Between a Gun and a Soft Place
I was greeting stragglers just arriving at Texas Muslim Capitol Day when I saw the protestor walking quickly toward me. He was burly, bearded, and carried a large Israeli flag and an assault rifle.
Texas Muslim Capitol Day is an opportunity for community members to visit the Texas State Capitol, meet with their elected officials, and learn about the political process and civic advocacy. Texas Muslims travel from around the state to attend.
This year’s event had also drawn a large crowd of “peaceful observers” — due in part to the recent executive order, or “Muslim ban,” and in part to the fact that the previous Texas Muslim Capitol Day had been marred by protesters, one of whom seized the microphone and hijacked the event. The terrified participants, many of whom were schoolchildren, had been rushed into the capitol building and a nearby church for protection. I had recently interviewed a woman who was present that day, so I knew exactly how frightening the incident had been to many. In fact, hearing her story was one of the things that had prompted me to volunteer at this year’s event.
In addition to the many peaceful observers, there was also a heavy police presence at the Capitol that day, and as soon as I saw the man with the assault rifle, I alerted the nearest DPS officer. He nodded brusquely and followed the protestor. I followed them both.
Why did I shadow the guy with the big gun? First, I wanted to make sure that he got nowhere near my son, who was part of the crowd. Second, as a volunteer at the event I felt responsible for helping to make sure that nobody disrupted it.
The DPS officer quickly got the attention of another officer. The officers approached the protestor and questioned him, asking to see his permit to carry, which he produced. At that point, since open carry is legal* in Texas, there was nothing DPS officers could do except keep their eyes on him.
The armed protestor then stood facing the ring of peaceful observers, who formed an outward-facing human shield around the Muslim participants. From behind his mirrored sunglasses, large Israeli flag, and deadly weapon, he stared them down. His intent seemed obvious — to intimidate and bully — and there was something in me that just would not have it.
So I stood in front of him. I did not talk to him or otherwise engage. I simply stood in front of him at a distance of a few feet. Understand that this was not a studied decision. It was an instinctive one. I had never encountered anyone openly carrying a weapon before, nor did I expect to that day.
When my friend Bryan came to say “hello,” he quickly saw the situation and stood by my side. A few moments later a woman with a baby in a carrier on her back joined us. We exchanged silent nods and stood arm in arm between the man with the gun and the crowd.
I was not unafraid. A few days before, a right-wing extremist named Alexandre Bissonnette had walked into a mosque in Quebec City and opened fire, killing six people. Two mosques in Texas had recently burned.
But neither was I particularly afraid. My intuition told me that the protestor was there only to threaten and bully, not to kill. Also, there is probably no place in Texas safer to encounter a person carrying a gun than the Capitol grounds. More important, I felt that I was doing the right thing, and that assurance made me calm.
Soon afterwards, the speeches ended and it was time for participants to go to the First United Methodist Church for lunch. Since one of my responsibilities as a volunteer was to guide them there, I moved on. As far as I witnessed, the event was marred only by this lone armed protestor and a loud heckler.
In fact, Texas Muslim Capitol Day 2017 was an overwhelming success, with more than 600 Texas Muslims attending and at least 1,000 people showing up in solidarity. When one attendee arrived and saw the number of people there to show their support, she broke down in tears of gratitude and cried in my arms for several minutes.
After spending the afternoon visiting the offices of state representatives to thank them for their hospitality, my son and I went home that day feeling tired but happy and grateful to have been part of democracy in action.
I didn’t think much more about the protestor and his gun until I recounted the day’s events to a friend. My friend suggested that as the mother of a teenager and caregiver to my own elderly mother, I should not have put myself in harm’s way. He pointed out that if the protestor had raised his weapon, I would have been in the DPS officers’ line of fire, endangering myself and making it harder for them to do their job.
His comments made me think: What am I prepared to do to protect people being targeted — by the new administration and by those emboldened by it? What level of professional, financial, and personal risk is acceptable to me and to those who love and depend on me?
I don’t know the answers to these questions. But I am ready to consider them.
As Chris Edelson points out in a recent op-ed in The Baltimore Sun, ordinary Americans have already carried out inhumane orders to enforce the “Muslim ban” at the new administration’s behest. For instance, he cites one instance in which a federal employee handcuffed a five-year-old child and separated him from his mother. The ordinary American who did this was doubtless “just following orders,” as Adolf Eichmann famously pleaded in his war crimes trial.
On the other hand, ordinary Americans have also already gone to great lengths to resist the ban— like the countless lawyers who rushed to airports around the country to provide assistance to travelers — one of whom was probably responsible for getting the handcuffs removed from that five-year-old child.
What will we do — us ordinary Americans?
Gun violence prevention activists I spoke with gave these general guidelines for encounters with armed protestors.
1. Learn the laws in your state.
2. If you see someone carrying a gun or other weapon at a rally or political event, alert law enforcement immediately.
3. Ignore protestors. Do not engage with them or argue. That goes double for protestors with guns.
4. Know your rights.
*Open carry of guns is legal in many states. In Texas, State Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, recently wrote House Bill 375, which would allow gun owners to carry their weapons without a permit and make licensing and training classes optional. Furthermore, the House recently voted to roll back a federal regulation that required the Social Security Administration to report recipients of disability benefits due to mental disorders to the FBI’s background check system. As a result of this and other legislation on the horizon, encountering guns in public places may become more and more common. If this concerns you, please see Everytown for Gun Safety for information on how to help prevent gun violence.
