We thought that this week’s protest-related excitement was over. It was just yesterday that the Right To Life movement made their yearly descent upon Washington, with their de rigeur horde of earnest teenage virgins in tow. They stood outside Planned Parenthood, were politely avoided by the President, and have already faded from most of our memories.
But the pro-life crowd isn’t the only protest in town this week. The Virginia Citizens’ Defense League is protesting outside of the Capital Hilton right now. You remember the VCDL, right? They’re the Virginians responsible for protecting freedoms like the right to carry concealed firearms in Lowe’s stores, and the right to act like it’s perfectly normal to wear a holstered gun into a restaurant.
Apparently, New York’s Mayor Bloomberg is in town for a conference about illegal firearms and, naturally, this is deeply threatening to the rights of self-avowedly sane gun owners like the VCDL, so they’re out marching. Unfortunately, things haven’t gotten off to a blockbuster start — there are only about a dozen protesters outside the Hilton as I write this. But the VCDL press release says that they hope to bring their three-hour protest to a crescendo around 5. If you feel strongly about the second amendment, or just think that there’s something mighty suspicious about this Bloomberg fellow, you might want to head on down.
UPDATE: It’s funnier than we thought. An anonymous tipster passes along this tidbit:
Funny thing about the VCDL protest at the Capital Hilton – they’re in the
wrong part of town.The Bloomberg/Tom Menino summit of Mayors Against Illegal Guns was held at
the Cannon House Office Building from 9:30 am to about 3 pm. The evening
reception is scheduled for the Hyatt Regency on Capitol Hill.The Capital Hilton is hosting the winter meeting of the US Conference on
Mayors, which starts tomorrow.So, oops.
To the VCDL’s credit, the attending mayors do appear to be staying at the Capital Hilton — but as the tipster points out, none of the conference’s events are occurring there. As a result, it’s unlikely that any of the summit’s attendees were anywhere near the protest while it was going on. Oops, indeed.
