Open carry A-OK in Temple as Oathkeepers march

Temple – As the armed citizens assembled down by the tracks, near the old depot, experienced riflemen met them with “straws” - safety devices – to insert in the firing chambers of their weapons.

A standard practice among Army and Marine marksmen behind the firing line, it's considered essential at shooting matches and gun shows everywhere.

According to the event's key organizers, those who objected could have been expelled by cooperative Temple police officers, but no one seemed to mind.

When Master Sergeant C.J. Grisham took the podium, he praised the police department amid scattered boos and cat calls. He said it's like the Army, where he has served for 19 years on multiple deployments overseas. There are bad people everywhere.

One thing that disturbs him is that he has heard the three officers who arrested him on March 16 as he walked down a country road with a locked and loaded AR-15 assault rifle have suffered death threats.

He says he really doesn't think any human being deserves to have his or her life threatened just because they made a mistake.

It's all part of the Oath Keepers philosophy, he explained.

When he took the oath as an enlisted man in the U.S. Armed Forces, he swore he would uphold and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.

He doesn't aim to go back on that oath.

About 200 persons attended, most of them bearing long guns at sling in the sunshine for a 15-block march that circled the police department and the major power centers of the city.

Though he has the right to keep and bear arms, said Sgt. Grisham, police arrested him and confiscated his weapons.

“Court is not the place to defend your rights,” he concluded. That struggle should take place “every minute of every day.”