From Staff Reports 

 At “high noon” Feb. 23, Second Amendment supporters — some of them armed, including one with a loaded AR-15 —  gathered at Pack Square in downtown Asheville to take a stand for their right to own guns.

The 35-minute “Day of Resistance” event drew more than 100 attendees.

Comparing the loss of gun rights to a frog in a pot of boiling water, Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, the lead speaker, told the crowd that “it (the change) happens so slowly that most of us haven’t recognized it...

“Well, the temperature has been rising, and most of our fellow citizens are either uninformed or ignorant or don’t really care about what’s going on.”

He added, “Guns in the hands of individual citizens represent the greatest single threat to tyrants — and they know it.”

Besides Eichenbaum, who gave a talk that lasted 20 minutes, Dr. Carl Mumpower addressed the crowd in a more succint speech of half the duration. A brief wrapup was given by rally co-organizer Kevin King.

Eichenbaum and Mumpower are former GOP congressional candidates. Eichenbaum is an ophthalmologist from Murphy. Mumpower is a psychologist and a former member of Asheville City Council.

The rally, during which a number of attendees waved signs for their cause, was organized by MACPAC, which said it was teaming up with other grassroots organizations to bring awareness to the importance of an individual’s constitutional rights. 

MACPAC stands for Mountain Area Citizens’ Political Action Committee. The group was founded in fall 2012 in what leaders termed the wake of a politically hostile environment. MACPAC’s next meeting will be held at 6:30 p.m. March 19 at Frank’s Roman Pizza on Sardis Road in Asheville.

“Our goal is to peacefully stand with fellow patriots across the nation in defense of our constitutional right to keep and bear arms,” MACPAC noted. “The rights of American citizens shall not be infringed.”

The nationwide Day of Resistance was organized in opposition to calls — from President Barack Obama, gun control advocates and some members of Congress — for new laws to be enacted to curtail gun violence.

Following the killing in December of 20 young children and six adults in an elementary school in Newtown, Conn., the issue of gun control has catapulted to the forefront of many political discussions.

In the incident, a man used a military-style rifle. Proposals call for banning assault weapons, limits on high-capacity magazines and mandating universal background checks.

In his speech, Eichenbaum asked the crowd, rhetorically, “How’d we get here?” (His question referred to reaching a point where guns might be outlawed.)

“Because we ignored history,” he said in answer to his own question.

Later, Eichenbaum said, “I’m looking for today’s 3 percent... The 3 percent of patriots ... because that’s all it took” for America to win the Revolutionary War.

“Three percent of the American colonists were able to defeat the strongest military force on earth, at the time,” he noted. “If we stand together, we will be free... Stand together for our chidlren and our freedom!”

Eichenbaum received hearty applause at the end of his 20-minute talk.

The other major speaker, Mumpower, began by asserting, “Thanks for being here, thanks for raising your voice, thanks for caring about the future of America and thanks for this opportunity to speak to a group of patriots with a courage button and  willingness to turn talk into action.”

Mumpower then noted that “we live in crazy times — we’re told we can trust the government.”

He then cited examples of the aforementioned craziness, such as the following:

• “The same government which is ordering bullets by the millions.”

• “The same government that is surrounded by weaponry and security that we do not have. Including a federal building set up as a fortress, an impenetrable police department, a city hall guarded by armed officers and a county courthouse protected by metal detectors and armed officers.”

Mumpower concluded by noting that those who attended the rally were showing that “the Constitution matters to you and that you believe our Founding Fathers were smarter than our current crop of political opportunists and they understood that a citizenry with the right to bear arms is profoundly safer than a disarmed citizenry vulnerable to the whims of a dishonest government, criminals and other forces of darkness.

“You believe that the best life is one lived with an eye on retaining primary responsibility for our health, our values, our economic vitality and our safety.

“Those who do not like guns need not buy one, own one or use one — but we will not tolerate their intrusions on our constitutional and moral right to do so,” Mumpower said, triggering prolonged applause from the crowd.