A group hoping to educate folks on their constitutional rights made their return to Carytown yesterday, despite the recent loss of leadership and protests from the Richmond community.
A group hoping to educate folks on their constitutional rights made their return to Carytown yesterday, despite the recent loss of leadership and protests from the Richmond community.
Reggie Bowels, one of The Right to Bare Arms Richmond‘s founding members, said Memorial Day marked the one year anniversary for the group which made national headlines for their demonstrations in Richmond’s busy local shopping district.
The collective arms themselves with fire arms, usually larger rifles, and marches through parts of town letting folks know their actions are totally legal – but in Bowels’ eyes, its more about the message than the spectacle.
“The rifles are like a centerpiece,” said Bowels in a phone interview today. “They get people to come and talk to us, to have open ended conversations. We just want everybody to know you have rights and if nobody tells you, than you won’t know.”
Back in March, three members of the group, Jason Spitzer III, Stephen Kim and Jimmy Higgins, lost their lives in a car accident while traveling to support a similar cause in Michigan.
Five days before the accident, Spitzer recorded a video announcing the return to Carytown in 2015:
“It brought us closer and made us communicate with us more,” said Bowels looking back at the loss he and his group experienced. But from that loss came new friendships and bigger interest in the cause.
“It makes us think more about safety… Nobody expected it, but it brought us close together,” he said. “It started off with us as like-minded individuals having communication around a common interest, but that common interest turned into friendships… it’s extremely hard when you lose friends.”
It was particularly important for Bowels and his fellow open carry-enthusiasts to come back out to the spot they started at one year later.
“It was more of a symbolic thing, to show respect for the accident they had,” he said. “To bring other people into the idea. To let everyone know we still have constitutional values and we have rights.”
It’s not hard to find instances where the group has run afoul with locals – a trip to Richmond’s public housing community Creighton Court ended with a confrontation with RPD, with the Times-Dispatch’s Michael Paul Williams calling the event “off target:”
Spitzer and his group should be capable of making a point without the benefit of a rifle barrel. Whatever lesson they’re trying to impart is getting lost amid the spectacle they’re creating, the disquiet they’re causing communities and, frankly, the risk they’re taking by parading around with unloaded but conspicuous weapons.
“It’s their right and that’s their opinion,” said Bowels of those who oppose their actions. “If you’re not supportive, in a respective tone, a respectful matter, we tell you we respect your opinion cause that’s your first amendment right. But, unfortunately, this is something we are gonna do. We’re not going to be disrespectful about it or antagonize anybody.
There are no other marches planned for now, but you can keep up with Right to Bare Arms Richmond through facebook here.
Editors note – our original copy of this story had an incorrect headline, it has since been grammatically fixed
