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The Spectacle Blog
Thousands of North Carolinians will rally in the state capital of Raleigh tomorrow against government intrusion and excess, but they can’t carry flags on poles. The reason? The nanny state that is Tar Heel government has decreed that poles could be used as weapons.
The Raleigh News & Observer has the details:
The prohibition applies to the American flag, North Carolina’s state flag or anything else carried on a pole more than a foot in length. Scott Hunter, chief of the State Capitol Police, said that the group will be allowed to carry tiny flags of the kind handed out at parades and Fourth of July events.
“It’s sad our country has come to this,” said Laura Long, the Apex woman who applied for the permit on behalf of Triangle Conservatives Unite.
The ban on flagpoles and signs with posts that could be turned into weapons was added in September to the permit from the N.C. Department of Administration that groups need to hold demonstrations or events on state-operated grounds.
The rule states that demonstration participants can’t carry “signs, banners, posters and other similar displays” attached to metal, wood or plastic posts. That includes flagpoles more than a foot in length, according to Jill Lucas, a department spokeswoman.
The public official responsible for the restrictions said they were put in place “to prevent injuries.” Dang, skippy, what about all the cars those deranged protesters will use to reach the event? A two-ton hunk of metal moving at 45 m.p.h is far more dangerous than a foot-long flag poll, yes?
As my boss points out over at Right Angles this morning, it’s the unions and leftist thugs, not tea partiers, who have turned violent in response to the grassroots movement — using the N-word, biting people’s fingers off, and beating them up. Apparently, though, officials are more vexed at the possibility of a wheelchair-bound granny unloading on someone with a flag pole.
If lawmakers are scratching their collective heads at why voters trust tea partiers more than Congress, and why the movement is growing, look no further than these types of political shenanigans.
In the meantime, I’d like to see Raleigh try to enforce this policy at a gay pride parade.
View all comments (22) | Leave a comment
More Blog Posts by David N. Bass
http://spectator.org/blog/2010/04/14/flag-poles-banned-at-tea-party
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Tim| 4.14.10 @ 11:35AM
You can ban my flagpole, but what about my sidearm?
Shawn| 4.14.10 @ 1:00PM
Right on!! Triangle Conservatives Unite: If the liberal morons want something to be feared as a weapon, proudly display your 2nd Amendment rights in plain sight! If these idiots want to be scared of you, give them the best and biggest nickel plated reason you can find!
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.14.10 @ 1:43PM
Tim,
good one, heh.
Seriously though, sidearms are..."problematical".
I would advise "long-guns", (rifles and shotguns), because the last time I checked, "the right to bear arms shall not be infringed".
...Besides, I can hit my target with shoulder weapons. Just joking...kinda'.
Spartuchis| 4.14.10 @ 11:49AM
You don't need to bring a sidearm, for Chrissakes. Just bring a stick--a tree branch or something that isn't an actual flagpole- that's more than a foot long and attach a flag to it.
I can see it now--"Well, Tom, apparently in their bigoted, racist, jingoist derangement, the Tea Party enthusiasts have taken to reverting to Paleolithic standards and are using tree branches as spears with with which to threaten the government!"
Jim Hlavac | 4.14.10 @ 11:58AM
If I was organizing that Tea Party I'd get a truck load of Flag Poles with Flags and hand them out by the thousands and organize the march so it surrounds the State Capitol building with a sea of Flags on Flag Poles -- then with a ML King & Gandhi like fortitude wait for the arrests -- if they dare!
It's absurd -- it's medieval -- in fact, in medieval times at the end of the day the local lord would round up anything bigger than a kitchen knife and lock it up in the castle till the serfs needed them again.
What a fine time for mass civil disobedience.
Blackwatch| 4.14.10 @ 12:15PM
don't put up with this marxist control crap anymore America.
Civil disobedience is a duty when the forces of the MSM and Big Statist Government align against the people.
WINSTON| 4.14.10 @ 1:05PM
How about if I show up with a hay fork? That's just a garden tool...
Mike| 4.14.10 @ 1:25PM
" attached to metal, wood or plastic posts."
How about glass? Or maybe one of those composite-material ski poles?
Oh, the ways to get around this stupid law are endless.
tmedlin | 4.14.10 @ 1:32PM
what this story DOESN'T say is that the state originally took a one day permit for an "earth day" celebration on Sat. and, stretched it into a 3 day permit beginning on Thursday, in order to deny the Tea Party a permit for this location, which had 5000 people last year on Tax Day. When backed into a corner, over the non-existent event permitted for Thursday...with a threat of going to the media, the state backed down, and allowed the permit to be granted...and put the museum's permit back to the one day they had requested. This is the Dem. controlled state govment trying to suppress free speech in NC. Nothing more, nothing less.
The flags will fly at the Capitol Grounds...if we have to hold them in our hands!
Oldefarte| 4.14.10 @ 2:38PM
If flag poles ARE banned at a gay pride parade, does that mean they can't bring their DEDILDOS????????
saleboter| 4.14.10 @ 2:50PM
I can bring my .387 (with permit and concealed) but not a flag pole. jeeesh
"In the meantime, I'd like to see Raleigh try to enforce this policy at a gay pride parade. "
I get some very vivid pictures from that.
Flee| 4.14.10 @ 3:35PM
Poles excluded? I guess the gay pride paradeers would have to stay in control during their whole march or be exposed. Did they mean f*g poles?
Alex| 4.14.10 @ 4:54PM
For those talking about carrying a firearm (concealed or otherwise) to the Tea Party, be aware that this is illegal under 14-415.11(c) which bans the carry of firearms "at any parade, funeral procession, picket line, or demonstration upon any public place, owned or under the control of the State of North Carolina." And I'm guessing one day they will have a statute banning flag poles as well. This is how we lose our rights... in a slow slide towards oblivion.
Alex, et al.| 4.14.10 @ 5:25PM
I don't think the State took away your rights to carry a gun in a parade because of some evil conspiracy to enslave Americans. They probably did it because the KKK used to carry guns in parades to intimidate fellow Americans. The 2nd Amendment doesn't prohibit the Gov't from protecting others from harm by firearms.
Jeremiah| 4.14.10 @ 9:51PM
Yeah, you damned KKK demoKrats are still violent!
We need the government to protect us from YOU!
duh...| 4.15.10 @ 11:50AM
thinking is hard!
duh... is dumb!| 4.17.10 @ 12:50AM
How would you know, dumpocrat?
Lioness heart| 4.14.10 @ 7:25PM
Let's get creative! Long oversize baners and flags attached to the strings etc. America is the land of smart creative people. Let'show them.
no metal, plastic or wood| 4.14.10 @ 7:52PM
how about paper??? Get some heavy duty cardboard tubes, like the ones you find in the middle of xmas wrap, except thinker. I don't think you could consider that a weapon, its cardboard for god sakes!
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