept this. We’re against it.”
He continued: “We want Americans who feel the same way to come out. We want to stand up, be united and get our point across.”
First-term Texas state Rep. Steve Toth is among attendees in Austin. He’s one of several state officials nationwide who’ve proposed trying to curb federal gun restrictions in states.

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