by KYW's Tony Romeo
Supporters of gun rights rallied on Monday morning in the rotunda of the state capitol.
The keynote speaker at the rally was former Republican presidential candidate Alan Keyes (in file photo above), who said that gun control advocates cast themselves as wanting to preserve life but, he says, they forget a ‘harsh reality’:
“And that is, whether you speak of nations, or of peoples, or of families, or of individuals, you cannot defend life if you give up the means of that defense.”
Last year’s rally was controversial because of a sign stating that a Philadelphia representative of color, Angel Cruz, should be “hung from the tree of liberty” (see related stories).
This year’s speaker, Keyes, is a noted conservative of color. When asked if that were a response to what happened last year, the rally organizer -– Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler County) -- said only that Keyes is a patriot known for supporting freedom issues who expressed interest in speaking.
But Metcalfe says participants were asked to limit signs to the names of the groups they represented.
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