Well folks, a few days have passed since the march, the media requests for
>interviews have died down, my phone and email have returned to normal, and
I
>even caught up on a little sleep last night.
>
>Sunday was awesome. The weather was perfect, with temperatures in the 70?
s,
>sunny, low humidity, and a light breeze blew all day. We got lucky.
>
>I took metro into town and arrived at the site around 7:30. A few marchers
>had already arrived, but mainly everyone was scurrying around trying to get
>set up by the 9:00 start time. It didn?t help that our sound and stage
>contractor had arrived a few minutes before I did, and they were supposed
to
>be on-site at 5:00. We were not pleased, especially as several were
wearing
>MMM T-shirts. Needless to say they will not be receiving any more business
>from us.
>
>I got several interviews out of the way almost immediately. For about the
>first hour or so it seemed every time I turned around there was another
>camera pointed at me and a microphone in my face. Fun, but exhausting
after
>a while. I was glad to get the interviews out of the way early ? while I
>still had some energy.
>
>The speakers were incredible. Dr. Suzanna Hupp?s story of watching her
>parents killed in front of her in the Luby?s cafeteria ? while she?d left
>her pistol in her car per Texas state law ? was heartrending. She obeyed
>the Texas law that prohibited concealed carry, and her parents paid the
>price for it less than 15 feet from her.
>
>John Lott is such a nice guy. I was surprised at how shy he was when I
>first met him considering that he?s a Yale Law School professor. Let me
>tell you though ? he?s a pit bull when it comes to defending his work! I
>think he has become so passionate on this issue since HCI saw fit to attack
>his study before it had even been published or officials there had even had
>a chance to read it. He?s a typical scholar. Attack him personally and he
>shrugs it off. Attack the integrity of his research and he?s vicious.
>
>The ?just plain folks? women who told their self-defense stories were
>excellent. While not as polished as the more well-known speakers, they
were
>obviously speaking from the heart in telling their true-life stories, which
>made their message all the more powerful.
>
>At one point the park police told us that we might have to move some people
>a small distance ?away? from the site as we?d exceeded our permit of 5000
>people. I was ecstatic at the turnout estimate.
>
>Around 2:30 we assembled for the march. Folks, if you?ve never been
>involved in something like this it is truly incredible. We were 5000
strong
>marching down Constitution Avenue to the Capitol building. We sang the
>?Star Spangled Banner? and ?God Bless America? and chanted ?NO MORE GUN
>CONTROL?. The MMM?s shouted back at us ?NRA GO AWAY? (kind of funny
>considering NRA had nothing to do with SAS, nor we with them), and several
>spat on us or gave us the finger ? with their kids in tow btw. The cops
did
>an excellent job keeping control, though. The only arrest I?m aware of is
>of two skinheads who were adorned w/ the MMM stickers who decided to go
>after some of the slower marchers at the end of the line. Big mistake; the
>cops were on ?em like flies on ****.
>
>This is National Police Week in DC, so many out of town officers were there
>for their events. Several joined our march. While not in official
uniform,
>they were wearing their department t-shirts. We passed several on
>Constitution who couldn?t join us, but who waved or gave us a thumbs-up
>signal, as did most of the passing motorists.
>
>As the front of the line approached the Capitol grounds we were singing
?God
>Bless America? and the church bells were tolling 3:00. We finished the
song
>and cheered, then many cried as the bellringers in the church started to
>play the song back to us. It was an incredibly powerful moment.
>
>As the stragglers arrived and the songs ended, we changed the chant. I
>don?t know who started it, but suddenly everyone was shouting ?THANK YOU
>POLICE!?. I?ll bet they didn?t hear that from the WTO protesters a few
>weeks ago, and I know they didn?t hear it from the Million Moms!
>
>I didn?t stay at the Capitol long as I wanted to get back to help with the
>clean-up efforts. We policed the area pretty quickly, which didn?t take
>long as we had maybe two litterbugs total in the crowd (one was obviously a
>news crew). Afterward I dragged my tired a$$ home, showered, had dinner
>delivered (Chinese), did a phone interview on the Wayne Lapierre show for
>NRA radio to give an update of the day?s events, then had another radio
>phone-in interview for a Pennsylvania station at 10:00. After that I
>crashed.
>
>Melinda
>SAS-AIMM Virginia Coordinator
>