Takoma fair features guitars and gun locks
By Ellen Sorokin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
People attending the 23rd annual Takoma Park Folk Festival yesterday
were encouraged to sample ethnic foods, enjoy a little acoustic guitar
music, buy a few handmade crafts — and turn in their gun locks.
Many did just that. In fact, the Maryland Citizens Defense League,
a gun-rights advocacy group that set up a booth at the festival, collected
60 gun locks in less than an hour after the event began.
"Wow, I can't believe they got so much in so little time. I don't even
know what to say to that. Just wow," said Takoma Park resident
Sandy Glassman, who took her two toddlers to the festival, which was
held on the athletic fields behind the Takoma Park Municipal Center.
The Citizens Defense League set up its "Turn in Your Gun Locks"
table at the daylong festival in one of the most liberal communities in
Maryland to protest Gov. Parris N. Glendening's gun-control legislation.
Mr. Glendening pushed through the General Assembly and signed into law
a bill requiring handgun buyers to purchase external safety locks for their
weapons, beginning next month. Gun makers will be required to install
built-in locks on all new handguns sold in the state after Jan. 1, 2003.
Yesterday, one woman heckled the volunteers at Citizens Defense
League's booth, but many festival-goers stopped by to offer encouraging
words. "I'm so glad you guys are here," Takoma Park resident William
Jeffries told the volunteers. "Thanks for showing up." "It went well," said
Norm Balog, a volunteer at the league's booth. "We had one man who
turned in some 30 gun locks." The group's members handed out fact
sheets, bumper stickers and charts to bolster their argument that the
government should not require the use of gun locks.
Takoma Park, a city of 18,600, has some history of promoting gun control.
In fact, 2,500 signatures were collected to get a referendum on banning
handguns in the city on the November ballot. The peace-loving festival was
an interesting setting for a gun-rights group to gather support. "It does take
courage for them to be here. I just wanted to give them some
encouragement. We shouldn't have one point of view on everything," said
Takoma Park resident Martin Morse Wooster, who had stopped by the
league's booth to show his support.
The league's most vocal opposition came from volunteers for the Million
Mom Foundation, which lobbies Congress for gun-licensing and registration
laws. Those volunteers expressed outrage at the league's presence at the
festival. "We feel that it's so obscene that it almost deserves no
comment," said Tierney Siegel, president of the Montgomery County
chapter of the Million Mom Foundation, who sat at a booth across the field
from the gun-rights group's table. When told of the 60 gun locks that were
turned in within an hour, Ms. Siegel said: "That's 60 accidents waiting to
happen. And one accident is too many." The Citizens Defense League
collected a total of about 100 gun locks.
The group's volunteers said they chose to represent the 2-year-old gun
advocacy group at the festival to tell residents that gun locks provide a false
sense of security. "They do more harm than good," Mr. Balog said. "The
locks do nothing for safety."
Any locks that were turned in, Mr. Balog said, will be smelted into ingots
for manufacture of new firearms to be raffled in about six months. A receipt,
given for each gun lock, will be good for one chance in the raffle.
Other groups that set up booths to promote their causes agreed that the
league had a right to be at the festival and express their views, even though
they didn't share the group's belief.
"As a matter of free speech, they certainly have the right to be here," said
Bob Stewart, a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central
Committee and local labor activist. "Their grossly irresponsible advocacy of
turning in child safety gun locks shows that they can only be strong
[George W.] Bush supporters."
Others disagreed. "I have no problem with them being out here," said
Robert Culver, co-chairman of the Montgomery Citizens for a Safer
Maryland, a group that teaches gun safety. "They have a message to
deliver and they're totally right in their basic message. Everyone has the
right to defend themselves without encumbrance."
------------------
When women are disarmed, a rapist will never hear - Stop or I'll shoot!
Armed Citizens SAVE Lives!
<A HREF="http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage
Gun" TARGET=_blank>http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage
Gun</A> Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a
woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.
"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum
est" ("A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands")
Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD)
By Ellen Sorokin
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
People attending the 23rd annual Takoma Park Folk Festival yesterday
were encouraged to sample ethnic foods, enjoy a little acoustic guitar
music, buy a few handmade crafts — and turn in their gun locks.
Many did just that. In fact, the Maryland Citizens Defense League,
a gun-rights advocacy group that set up a booth at the festival, collected
60 gun locks in less than an hour after the event began.
"Wow, I can't believe they got so much in so little time. I don't even
know what to say to that. Just wow," said Takoma Park resident
Sandy Glassman, who took her two toddlers to the festival, which was
held on the athletic fields behind the Takoma Park Municipal Center.
The Citizens Defense League set up its "Turn in Your Gun Locks"
table at the daylong festival in one of the most liberal communities in
Maryland to protest Gov. Parris N. Glendening's gun-control legislation.
Mr. Glendening pushed through the General Assembly and signed into law
a bill requiring handgun buyers to purchase external safety locks for their
weapons, beginning next month. Gun makers will be required to install
built-in locks on all new handguns sold in the state after Jan. 1, 2003.
Yesterday, one woman heckled the volunteers at Citizens Defense
League's booth, but many festival-goers stopped by to offer encouraging
words. "I'm so glad you guys are here," Takoma Park resident William
Jeffries told the volunteers. "Thanks for showing up." "It went well," said
Norm Balog, a volunteer at the league's booth. "We had one man who
turned in some 30 gun locks." The group's members handed out fact
sheets, bumper stickers and charts to bolster their argument that the
government should not require the use of gun locks.
Takoma Park, a city of 18,600, has some history of promoting gun control.
In fact, 2,500 signatures were collected to get a referendum on banning
handguns in the city on the November ballot. The peace-loving festival was
an interesting setting for a gun-rights group to gather support. "It does take
courage for them to be here. I just wanted to give them some
encouragement. We shouldn't have one point of view on everything," said
Takoma Park resident Martin Morse Wooster, who had stopped by the
league's booth to show his support.
The league's most vocal opposition came from volunteers for the Million
Mom Foundation, which lobbies Congress for gun-licensing and registration
laws. Those volunteers expressed outrage at the league's presence at the
festival. "We feel that it's so obscene that it almost deserves no
comment," said Tierney Siegel, president of the Montgomery County
chapter of the Million Mom Foundation, who sat at a booth across the field
from the gun-rights group's table. When told of the 60 gun locks that were
turned in within an hour, Ms. Siegel said: "That's 60 accidents waiting to
happen. And one accident is too many." The Citizens Defense League
collected a total of about 100 gun locks.
The group's volunteers said they chose to represent the 2-year-old gun
advocacy group at the festival to tell residents that gun locks provide a false
sense of security. "They do more harm than good," Mr. Balog said. "The
locks do nothing for safety."
Any locks that were turned in, Mr. Balog said, will be smelted into ingots
for manufacture of new firearms to be raffled in about six months. A receipt,
given for each gun lock, will be good for one chance in the raffle.
Other groups that set up booths to promote their causes agreed that the
league had a right to be at the festival and express their views, even though
they didn't share the group's belief.
"As a matter of free speech, they certainly have the right to be here," said
Bob Stewart, a member of the Montgomery County Democratic Central
Committee and local labor activist. "Their grossly irresponsible advocacy of
turning in child safety gun locks shows that they can only be strong
[George W.] Bush supporters."
Others disagreed. "I have no problem with them being out here," said
Robert Culver, co-chairman of the Montgomery Citizens for a Safer
Maryland, a group that teaches gun safety. "They have a message to
deliver and they're totally right in their basic message. Everyone has the
right to defend themselves without encumbrance."
------------------
When women are disarmed, a rapist will never hear - Stop or I'll shoot!
Armed Citizens SAVE Lives!
<A HREF="http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage
Gun" TARGET=_blank>http://www.wagc.com
http://sites.netscape.net/wagcga/homepage
Gun</A> Control: The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her panty hose, is somehow morally superior to a
woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound.
"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum
est" ("A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands")
Lucius Annaeus Seneca "the younger" ca. (4 BC - 65 AD)
