Chicago 2nd Amendment Freedom Rally 2009

[melensdad]

I got this from another forum, thought that some of the Northwest Indiana residents would want to join in with our unfortunate Illinois brothers-in-arms.

Yes, we're doing it again! For the second year in a row, on June 26, 2009, Illinois gun owners will gather at the Thompson Building in Chicago (that's across the street from Mayor Daley's offices) to show that Chicago is not the anti-gun capital that people think. It's the Second Amendment Freedom Rally!

SAFR 2009 is now only a little over a month away, and I haven't even made a thread for marshal volunteers yet!

So, here's your chance. If you were a marshal last year, you know it was no problem at all. There will be one or two changes this year, including a little clearer system for everyone to know where their area of responsibility will be, but the venue is a really good one and I don't anticipate any problems. There are no bad seats on the plaza, so no one will be missing anything to be a marshal.

If you didn't get a chance to help last year, and you'd like to pitch in this time, jump aboard and welcome!

Please post or PM reliable contact information. Email is best.

For those unfamiliar with the marshals' jobs, we do a variety of things:

* Define the area and keep people out of the street for safety,
* Keep the crowd from blocking entrances to the building or the sidewalks around the plaza,
* Help people find signs, information, restrooms, water, etc.
* Communicate with security and police personnel to handle emergencies (like the medical emergency at the Capitol during IGOLD this year)
* Look cheerful and answer questions, and most importantly:
* Seriously, this next thing is really important, so pay attention:
* Enjoy ourselves and have a fun day with like-minded people.

Last year, I anticipated helping with cleanup, but as it turned out, our crowd just doesn't produce much garbage, and a few of us spent maybe 10 minutes at most picking up a few things and counting chairs. Last year, at the very first SAFR, we drew a crowd between 500 and 1000, which filled the plaza pretty well. This time could be a great deal larger; there's more grassroots advertising going on in Chicago itself this time.

So, who wants to help?

Here is a link to the original post on that forum in case you want to contact the guy who posted this: Chicago 2nd Amendment Freedom Rally 2009 - Family, Friends, Firearms

 

[melensdad]

The more I think about this I wonder if we can't make this an INGO event for folks in the Lake/Porter/LaPorte county areas to attend? Why not help them and get together too?

I wonder if we can bring a BBQ grill and cook out on sidewalk area? I think there is a very wide public space there so there should be plenty of room, it really depends where they actually gather. I know there is a lot of public space at the City-County building complex but the Federal Building is across the street so I'm not clear exactly where the gathering will be.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Thanks for spreading the word, Melensdad. I'd love to see a big contingent of Hoosiers at the event, and I know it's probably a shorter drive for a lot of members here than it is for a lot of Illinois members.

I don't have an answer on the cooking out, but space is already at a premium since we can't get permission to close the streets. Also, the Thompson Center is full of restaurants, so they may have a policy problem with us cooking out. Last year all we provided was free bottled water on the plaza.

If you get some interest in cooking out, you could contact Ishmo at Illinoiscarry.org, since he's our organizer and knows the Thompson Center people better than the rest of us. Keep in mind, though, we're talking about the heart of downtown Chicago, so parking, loading and unloading are issues.

 

[Kirk Freeman]

You did pay the tax on that water, Don?

Don, this is the Indiana forum, you're going to get a lot of questions on cooking out and the bringing of dogs to the rally.

Best wishes to all our friends in Illinois. This is the heart of the Beast. To see a Second Amendment rally there is to see Dick Daley weep and shudder under his desk.

 

[jedi]

wow to the gates of hell ya are going to protest.
hum.. mixed feelings on this one...

 

[melensdad]

You did pay the tax on that water, Don?

Don, this is the Indiana forum, you're going to get a lot of questions on cooking out and the bringing of dogs to the rally.

I was going to protest and say that we are not all hicks here in Indiana, but then I realized we probably are . . . and proud of it too

wow to the gates of hell ya are going to protest.
hum.. mixed feelings on this one...

Yup, but for anyone who is really opposed to excessive controls at any level of government we really should consider having an INGO group attend this event. Illinois is really the belly of the beast and there are a lot of pro-gunners who live there and even a lot of of pro-gun legislators (at the state level) but then there is Chicago/Cook County that overwhelms the state.

Realize too that many of our North West Indaina state legislators follow the lead of Chicago and Illinois and if ANY progress, even modest progress, occurs in Illinois then the wind may be taken out of the sails of some of our Indiana legislators!?! So it may be in our interest to support Illinois.

Let's face it, District 1's Pete Visclosky is tied to the hip of the anti-gun Chicago/Big Labor political machine. We should do what we can to kick that organization in the teeth.

 

[Bill of Rights]

Might want to find a way to ensure that it gets some good press, too... IIRC, the papers and TV covered it last year, but gave it no TV time nor column inches-perhaps because there was no incident to spin into "those horrible gun people". Take that as either a thought to consider or as a hopefully unnecessary warning.... or both.


Blessings,
Bill

 

[jedi]

Don will therebe speakers? How long is the rally?
Will they just be standing in that area or doing a march like the "immigrantion rally" that occurs every 6 months and the protester march from point A (not sure where) and end up at the Daley Plaza?

 

[rambone]

Sounds cool. I wanna go. Keep us posted and keep this thread active so people hear about it.

 

[flagtag]

wow to the gates of hell ya are going to protest.
hum.. mixed feelings on this one...

Got that right!!! Right under "Da Mayor's" windows! (and Blago's too, last year.)

I hope many of you will attend as well. You could even wear your stuff as well. (No holsters, please - even empty) Seeing support from a carry state will raise "Da Mayor's" BP some. He and his friends will try to pretend they don't notice us, but we know better.

I'll be taking the train.

Like Don said, you can go to illinoiscarry.com and find the link to the pictures from last year. We had a "few" people there.
Come join the fun! Let the "Dailey Machine" know that WE the PEOPLE won't just fade away.

 

[rambone]

Anybody know what time? Mark your calendars guys!

 

[flagtag]

Anybody know what time? Mark your calendars guys!

Try this link for the flyer.

http://safr.isra.org/chicagorally.pdf

It should give you the info you need.

 

[rambone]

Whos with us?