Armed protesters are increasingly using their Second Amendment rights to chill others' First Amendment rights

Armed protestors at the Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix
Jan. 6. (Photo by Adriana Zehbrauskas, The New York Times)

Armed civilians are increasingly appearing at public protests and rallies, as some Americans believe it's their right to carry a gun almost anywhere, reports Mike McIntire of The New York Times.

"The frequency of these incidents exploded in 2020, with conservative push-back against public-health measures to fight the coronavirus and response to the sometimes violent rallies after the murder of George Floyd," McIntire writes. "Today, in some parts of the country with permissive gun laws, it is not unusual to see people with handguns or military-style rifles at all types of protests."

 
While a June Supreme Court ruling established the right to carry a gun outside the home, some Americans feel that the presence of firearms hampers the democratic process and deepens the country's political divides. "But the effects of more guns in public spaces have not been evenly felt. A partisan divide — with Democrats largely eschewing firearms and Republicans embracing them — has warped civic discourse. Deploying the Second Amendment in service of the First has become a way to buttress a policy argument, a sort of silent, if intimidating, bullhorn." McIntire says, "The loosening of limits has occurred as violent political rhetoric rises and the police in some places fear bloodshed among an armed populace on a hair trigger."

The midterm election in Arizona is an example, McIntire reports: "Armed protesters appeared outside elections center in Phoenix, hurling baseless accusations that the election for governor had been stolen from the Republican, Kari Lake." Also, "In October, Proud Boys with guns joined a rally in Nashville where conservative lawmakers spoke against transgender medical treatments for minors."

Kevin Thompson, executive director of the Museum of Science & History in Memphis, told McIntire that armed protesters prompted the cancellation of an LGBTQ+ event. “It’s disappointing we’ve gotten to that state in our country. What I saw was a group of folks who did not want to engage in any sort of dialogue and just wanted to impose their belief."

The Supreme Court's 2008 decision in District of Columbia v. Heller "made clear that gun rights were not unlimited, and that its ruling did not invalidate laws prohibiting 'the carrying of firearms in sensitive places,'," McIntire writes. "More broadly, there is no evidence that the framers of the Constitution intended for Americans to take up arms during civic debate among themselves — or to intimidate those with differing opinions."