Open Carry at the Second Amendment Rally at D.C. 2 Novermber, 2019

At the Second Amendment rally on the second of November, 2019, two Second Amendment activists openly carried bananas in their holsters. They were making a significant point. On the grounds of the nation's capitol, which was founded when the British government attempted to confiscate privately owned arms, which enshrined the right to keep and bear arms in the Bill of Rights of the Constitution, they were barred from bearing arms under the penalty of law, enforced by armed agents of the government.

It is a strange situation for the land of the free and the home of the brave. The author of the Star Spangled Banner, Francis Scott Key, would not have believed it. While he lived, citizens could carry arms, openly or concealed as they wished, without legal hindrance. Key died in 1843. The first infringements on the Second Amendment took effect after the Supreme Court ruled the Bill of Rights did not apply to the States, in 1833, in Barron v. Baltimore. From thirteen.com:

The Supreme Court, in a decision written by Chief Justice John Marshall, ruled that Barron had no claim against the state under the Bill of Rights because the Bill of Rights does not apply to the states.

At first, there were only a couple of states that infringed on the Second Amendment, and they limited their infringements to banning concealed carry.

The first four presidents of the United States owned numerous personal arms and used them regularly.

It wasn't until 1932, the year Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected, that Congress passed a law to require a permit for the carrying of concealed weapons in the District of Columbia. It was two years before the controversial National Firearms Act was passed in 1934. In 1943, in the middle of World War II,  Congress passed the first law banning open carry in the District.

The unconstitutional infringement of the Second Amendment, banning the open carry of arms in the District of Columbia, continued until July 27th, 2014. On that date, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier issued an order not to arrest people who could legally carry in their home state, or D.C. residents who could now legally carry in the District of Columbia. The return to respect for Second Amendment rights did not last long. The District of Columbia moved fast to pass a new ordinance after the existing ordinance had been ruled unconstitutional on July 26, 2014.

One of the activists at the rally for the Second Amendment on 2 November, 2019, carried a sign. "We came un-armed this time".


It is a disgrace on the nation, the legislature, and the rule of law that peaceful American citizens are forbidden from openly carrying arms in public spaces in the Nation's Capitol. It was a wartime policy that has been hanging on for nearly 60 years, with the brief abatement five years ago.

Legal efforts to reverse this travesty are in progress. Scholars and lawyers have been pursuing a string of Second Amendment cases to restore the fundamental, enumerated, Constitutional right to keep and bear arms. American gun owners continue to show their law-abiding and peaceful nature, while enduring a long train of abuses.

The Supreme Court will hear another Second Amendment case this year. The opinion will not be issued until next year.

©2019 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.

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