WASHINGTON – Mahatma Gandhi should be turning in his grave after being invoked by the American gun lobby in its fight for the right to bear arms.
A maverick gun enthusiast who has asked 1000 pro-gun supporters to march across the Potomac carrying loaded rifles on July 4 has pledged to respond “with satyagraha” if he and his supporters are met with force, as the capital police has indicated they would be.
Adam Kokesh, an ex-US marine activist has a history of rabble-rousing and self-promotion, according to various media accounts. But earlier this week, he carried his stunt to the edge of hilarity by virtually adopting Gandhi as a mascot for gun rights, saying he would use the Mahatma’s methods of peaceful resistance to fight the “tyranny” of the state if it cracked down on the right to bear arms enshrined in the US Constitution.
Kokesh has taken to Facebook to promote his July 4 march, which will take place if his online petition gathers enough steam. According to his plans, at least 1000 pro-gun activists, with loaded rifles slung on their backs, will congregate at the Arlington cemetery across the Potomac river and then will march peacefully around the Capitol and the White House, before trooping back to the Cemetery. The point is to “put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated.”
Any such march will violate a raft of DC laws. Carrying a loaded weapon, concealed or unconcealed, especially if it is unregistered, invites a jail sentence in the district; across the river, Virginia laws are different. “There’s a pretty good chance we’ll meet them on the DC side of the bridge,” Police Chief Cathy Lanier has warned.
To compound matters, activists of the group CodePink, mainly left-wing anti-gun female peaceniks, have promised to meet the gun lovers on the bridge — to offer them hugs.
It could all turn out to be fun and farcical, but no one wants to take chances with 1000 gun-lovers with loaded weapons, even if they are gun-ho about Gandhi.
Kokesh, son of a wealthy venture capitalist, enlisted in the marine reserve in 2000 and served in Iraq, turning anti-war on his return. In 2007, he wore his marine uniform and staged a mock patrol around downtown Washington to protest the war.
The Marines disciplined him with a less-than-honorable discharge, after which his public profile rose. He then ran for Congress and lost, after which he got on a talk show.
