Update on the gunned-up Georgia Capitol

Jim Galloway at the Atlanta Journal Constitution followed up this week on the new semi-automatic carbines now being carried at the state capitol in Atlanta. News of capitol-assigned state troopers getting AR style rifles was first reports in December by WSB-TV.

Two paragraphs in Galloway's update article caught my eye.

First, there's this:

State cops want to make sure bad guys know the Capitol isn’t a soft target.

If state security planners think soft targets draw evil-doers, what's that say about gun-free school zones?

And then there's this, quoting Col. Mark McDonough, commissioner of the state Department of Public Safety, about an event outside the capitol tomorrow, February 8th:

Purely as a matter of coincidence, Second Amendment enthusiasts plan to hold an “armed rally” on the steps of the state Capitol this Friday. “I’m sure they’ll have their long guns,” McDonough said. “And we’ll have ours.”

Carbine equipped troopers were out for last month's gun rights rally at the capitol. And, as McDonough expects for tomorrow's event, there were also armed demonstrators. Nothing appeared edgy last month. Neither troopers nor rally attendees outwardly expressed any heightened sense of alarm to due the presence of firearms.

From my photos of last month's event

By the way, Galloway's AJC column is the only MSM mention I've seen thus far regarding tomorrow's planned gun rights rally, which is scheduled to run from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm.

Those organizing tomorrow's rally have a Facebook page, but it appears you have to be a group member to get full access. The Georgia rally is scheduled to run from 10:00 am until 3:00, and is apparently just one of many planned around the country.