NAACP challenges gun rally location

Pensacola, Fla. (WALA) - The location of a gun rally slated for Saturday afternoon in Pensacola is being challenged by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Martin Luther King, Jr. preached about the importance of non-violent resistance. Saturday, a monument to the late civil rights leader is slated to be the site of a gun rally.

“I just wanted everyone to get together and realize just how many of us there are and what we can do to stand up for ourselves," said rally organizer Stephanie Schwartz. 

"I expected to get heat from the rally, just not the location," Schwartz added.  "It seems a little ridiculous to me. It’s not about it being Martin Luther King, Jr. Plaza; it’s about the Second Amendment. It’s very irrelevant to me."

John Veasley, the president of Pensacola’s chapter of the NAACP, has no problem with the rally, just its location.

“It’s an affront to African Americans. It’s an affront to anybody who in this community believes in non-violence and would want to work toward community unity," Veasley said. "It’s just not an appropriate step to take.”

Veasley said the NAACP recently reached out to both the mayor and city council about moving the event, but they were denied.

Schwartz said the city suggested MLK, Jr. Plaza to her as a good, central location.

So FOX10 News brought the two parties together Friday, February 22, at the monument to see if an agreement could be reached.

“We agreed to disagree," Schwartz said. "He was very respectful and told me that it would probably be viewed inappropriately. But my response to that is, ‘That’s a shame.’ I hate it that people can’t see it for what it is. This is about gun rights, nothing else.”

Florida Representative Clay Ingram and Escambia County Commissioner Wilson Robertson are slated to speak the gun rally, which begins at 3 p.m.

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