Crooks and Liars reports that former Russia Today reporter Adam Kokesh is calling for an armed march to Washington on July 4th. As quoted in the link:
Kokesh is calling for an armed march on Washington, DC. By armed march, I mean a march from Virginia to Washington, DC with at least 1000 marchers carrying loaded rifles. Being the kind of guy that plans for every contingency, he warns that such a march would be intended to be non-violent, unless...
On the morning of July 4, 2013, Independence Day, we will muster at the National Cemetery & at noon we will step off to march across the Memorial Bridge, down Independence Avenue, around the Capitol, the Supreme Court, & the White House, then peacefully return to Virginia across the Memorial Bridge. This is an act of civil disobedience, not a permitted event. We will march with rifles loaded & slung across our backs to put the government on notice that we will not be intimidated & cower in submission to tyranny. We are marching to mark the high water mark of government & to turn the tide. This will be a non-violent event, unless the government chooses to make it violent. Should we meet physical resistance, we will peacefully turn back, having shown that free people are not welcome in Washington, & returning with the resolve that the politicians, bureaucrats, & enforcers of the federal government will not be welcome in the land of the free.
There's a remote chance that there will be violence as there has been from government before, and I think it should be clear that if anyone involved in this event is approached respectfully by agents of the state, they will submit to arrest without resisting. We are truly saying in the SUBTLEST way possible that we would rather die on our feet than live on our knees.
Yes, Kokesh calls for peaceful retreat with their loaded rifles, but my gut tells me it's not that simple, nor is it so easy to manage a thousand or more "patriots" with their loaded rifles into simply "peacefully turning back."
Kokesh was terminated from Russia Today due to his support of Ron Paul in the last election. The FEC complaint, in part, reads as follows:
The respondent is Russia Today Television Network (RTTV), funded by the government of Russia and registered as a foreign corporation in the US, which provided air time for one of its employees, Adam Kokesh, to promote and raise funds for a 2012 American presidential candidate, Rep. Ron Paul, in apparent violation of the ban on political contributions and expenditures by foreign nationals. Foreign corporations are prohibited from "contributing, donating, or spending funds in connection with any federal, state, or local election in the United States, either directly or indirectly," according to the FEC.
The alleged purpose of Kokesh's activities was to "divide and weaken the GOP," making it more likely that Obama would get reelected.
People have the Constitutional right to freedom of assembly for peaceful purposes. However, the question is whether or not a reasonable person would interpret Kokesh's actions in that light, given that his marchers will be armed with loaded rifles. Thus it seems as though the government has a compelling public safety interest in stopping the march. All it would take is, out of these 1000 people with no military training, one person to do something wrong and the whole scene would erupt into chaos.
And another question about whether Kokesh's intentions are peaceful was raised by Salon, which reported:
“It’s time to abolish the US federal government,” he tweeted yesterday [May 2nd]. Today [May 3rd] he tweeted this:
When the government comes to take your guns, you can shoot government agents, or submit to slavery.— Adam Kokesh (@adamkokesh) May 3, 2013
Only Kokesh himself knows the answer to that question.