Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Monday complained about the limited number of armed officers manning a massive pro-gun rally in Richmond, Va., compared to the police presence at Black Lives Matter demonstrations.
"Who or what are our institutions protecting from who?" the outspoken New York Democrat said during a discussion honoring the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr., "Blackout for Human Rights: MLK Now 2020," reports Mediaite.
“There’s this gun rights protest that’s happening down in Richmond, on MLK day," Ocasio-Cortez told moderator Ta-Nehisi Coates. "The image that has stuck with me the most about that – when we go out to march for the dignity and recognition of the lives of people like Freddie Gray and Eric Gardner, the whole place is surrounded by police in riot gear, without a gun in sight – and here are all these people flying confederate flags with semi-automatic weapons, and there’s almost no police officers at that protest."
Meanwhile, the thousands of gun-rights activists rallying at the Virginia Capitol Monday ended their morning without incident at about noon, after protesting plans by the state's Democratic leadership to pass gun-control legislation that is seen as a key flashpoint in the national debate over gun violence.
The size of the crowd, along with the expected participation of white supremacists and fringe militia groups had raised some fears that the rally could result in violence that occurred in 2017 in Charlottesville, but instead, the mood was described as mostly festive.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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