Open Carry in Hastings

Marching with guns in Hastings

HASTINGS, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - Dozens of people banded together in Hastings Thursday night to walk the streets with guns in plain sight.

Upwards of 50 people walked up and down the streets of downtown Hastings, most of them carrying holstered pistols.

They say it's to celebrate and exercise their God-given right to keep and bear arms, which is also guaranteed in the second amendment.

There were plenty of people who turned up for the event to watch the spectacle.

Despite some objections, Hastings Police decided not to intervene in anyway because it is legal in Michigan to carry a holstered side arm in public, without a permit, as long as it's visible and the owner obtained the gun legally.

Organizers of the march say that such actions are only illegal in six states. They say they didn't perform this march to cram their rights down peoples throats or to frighten anyone, in fact they hope it had the opposite effect.

Skip Coryell, one of the march organizers said of marchers that "we just want people to know this is not something they should be afraid of, we want to put them at ease around guns. There is this stigma that guns equal crime and gun owners equal criminals, and that's just not true."

Not everyone in Hastings agreed. Some people believe the march was just a political stunt, and one shop owner was heard to remark that the march was about as welcome as the plague.