BAKERSFIELD, CA - Anti-gun control activists declared a Day of Resistance, as rallies were held around the United States. Organizers said it's an effort to stand up against gun control and have their voices heard. In Bakersfield, they did just that.
Republican Senator Jean Fuller said, "We need to keep the Second Amendment. It's our amendment. No one should take it away and if you, in Kern County, let them because we know the way they will."
Hundreds of anti-gun control activists gathered in southeast Bakersfield for a day of resistance. Anti-gun control activist Justin Garza said, "They're taking away our rights, it's unconstitutional."
Organizers say the rally is in response to the president signing executive orders on gun control. They say the president is taking away their right to bare arms.
Anti-gun control activist Richard McEnroe said, "It is not a luxury, it is not a gift from the government, it is and always has been a right of every American citizen."
Activists say they have a message for lawmakers.
Garza said, "We're not going to give up our assault weapons and we're not going to give up any weapon, as a matter of fact."
With this rally, they're hoping to get their message all the way to Sacramento, if not Washington D.C., but many people don't agree with that message.
Former war correspondent Terry Phillips said, "No rational person is suggesting that we should gather up all the guns. Even if somebody thought we should do that, I don't know how that would even be possible."
He said there isn't a simple solution to the complicated issue of gun control.
"I wish it were as simple as saying well let's just give everybody a gun. Imagine, in some of these cases, some of the extreme case, if there had been a lot more armed people. My guess is, a lot of innocent people, a lot more innocent people, probably would've been shot," said Phillips.
But anti-gun control activists are pushing toward their goal, unifying Americans behind the Second Amendment. Anti-gun control activist Priscilla Kelly said, "I hope that the politicians are listening, both democratic and republican and hear our voice."
Organizers say about 50,000 people, in more than 30 states, signed up to participate in the Day of Resistance. They say 1,700 people were at the rally in Bakersfield.
