FAIRFAX, Va., June 21 (UPI) — About 100 protesters rallied overnight outside the National Rifle Association’s Fairfax, Va., headquarters in protest and in mourning for the Orlando, Fla., shooting victims.
The action was sponsored by Code Pink, a group known for its anti-war stance, and a coalition of social justice groups.
“We will then have a speak-out for peace … and special ceremony from 2:02 a.m.-5 a.m., when the massacre and hostage-taking at the Pulse nightclub occurred,” a pre-vigil Code Pink statement said.
“We will stay until 9 a.m., when the NRA staff comes in to work. The NRA’s fierce lobbying against an assault weapons ban enables killers behind the shootings in Orlando, Newtown, [Conn.,] and San Bernardino [Calif.,] to use AR-15-type weapons.”
Code Pink co-founder Medea Benjamin, said “We are not trying to take away people’s hunting rifles. We are trying to take away assault weapons.”
“The one thing we both agree on is nobody wants guns in the hands of a madman, like in Orlando or San Bernardino or Fort Hood, [Texas,] or anything like that,” NRA member Paul Brockman, a counter protester, told WJLA-TV, Washington, D.C.
The protest came as the U.S. Senate defeated four new gun proposals Monday. Two Republican-sponsored bills, adding funding to enhance background checks of gun buyers, and requiring law enforcement to be alerted when a person on the federal terror list purchases a weapon, were defeated; so was Democratic-sponsored legislation to close a legal loophole in purchasing weapons at gun shows without appearing on a federal registry, and permitting a denial of sale if there is “reasonable belief” a gun purchaser could engage in terrorism.
