nearly three hours to post what a national website posted within minutes. These nuts do not need to bring a gun to peaceful demonstrations...unless of course they are just looking for a fight. Pathetic

nuts??? They are exercising their 2nd Amendment Right. There was no fight, no arrest, so what is the problem?

Anyone who shows up at a public forum with a weapon is a pathetic little wimp. They are so afraid that their political views don't hold water that they resort to cheap displays of force. Any coward can buy a gun and wave it around.

Go back 100 years and tell them that. Go to our Police and tell them that. Go to our Marines and tell them that. Go to our FBI and tell them that. Nothing wrong with Guns. I am sure you are one of those people who see a mother taking a nude photo of their baby as doing child porn.

In the article, if you bothered to read it, states that they were exercising their 2nd ammendment rights. No crimes were committed and no incidents happened. I think to Libs any time a gun is shown, they automatically think the worst. As I heard it stated best, "Since you hate guns and war, we'll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O'Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them)."

Anyone who shows up at a public forum with a cell phone is a pathetic little wimp. They are so afraid that their political views don't hold water that they resort to making cell phone calls. Any coward can buy a cell phone and make a call on it. In this state, we have the right to carry a firearm just as much as someone carrying a cell phone. If you want to live in a state where people don't have that right, be my guest and move to Washington DC or Illinois. Just remember one thing, criminals carry firearms whether the law allows them to or not.

Hey gizmo, you said: "Anyone who shows up at a public forum with a weapon is a pathetic little wimp." In 2008, members of the New Black Panthers party stood outside voting places in Philadelphia with billy clubs and threatened voters. In 2004, members of the New Black Panthers party carried shotguns while they rallied against Bush. So show us you mean what you say: Call the Black Panthers and tell them they're a bunch of pathetic little wimps. Record it and post it as an MP3 so we can all hear how brave you are. Here's their phone number: 202-397-4577. Do it, little man. NOW.

you characterize the black panthers as hostile and violent thugs. Did you learn that in the same PC ideology class you are always regurgitating to us?

Irra, have someone read my post to you. Notice: I didn't ever call the Black Panthers "hostile and violent thugs" - YOU did. I merely pointed out a couple of instances of their bringing weapons to rallies and demanded that gizmo show us the courage of his convictions. YOU called them "hostile and violent thugs". You know, that's what's so much fun about you liberals: no matter how hard you try to cover it up with your mindless dribble and phony outrage, your racism and bigotry always shows through.

You little dicked gun nuts are a hoot! If anybody with a gun got within a mile of Bush you morons would be besides yourselves with righteous indignation. Pffttt...what a bunch of sissy pantywaists.

You are a Moron..... No one waved it around, they had them legally in the open. I wonder how many people actually had illegal weapons hidden on them... Obviously you are one of those people who sue the ammunition manufacturing plant for people getting killed...

An assault rifle is a fully automatic rifle like the military uses. I doubt they were carrying assault rifles. They were probably semi-automatic rifles but the media is ignorant and can't tell a BB gun from a howitzer.

That's a good first try, Casper, but when the assault rifle ban legislation passed years ago the term "assault rifle" came to mean all such weapons regardless of whether or not they were fully automatic.

Do your homework: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysf8x477c30

probably had a big case of Stink Eye as well. BTW great to see more advertisers dumping Beck.

AARP has lost 60,000 members due to support of Obamacare. CNN and MSNBC ratings continue to drop. Latest poll shows more Conservatives than Liberals. Obama approval rating below 50%. Obamacare heading for the gutter. The list goes on. Seems you need a reboot Dell.

You never know when a huge, wild moose, or maybe even a polar bear might come charging into the crowd, right there, in the middle of Phoenix, and then where would you be without these patriots with an automatic or semi-automatic rifle?

As they stated, they are excersing their 2nd amendment right. Nothing wrong with that until someone does something against the law.

I think it's in the country's best interest that our president not hold town hall meetings there. Let people carry their guns all they want, keep the POTUS away. There is no Constitutional right to have the POTUS appear in these places.

nothing like this happened as I am sure you would have been cowering behind them begging for their protection...

their (and your) 2nd Amendment rights because they are afraid that BO and fellow libs will try to take that right away. It's my guess that such a display wasn't needed under Bush, Bush or Reagan!

standing up for John Hinckley's Second Amendment rights.

That is all we need, another lawyer...what a tool

approaching the president? There have been multiple assassination attempts and plots on Presidents of the United States; there have been 90 known attempts to kill sitting and former Presidents as well as Presidents-elect. Four attempts on sitting Presidents have succeeded: Abraham Lincoln (the 16th President), James A. Garfield (the 20th President), William McKinley (the 25th President) and John F. Kennedy (the 35th President). Two other Presidents were injured in attempted assassinations: then former President Theodore Roosevelt and then sitting President Ronald Reagan.

You are trying to divise a conspiracy theory their abo.

in highly conflict laden situations is only a prudent caution. Hardly constitutes a conspiracy theory.

None of these people approached the President. If they were in a close proximity to Obama they would have been removed or the weapons seized for a short time. Obama was in a building while they were outside. How was Obama in any danger? One final thing if anyone was going to try and assassinate the President I don't think they would be openly carrying their weapon.

in crowds surrounded by hundreds of Phoenix police and Secret Service agents. Hardly a need to worry for someone walking around with it in plain site, protesting. The man wasn't even close to getting near Obama. However, you gotta worry about the ones hiding in book depository windows.

Like the gay guys IN YOUR FACE because we can

STUPID PEOPLE WITH GUNS Do all the killing.. Man we are talking about the President of the United States.. This man has been getting death threats ever since he announced his run for the office, scared racist, hinding behind gun laws bringing guns to a presidential rally, that's just STUPID, if you listen to talk radio you can see why this tread is taking hold, "Somebody gonna get a hurt real bad"...

seem to be more and more stupid people ready to fall off the edge and open fire on someone as well. The president was there to discuss health care and certainly not to take away their right to bear arms. Where you bear them though is a sign of your lack of intelligence. They certainly weren't needed here. I say tase them bro.

Don't let rational thought get in the way of a feeling, whatever you do...lol

Yep unless you are a crazy left wing radical no one else can exercise their freedoms to protest...in a harmless and socialized manner.

Because they can...Just drives the libbers nuts I love it!

"scared racist, hinding behind gun laws" Do you mean the BLACK guy with the AR-15? I realize your first instinct is to play the race card, but maybe if you knew what you were talking about BEFORE you start slandering people, you wouldn't look like such a total buttmunch. Buttmunch.

if this guy would have been a muslim. I bet my bottom dollar your attitude would change in a heart beat and the rest of the nut jobs there that brough their guns would have the muslim one in their sights.

You're the only one with the problem. I find that it would be you screaming terrorist. The rest would just go about their day. Oh wait your party doesn't use that "terrorist" term any more. I guess I should use the new term "misunderstood human being."

And just how would you know they were a Muslim if you were not profiling????

is now anti Muslim??? How many Muslims do you suppose own guns? Do they all just go home at night and shoot themselves in the head? To assume that because someone carries a gun, they will point it or shoot it at you for no good reason is to say that because someone owns a car, they will no doubt drive drunk and kill your family. It amazes me how you people can rationalize your way through anything.

can be used as part of a detonation device for a bomb so maybe we ban all those also, wait, car bombs are really working so lets ban all cars anywhere near the Pres... Get real, no one would get close to that man.. And there is nothing illegal about having a weapon in the open in this state.

Were there any armed protesters trying to get inside? No. Were there any armed protesters BRANDISHING their firearms? No. So what is the problem with someone exercising their CIVIL RIGHTS?

"Let's water the tree of liberty." He's free to make that statement. He's free to carry the gun he was displaying. Making implied threats when you are carrying a gun is NOT responsible gun ownership. If I was the object of that implied threat, I'd up my alert level and be ready for some gunplay. If I was law enforcement, I would take his comment as an implied threat and be particularly focused on his movements.

for the 2nd admendment is to give the people power to remove enemies of the state "foreign and domestic", "commoner and president". The early americans new that evil people only fear their death and that arms, swords and muskets (guns), were the only way a free people could remain free.

Whether you like it or not it it is your requirement as an American to take arms against those who are against true freedom. Obama and his cirle of friends, republican and democrat are enemies of freedom. The only diference today is we "think" we can reach an agreement with civility, but the truth is that you can't reach any agreement with people who don't want one.

that you believe that President Obama should be shot to ensure that your belief system dominates lives. You're not one to tiptoe around. I suspect that many of the other fringe elements that post here and share your extremist views of political change would like to say what you've just said openly. They don't have the huevos though. You've made clear why there is much to fear from the nuts with guns group that gather around Obama events.

Study the Real American history, the truths of dueling and so forth. Study the threats they encountered daily. Study the fact that the many who built a Republic were extremists, the fact that this is the Republic that actually had the people as soverign inteligences. Your brainwashed. And tho I don't have the huevos to take a life like a polititian does I will still speak the truth. Look into why JFK, Garfeild were assasinated, why Reagan and Lincoln were nearly done in as well.

People (without guns) were arrested for wearing t-shirts critical of govt. policy at GWBush events. Do you agree that this was authoritarian and wrong?

Yes, that was authoritarian and wrong.

You don't really mean that "Obama and his cirle of friends, republican and democrat are enemies of freedom" Do you really mean that "Whether you like it or not it it is your requirement as an American to take arms against those who are against true freedom."? You are just joking, right? Because if you meant those things then that would mean you would have to take up arms against Obama and his cirle of friends. Have you taken up arms? Why not?

you have just proved my point. Wow. You need to be locked up.

were all wrong too. They just weren't as ambitious at ruining freedom as Obama is.

freedom of speech too? Politicians are dismanteling this country left and right, taking lives of innocent people, stealing, lying, brutalizing etc, and I should be locked up! Your wires are crossed.

The SS is always on high alert. Short of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater, there should not be restrictions on "protest speech" whatsoever.

it's so sad that many posters on this site have no recollection of history... i don't like using names but someone else called the timid people who are afraid of someone exercising their Constitutional rights a buttmunch... it sure does sound appropriate

Suppose you saw a group outside the convention center with swastikas. Would you also approve that? After all, they weren't breaking any laws! Now Phoenix will loose a significant amount of convention business thanks to these gun toting people. Oh, except for when the NRA wants to hold it's convention again here.

For you to even call a neo-nazi a skinhead is offensive. You need to study the origins of skinheads. The original skins were non-racist working class kids just having fun dancing to Ska, an early variant of reggae. The neo-nazis hi-jacked our scene in the 70's and since then uneducated people refer to them as skins. In my scene we refer to them as boneheads.

nothing happened so what is the problem? It is legal for these people to have guns in the state of Arizona. Judging by the crime rates in our nation's capitol I believe people (both ordinary citizens and government officials alike) are in more danger from being the victim of a gun crime in Washington DC than they are in the state of Arizona, and guns are supposedly illegal in DC!

of bringing guns was to show just how many people support the 2nd Amendment and are law-abiding gun owners. What would have been ideal is if Obama was here when the NRA convention was here.

I thought he was there to talk about health insurance reform. Guess Obama didn't get the memo that it was about the 2nd amendment!

Not, YOUR FIRED!!

or a fear of firearms. Typically they don't understand them or think any sight of a firearm spells trouble. It would be better that they educate themselves first before coming to the conclusion that guns are bad.

application and is most often associated with victims of gun violence and PTSD. Misrepresenting its meaning here to try and discredit opponents of your point of view cheapens the seriousness of that affliction.

is also an irrational fear of firearms and other forms of weaponry. The most common manifestation of hoplophobia is the idea that instruments possess a will of their own, apart from that of their user.

can we make up a clinical phobia for that as well ....

My guess is that some of the vets in that hall suffer from or have experienced PTSD related to their war experiences, and being face to muzzle with the enemy. The clinical sense in which I refer to this malady may amuse you, but it is quite real. Patty uses a vernacular form coined by Jeff Cooper. He does so as a form of mockery, just as you are doing. Okay.

The man was walking outside up and down the street peacefully protesting with police watching him. The vets were inside the hall. Had any of them had an issue, I am willing to bet they would voice their concerns.

Sure ... yeah, I'm a vet ... yeah, had weapons pointed at me. Not mocking them ...

...whether or not these firearms were loaded or not? Makes a difference.

It would make no sense to carry a firearm that wasn't loaded. Also it doesn't matter loaded or unloaded they have the right to carry the firearm no matter what.

I feel safer knowing that we can have a crowd full of gun toting Americans. I would feel MUCH less safe if we had not been able to have this freedom on display today.

I refer to the comment on this blog "nothing happened so what is the problem?" And is there no problem if I drive 60 miles an hour thru a school zone as long as I swerve away from the kids? The problem is this - great potential for disaster - and not just to the President - what about all the other innocent people standing around mere seconds away from being shot? In Arizona it is legal for every person in a crowd of 500 people to be walking around with a loaded rifle - and how many police and security people will be required to keep that situation under control?

How many security people have been required to keep it under control so far? Last weekend I had dinner at a restaurant with 65 people who were all open carrying. Not a darn thing happened besides eating. Your analogy to driving through a school zone at 60 would equate to brandishing, which is a crime. No one was doing that at the protest.

Yes ... you do seem to have some short sightedness Diane M. Why do you assume that because a person has a firearms and is carrying it holstered/slung ... that it is a danger? People can carry arms and be responsible ... the mere owning/carrying a firearms does not make one a crazed nutjob. It's the guy you don't see openly carrying a firearm that you need to worry about. (not including the responsible CCW holders)

He is in a peaceful crowd of protestors. He is surrounded by hundreds of phoenix police and secret service agents. He is openly carrying the thing to make a statement. You need to worry about the ones walking around with the crazy look in their eye or the ones hiding up in the book depository.

Maybe we should take your view of guns and apply it to other things. We could castrate every man in the world because what about all the innocent women standing around mere seconds away from being raped? After all, if a loaded gun is just a crime waiting to happen, is not a loaded penis the same thing? Your analogy of a gun and a car does have one thing correct, they are both tools. Whether they are used for good or evil is dictated by the person controlling it. That is why most people can drive through a school zone and obey the law. Of course, more people die each year from cars than guns.

very well said Wolfgang ... and that can expand to many a thing .... all women should not have children because they could be mere seconds away from Post Partum Depression, or bad mothers ... all children grounded because they are mere seconds away from deliquency!!!! Great post ... I do hope Diane grasps the concept ... but somehow I doubt she will!

As a student of world history there has been far more deaths in the world because citizens were not allowed to carry guns then those deaths caused by citizens carrying guns. If you are looking for evil in the world start by looking at the governments of the world. Citizens should be allowed to protect themselves from their governments. Along with Your short sightedness you my also have narrow mind ness. You probably envision these gun wilding radicals as wearing KKK attire.

Think about this.... the kind of people who shoot up schools, restaurants or public events are typically cowards in every sense of the word. So if you take a 100 people, all of which cannot fight back, whats to stop them from attacking that group? Nothing. Because nobody could stop them. Now take five people in that crowd of a 100 and let them exercise their God given right of carrying a firearm.... How much more willing do you think that brazen coward will be knowing that there are others in the crowd capable of stopping him?

Even the secret service said it was not an issue. Fearful, ignorant masses are far more dangerous and do more damage to society than guns ever will.

just look at the fearful masses who have recently shot and killed their own familiies, militia's arrested for terrorist activities that are aremericans, looney bins who shoot phto radar vans, idiots who shoot and kill people in church and the list goes on and on and on. Your defense has no merit.

Hundreds and thousands of people just like YOU kill more people DAILY in CARS in the U.S. than any weapon, ever. You are SO ignorant!

not me. I have not had an accident or ticket for that matter nor has my family in the past fifteen years.

I'm so happy for you.

to get a traffic ticket when you sit in your underwear in mommy's basement all day, spewing filth over a keyboard.

for years and have not killed or injured anyone! You point out issolated incidents ... things that would have happened with or without a gun. Vehicle accidents kill more people each year than guns do ... even doctors kill more people than guns do! I'd be more scared of doctors than guns myself!

"Nothing in politics happens by accident"--FDR. No truer words were ever spoken. The feds are itching to institute marshal law just as they are itching for a war with Iran. When Bush was president(sic),and a Kerry supporter showed up at a Bush meeting with a pin on, he was ushed out and harrassed. Now a guy(a black guy on top of that)shows up armed, the storm troopers do...nothing? Ponder that. They are pushing...hard.