MI: MLive has Democrat Operative Write Article Critical of Open Carry Rally

On April 29th, hundreds of Second Amendment supporters attended the Second Amendment rally at the State Capitol in Lansing, Michigan.   The rally has grown over the years and is now a major annual event at the Capitol.   These rallies are becoming more and more common around the nation.  There were numerous articles written about the Michigan event this year.

MLive published an article complaining about the open carry practices of the rally members at the Capitol.  The writer, Mark Lawrence, is identified as:

Mark Lawrence works for the Michigan Legislature and is a member of the National Rifle Association.

The anecdotal evidence that he offers is highly questionable:

I regularly witnessed firearms being carried in a manner that is unsafe given the environment - the most common being a rifle carried over the shoulder (where the carrier has no control let alone sight of the trigger) with the muzzle pointed straight up in the air.

His oversimplifications were quickly pointed out by second amendment activists in the comments section:

TheTruthIsViral 2 days ago

Dear Mark,

The muzzles of the weapons (long rifles) were pointing up because that is how the Michigan State Patrol asked us to carry them. The stated reason was so that when people were on the 2nd floor, the muzzles of their weapons wouldn't be pointed down into the gallery.

Secondly, I'd like to take issue with this statement: "As anecdotal evidence, yesterday I witnessed a man standing in line at Clint’s Hotdog Stand on the corner of Michigan and Capitol Avenues with a pistol holstered on his hip so that the gun’s muzzle was pointed directly at the lower body of the person standing behind him. This is not safe"

When was the last time that you saw a holstered weapon jump out of it's holster and start killing people all by itself?
MLive should restrict their writers to opining about subjects they know something about if they intend to offer anything but facts gathered from other people.

And then, we learn the interesting part.  Mark  Lawrence is a Democrat,  the lead staff person working for a Democrat House member Doug Geiss, Rep for District 12.  From poster Classical Lib:

 Is there any irony that this article - which is critical of a non-leftist rally - is a Democrat, working for a Democrat in the Michigan Legislature?

 His boss, Doug Geiss, had a few minutes of national fame when he called for union violence in response to Michigan overhauling its antiquated labor laws:

On the floor of the Michigan legislature on Tuesday, Democratic state Rep. Douglas Geiss thundered: “We’re going to pass something that will undo 100 years of labor relations, and there will be blood. There will be repercussions!”

  I have been unable to find an NRA rating for Doug Geiss, but he did vote in favor of the recent bill to remove the Michigan ban on short barreled rifles and shotguns, which passed with broad bipartisan support.

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