Advocates of openly carrying weapons returned to the tinderbox community of Ferguson, Missouri, where they held a "racially integrated" march attended by about a dozen demonstrators in support of their Second Amendment rights to bear arms.
The march was organized by suburban St. Louis gun shop owner Sam Andrews, said
KTVI-TV, and opposed by St. Louis County Executive Steve Stenger who charged the group was "inflaming a situation that is already inflamed."
Ferguson was the site of racial unrest following the August 2014 shooting death of black teen Michael Brown by white police officer Darren Wilson, noted
The New York Times. A group of open-carry activists had gathered there last August around the anniversary of Brown's death.
The activists gathered on Monday at a pavilion along South Florissant Road where much of the 2014 violence played out, said the
St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Andrews, a St. Louis area spokesman for the group Oath Keepers, told the Post-Dispatch that some blacks told him they feared being shot if they carried weapons openly.
"The police have so intimidated the black people that they don't even believe they have rights," said Andrews. "That's the problem. That's why we're here. So either way, we make the point."
Some members of Oak Keepers had appeared in Ferguson in August and charged that authorities were illegally confiscating firearms in the city, but St. Louis County Police Chief Jon Belmar said then that the Oath Keepers were within their rights to carry weapons.
Protesters and police said a small group of Oath Keepers had appeared with what looked like assault rifles, bulletproof vest and camouflage gear while the area was under a state of emergency following protests, said
NBC News.
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