Libertarian Activist With History Of PTSD Calls For Armed D.C. March

Sometimes I hate opening my mail and this is one of the reasons. I know I am going to regret not just passing off this as nothing I really want to deal with but I opened it four times before I knew I had to address it.

When you read it, you'll understand why.

Libertarian Activist With History Of PTSD Calls For Armed D.C. March
By Sarah Rae Fruchtnicht
Opposing Views
Tue, May 14, 2013

Libertarian activist Adam Kokesh, who admits to a history of mental instability and post-traumatic stress disorder, is calling for an armed march on Washington, D.C., to protest against “tyranny.”

Kokesh proposed a march with loaded rifles from Virginia in D.C. on July 4. D.C. police have promised to block the march from crossing into Washington.

“This is now a call for mass civil disobedience on July 4th anywhere in Washington, D.C.,” he wrote on a Facebook page for the event. “We will march with rifles loaded and slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated and cower in submission to tyranny.”

Kokesh, 31, who served as a non-commissioned officer in the Marines and reservist, wrote a 2005 college thesis entitled “Hot, Dirty, and Dangerous: Seven Months of Civil and Not-So-Civil Affairs In And Around Fallujah.”

He mentions PTSD in the thesis, writing “I had a number of anxiety attacks those first few days back [from Iraq].”
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PTSD and gun rights is a huge issue because veterans with PTSD and among gun owners have been avoiding the VA out of fear they would lose their rights. Right now people are working on fixing what Congress did back in 2008. They want to put gun rights into the hands of a judge to do it on a case by case basis and not lumping all veterans in together. Wise move but this man deciding to march on Washington "locked and loaded" has done more damage to normal veterans and it is pretty disgusting.

For the last 40 years Vietnam veterans have fought a huge battle so that veterans would be respected even if people didn't agree with the wars they were sent to fight. They have moved mountains out of the way but there is still so much more to be done. Getting the truth out about PTSD is a huge part of that so that the impression of a "crazy" vet is replaced with the simple fact these men and women cared enough about our country they were willing to die for it.

This stunt will only harm them once again. The impression of the public will once again revert back to fearing the veteran instead of helping them.

I know a lot of veterans with PTSD and they have guns and I have no problem being around them because I know for a fact they would protect me from any harm. They are armed to defend and not to attack anyone. That is just how they are. I just wish people knew what they were really like and then they would know this man is not a representative of them.