A lot of folks, right and left, are upset over this.

A man toting an assault rifle was among a dozen protesters carrying weapons while demonstrating outside President Obama's speech to veterans on Monday, but no laws were broken. It was the second instance in recent days in which weapons have been seen near presidential events.

Video from CNN affiliate KNXV shows the man standing with other protesters, with the rifle slung over his right shoulder, a handgun in a holster on his left hip and a bullet clip in his back pocket.

"I'm exercising my rights as an American in Arizona," the man, who refused to give his name, told KNXV.

Phoenix police said authorities monitored about a dozen people carrying weapons while peacefully demonstrating.

"It was a group interested in exercising the right to bear arms," police spokesman Sgt. Andy Hill said.

Arizona law has nothing in the books regulating assault rifles, and only requires permits for carrying concealed weapons. So despite the man's proximity to the president, there were no charges or arrests to be made. Hill said officers explained the law to some people who were upset about the presence of weapons at the protest.

The Left is apoplectic – even accusing the folks with guns of being racists despite the fact that at least one was a black man. And on the right, I’ve seen several argue that carrying a gun in the vicinity of the President is an implicit threat, and that those doing so ought to be jailed with high bail.
I beg to differ. The exercise of one’s constitutional rights in the presidece of an officer elected under the Constitution is not and can never be a crime. We do not have royalty in this country, and any elected official who is uncomfortable with citizens exercising their rights in his/her presence is unfit for their office and should resign immediately — or be removed by the people at the first available opportunity.

That is not to say that I consider carrying guns in such situations to necessarily be a good idea. It does look bad to show up at a presidential even with a gun, even when it is not illegal. But given the violence against opponents of the president’s health care plan that has occurred at town hall meetings – violence implicitly encouraged by Barack Obama and Democrat leaders when they label those opponents as “mobs” and “un-American” and encourage their supporters to “hit back twice as hard” at those engaged in patriotic dissent – then carrying a gun to a town hall meeting can be seen as a prudent action oriented towards protecting one’s safety, life, and constitutional rights.

Oh, and by the way – thanks to NewsBusters for supplying this little reminder of gun-brandishing by the body guards of local racist leader Quanell X at the 2000 Texas GOP convention where I was a delegate. These same upstanding citizens shoved an elderly WWII vet to the ground for daring to attempt to debate the head of the black supremacist group. And the response of Democrats and the media? Blame then-Gov. George W. Bush and the Texas GOP.