Hundreds of eastern Idahoans attend gun rally in Rexburg

One of the big issues facing lawmakers this year is gun control.

Hundreds of pro-gun activists gathered in Rexburg Saturday morning for the “Save Our Second Amendment” Rally.

The group says eastern Idahoans have no desire to surrender their firearms and Saturday’s event was about showing just that.

“We don’t want anybody else to make that decision for us,” said Ben Claunch, pro-gun. “We want to be able to make that decision for ourselves. I think it’s important that we’re here and that we get our voices out there.”

29-year-old Claunch said he and his family have been around guns his whole life. Claunch brought his own firearm to the rally — a 223 AR-15 that he built himself.

“We do a lot of things together that brings our family together…target practice, hunting, things like that,” said Claunch. “We’re all comfortable and trained with our weapons, so we’re not afraid of them. And we all understand the dangers of the weapon.”

Rally organizer, Dan Roberts, said any limitation on his right to own a firearm is a threat to the U.S. Constitution.

He said the crowd of over 400 people that showed up, agree.

“We can say something. They need to hear us. They need your backbone. We’re all on the teet of the U.S. Government and that does not give us any sovereignty.”

The large crowd of people from Madison and surrounding counties, marched from the courthouse to the Rexburg Tabernacle, where they signed petitions urging lawmakers to not pass gun control legislation.

“The best way to get good leaders is to have good people,” said Roberts. “The best way to get good people is to have good leaders, but let’s start from the bottom up, not the top down. We don’t need people telling us what to do.”

Given the overwhelming support at today’s rally, some activists said they’re going to try to organize one in Idaho Falls soon.