Organizers of the Olympia, Washington “I Will Not Comply Rally” promised a storm of over 5000 fed-up, well-armed patriots and an all-star lineup of speakers, but only about 600 to 800 gun enthusiasts managed to attend on Dec. 13, according to the Washington State Patrol.

Of course, the number of attendees counted various according to who you ask. Organizers told the Spokesman Review that 1,000 to 2,000 demonstrators attended the event that was protesting the passage by majority vote of  I-594. Initiative 594 closes a security loophole in Washington State by requiring that private sales and transfers —including those at gun shows or on the internet— go through the same background check process as sales through a licensed gun dealer, according to the Washington Alliance for Gun Responsibility.

Ammon Bundy —  the son of Cliven Bundy, the anti-government, anti-tax Nevada rancher involved in a standoff with the federal government earlier this year — did not show up to speak. However, speakers were there to rant against Obama and the UN’s ultimate agenda of taking over America by taking away our guns. The crowd was mostly men, and a few women, with many dressed in camos and militia-garb. Dozens of individuals open-carried with rifles and shotguns slung over their shoulders.

One couple with their friends donned wedding garb as they took pre-wedding photos with an AR-15 on the capitol building steps.

Protesters carried signs warning about the great gun ban our government will be making any day now.

image of poster depicting ruthless dictators like Hitler
Screenshot from Youtube video below

And if you ask right-wing extremist Sheriff Mack — he said there was a total of 5,000 people attending. If you check the clip, he doesn’t quite seem to understand why he’s there. Something about guns and tyranny? Whatever it is, he didn’t seem to be aware (or care?) that I-594 was a ballot initiative passed by the majority of voters. Not politicians.

From about :42 seconds into the clip:

“…This is where everyone should be, in Olympia Washington, standing against the tyranny of these idiot politicians here in Washington, who think that they have the right to restrict, uh, our freedoms and liberties as established within the..Bill of Rights. And so..uh..uh I love it. We’ve got a great crowd here, I don’t know, I don’t know…about 5000 people or so…but uhmm..thanks to everybody..and uh, remember…The Second Amendment is only about liberty, and families…and, uh, history.”

While Gavin Seim and other organizers behind the event had every intention of mass civil disobedience, the Highway Patrol had previously stated that they didn’t plan on arresting anyone for passing around their guns for a massive show-and-tell exercise. They were true to their word, according to the Spokesman-Review:

A few passed their firearms back and forth in an effort to violate the new law’s provision that requires a background check for a “transfer.” But their attempts at civil disobedience brought no arrests or citations.

“We’re going to let them do that,” said Trooper Guy Gill of the Washington State Patrol. There was a difference of opinion during the recent initiative campaign whether such actions violate the law, with the sponsors of I-594 insisting they do not.

However, other attendees wanted to truly break the law, by permanently selling their arms to other gun buyers. But it appears few of the protesters came to the rally strapped with cash and aiming to buy:

One protester in a red and white Santa hat, who gave his name simply as Richard from Clark County, was trying to violate the law by offering a rifle, an Interarms Mark X, for sale for $600 and not performing a background check on the buyer.

Richard bought the rifle from a private seller about 15 years ago and it was just gathering dust, he said. He didn’t go through a background check when he bought it, so “why should I subject anyone else to that?” he asked.

But as the rally was wrapping up in the late afternoon, Richard said he’d had a few inquiries but no buyers, so he hadn’t had a chance to break the law.

I-594 was a ballot initiative in the midterm elections that passed with 59% approval, but gun rights activists told their audience its passage was a mistake. Some voters didn’t understand its provisions, they argued. Others blamed its passage on some gun-rights supporters not voting and major gun-rights organizations fighting among themselves.

“It’s impossible to enforce this law,” said state Rep. Elizabeth Scott, a Republican from Monroe, Washington. “There are more of us than there are of them.”

Rep. Scott urged protesters to return to Olympia during the upcoming legislative session when more gun-control bills will be introduced. There will also be will efforts to roll back some provisions of I-594 or completely repeal it. A repeal effort “won’t go anywhere, but we’re going to try,” she admitted. She also read a message from Rep. Matt Shea, R-Spokane Valley, that said he couldn’t attend the rally. (But he is totally was with protesters in spirit and denounced I-594 from the comfort of whatever nice place he decided to stay home from.)

Gavin Seim, a failed Republican candidate and the organizer of the rally, finished off the event by burning his concealed weapon permit on stage to a lingering group of supporters. He  insisted the government didn’t have the authority to “give him permission to exercise his rights” — which extend well beyond common firearms — all the way to heavy military equipment. (Seim’s speech is at about 1:32 until the end.)

“If you want a tank in your front yard, then buy one … your house will be the safest on the block,” Seim said. “If you want to own a bazooka, own one.”

He claimed the right to bear arms is in the Constitution and can’t be taken away by the Legislature or “by the collective, uninformed majority.”

That’s what he’s calling the voters.

P.S. There’s a great gallery of attendees available at the Spokesman-Review, but the image below, showing what a “gun pass”  looked like , was my favorite. Why does “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours?” come to mind here?:

image of two men passing each other guns, unintentionally phallic looking
Image Credit: The Spokessman-Review / Associated Press

 

By Hypatia Livingston

"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all."Writer, thinker, researcher, philosopher.

13 thoughts on “‘I Will Not Comply Rally’ Falls Short In Attendance, Delivers Big On Gun Extremism”
  1. Despite the significant no-show-as-promised at this Mensa meeting of True Patriots, this group protesting local state law still beats attendance at the national Operation American Spring gathering of geniuses in D.C. to arrest the President and Congress in May.

    These local gun-humpers also beat out attendance at 2-Million Bikes to D.C., 1-Million Truckers to D.C., Larry Klayman’s million-promised Reclaim America and countless thousands of True Patriots promised at Shut Down Our Borders.

    Scary people, but still entertaining in a weird way.

  2. I still don’t get why law-abiding gun owners would fight against background checks. Do they really want guns in the hands of more mentally unstable people?

    1. No we don’t want mentally ill with guns. This law will not stop that, It’s not the checks we are mad about. It’s the $50 to get one. How about you pay $50 every time you drive to ensure you are not a drunk driver. How about if every time you borrow someones car you pay $50 and get a background check. If you read the law you would get it. It’s not the check, it’s the fee. It’s making law abiding citizens prove they are not felons. Can I ban your 1st amendment right because some people incite violence with words?

      1. okay — how do YOU suppose that people should prevent mentally ill — domestic abusers — and criminals from being able to buy guns at gun shows or on the internet? Just lock them up for the rest of their lives? You want them to make the background check free? Maybe they will. if you make photo ID free for people who need it to vote, too. Since voting is also a fundamental right

        1. We already have laws that they are not allowed guns….. they break those laws… we have laws against murder and domestic abuse…. they break those. You think they will obey this one? Forcing me to take one every time I by a gun won’t stop crazy will it. I have a concealed weapons permit. I have a C&R license. I have been vetted by my state, by my chief of police and the ATF. I am a member of WAC, you must have a background check every year to be a member. Tell me why I need another check? Like I have said, it’s like making everyone put a breathalyzer in their cars to ensure they don’t drink and drive. Give me a card with a personal number on it. Have a phone number ANYONE selling a gun can call to check that number. If the person is still legal to buy a gun they get a proceed. Why must I fill out 3 pages of paperwork over and over. Why does the government need to know what gun it is? Will their be fraud, you bet their will be. No less that stealing ones SSN. Owning a gun is a fundamental right. Yet I have no issue having an ID showing I can posses one. If you can’t afford an ID you can’t afford a gun. You can’t afford and ID to vote you are too dumb to vote. Those who cannot pass a check will simply steal it now wont they. As if they will think “I can’t kill that guy, I would need to break a law to get a gun”. I say end the wars in the middle east and build a boatload of mental heath facilities. Jail is no place for these people. Can you believe my un-empathetic ass said that? I wrote another book.

      2. Fees do indeed suck. But this would not be the first time that a lot of people talked but never walked the walk. I hate when a good protest turns damp when people do a
        no show.

      3. Wow talk about misrepresenting the case. Nobody is saying you have to pay $50 every time you go shooting nobody is saying you have to pay $50 every time you borrow somebody elses gun.
        We do however have to pay fees when we buy cars just like YOU have to pay this $50 fee if you want to buy a gun in your state. Your choices are to pay it, don’t buy guns or move to another state.
        Don’t try to misrepresent the case to get sympathy, it only makes you look stupid.

  3. At one point I could see these gatherings having an effect, but because they allow those with the least amount of marbles to blather to the media, it has become nothing more than a joke.

  4. How do you do such a good job to get the word out and then do a no-show? That just makes me think the guy is a little pawn to be used and instead of really standing up for what he believes in (or people say he believes in) he is just a Schmuck.

  5. I support the 2nd Amendment but need to point out it, like the rest of the US Constitution was written on PAPER by humans, not carved in stone by the finger of God. As such it is subject to amendment, change and re-interpretation all via a prescribed process which is not impossible.
    Put another way, these people are totally failing to communicate to the average citizen any kind of rational message and this is going to result in more states, counties and cities moving to restrict. Eventually it will lead to a federal initiative to change the 2nd Amendment and these nut jobs will of course be willing to kill people as they falsely pretend to be “patriots” about it.

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