'Tyranny Response Team'
Grassroots Colorado
pro-gun group making headlines
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_dougherty/20000312_xnjdo_tyranny_re.shtml
By Jon E. Dougherty
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com
An unofficial organization composed of gun rights activists has been making headlines in Colorado during recent weeks by showing up en masse to protest gun control initiatives.
The group, which calls itself the Tyranny Response Team, last made its presence felt when Sarah Brady, executive director of Handgun Control, Inc. and her husband, former Reagan press secretary James Brady, made a stop in Denver on Wednesday to help raise funds for a new statewide gun control initiative.
Mrs. Brady began Handgun Control, Inc. shortly after her husband was wounded in a 1981 attack by John Hinckley, Jr. on President Reagan. Reagan was wounded in the attack, as was a Washington, D.C. police officer.
About 300 TRT members -- husbands, wives and their children -- picketed the Denver fundraiser, held at the Denver Hyatt Regency hotel, where the Bradys were making a pitch to raise funds for a Colorado initiative sponsored by a gun control group called SAFE.
SAFE is attempting to place a ballot issue before voters requiring background checks at gun shows.
About 400 "Tyranny Response Team" members gathered last month to protest Colorado Gov. Bill Owens' gun policies.
Some Tyranny Response Team members came from as far away as Wyoming to attend the event, the Denver Post reported last week. At the event, "protestors" as young as 5-years-old were sporting tee shirts emblazoned with "Tyranny Response Team," as well as posters saying, "It's about teaching children morals, not gun control."
Already planning another gun control protest in Longmont, Colorado on March 31, TRT has demonstrated at five events in the past two months, said the Post.
The group "targets gun-control groups and favors in-your-face tactics," the newspaper noted.
At the Denver event, Bob Glass, owner of a Longmont gun store and one of the Hyatt protest organizers, said, "We are here tonight to let the world know that the time for complacency is over."
Events are planned weeks in advance, and increasingly the Internet is being used to alert potential protestors about upcoming events -- most of which have been in Colorado.
Obviously fearing confrontation, the Denver Police Department -- which had learned of the planned protest just days before -- sent about 75 officers to watch over demonstrators, said the Post. Hyatt employees also "stood guard to make sure protestors stayed outside" of the hotel.
However, except for having to ask two people to leave the hotel, the event was peaceful, Denver police said.
Kelly Barnett, father of two of the youngest "protestors," 6-year-old Darian and 5-year-old Sasha, pointed out that his oldest daughter is the same age as the first-grader who shot a classmate last week in Michigan.
"There's no way these kids would do that," Barnett said. He added that he had already taught his daughters gun safety and that both girls, who each have .22 caliber rifles, were "sharpshooters."
Barnett hinted that his daughters were eager to join in the demonstration and that both of them "want to keep" their rifles.
The Post said James Brady seemed oblivious to the demonstration taking place outside the hotel.
Jon E. Dougherty is a staff reporter for WorldNetDaily.
