Hundreds of gun rights activists protest in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Some of the gun rights supporters in Pittsburgh. CBS News/KDKA.

Hundreds of gun rights activists protested proposed gun laws in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. CBS News. 600 protesters, many of them open carrying guns, showed up at the City-County building in Pennsylvania. The city has proposed new regulations on semiauto firearms, ammunition and specific firearms. The protesters have pointed out that any such regulations would be illegal as Pennsylvania as state law prevents municipalities from making their own regulations. The regulations were proposed in response to the Synagogue shooting last October. 

My Comment:

Good to see this kind of protest as it seems as though the right never gets off their butts to do things like this. I do have to say that the chosen time was pretty dumb though. Most gun rights supporters work for a living and turnout was depressed by the fact that this didn't happen on a weekend. Had this been a protest in my state there would basically be no way for someone like me to go even though I would want to do so. Still, 600 people is a pretty good turnout considering the circumstances. 

As for the proposed laws, it's very obvious that they violate both the United States and Pennsylvania constitutions. Obviously a ban on semi-auto firearms is completely unconstitutional as they are the most common type of firearm in the world and the majority of privately owned firearms. I personally only own one, with the rest being bolt or break action, but most people own semi-auto handguns and rifles. 

I don't believe for a second that the gun control supporters don't know this either. They know that semi-autos are extremely common and popular and they depend on the ignorance of voters to pass a ban. At best these people will think that it only counts for scary black rifles and don't realize it will ban their glock as well. At worst they think that semi-automatic is the exact same thing as a fully automatic one. 

I should also point out that these Pittsburgh regulations are illegal on their face. Pennsylvania does not allow cities to preempt state gun laws and those laws obviously allow semi-autos and the other things the city wants to ban. How long that will remain true remains to be seen, but as it stands right now there is no reason to do this other than virtue signaling. The law will be thrown out as soon as it is passed. 

As for the protest itself I am of two minds of the people open carrying. It is a common and correct complaint that doing so makes you an obvious target in a mass shooting or robbery. Concealing a firearm makes you a bit more safer. Of course that isn't strictly relevant for a protest since the point is political, not self defense. The whole point is to wave the flag and make people realize that you are armed. 

There is also the argument that open carry protesting can be counterproductive. People are intimidated by firearms and may be less likely to support gun rights if they are scared. I think there is some truth to that but I would also say open carrying firearms can have an upside. I still remember the Bundy Ranch protest where a bunch of people open carrying firearms forced the government to back down. Plus it gets more people used to firearms and can make them seem less scary if people see them enough. 

I do have to say that the pictures that I have seen of this protest were encouraging. Whatever you think of open carry, there is a right way to do it and a wrong way. I hate it when people have their rifles unslung and at low ready or their pistols out of their holsters and I didn't see any of that. Slung rifles and holstered handguns are a lot less intimidating than guns at low ready and should only be unslung/holstered if things have a good chance of going south. 

I worry that another gun control push is coming. The Democrats hold the house and the GOP still has the Senate but you never know what could happen. Trump is ostensibly pro-gun and won't support any major laws but I do worry that he could be talked into minor regulations like the bump stock ban. 

It is good to see gun rights supporters getting out there and trying to get their message across. It isn't getting the coverage it deserves, part of why I wrote this post, but it does serve as a reminder to our elected officials. We won't tolerate unconstitutional restrictions, at both the state and national level, on our God given rights.