The libertarian activist Adam Kokesh might have canceled his Independence Day rally in which participants would have attempted to march through D.C. with loaded guns, but judging from a video he uploaded to YouTube this morning, it appears he decided to carry it out as a private party.
Kokesh is seen in a 22-second video loading and then pumping a single-barrel shotgun while standing on Freedom Plaza on Pennsylvania Avenue NW, across from the John A. Wilson Building and a few blocks from the White House. The video is dated July 4, 2013, with the title “Open Carry March on DC a Success.”
While loading the gun, Kokesh, 31, recites the last passage of the “Final American Revolution Pledge of Resistance,” a manifesto he posted on his website on Wednesday.
“We will not be silent,” he says. “We will not obey. We will not allow our government to destroy our humanity. We are the final”—pausing to pull back the shotgun grip—”American”—releasing the grip—”revolution. See you next Independence Day.”
The Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police say in a joint statement that they have seen the video and are reviewing it:
The Metropolitan Police Department and U.S. Park Police are aware that today Adam Kokesh posted a video that appears to have been taken in Freedom Plaza in Northwest, D.C. We are in the process of determining the authenticity of the video.
Kokesh had initially planned to gather like-minded activists to the Arlington Memorial Bridge in an attempt to breach D.C.’s strict gun control laws by marching across the border between Virginia and the District. Upon hearing of Kokesh’s plans, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that police officers would be dispatched to meet Kokesh’s group at the city line.
Thousands of people registered on a Facebook page for Kokesh’s event, but it was all for nothing. A few weeks after the initial announcement, Kokesh scuttled it in favor of calling for smaller rallies in all 50 state capitals with the goal of getting local government to support the dissolution of the federal government. “Should one whole year pass from this July 4 while the crimes of this government are allowed to continue, we may have passed the point at which non-violent revolution becomes impossible,” he wrote.
But Kokesh’s apparent stunt in Freedom Plaza today, as originally intended, is targeted at the D.C. government. The District of Columbia has some of the toughest gun laws in the United States, including a prohibition on carrying firearms—whether or not they are concealed—outside the home or workplace.
“Can you count the felonies committed in this video?” Kokesh writes in the description of the video. “No, you can’t possibly count them all.” For one thing, the act of carrying a gun outside is a felony that brings with it up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000.
Kokesh did not respond to questions about the video.
