Maryland Liberty Pac and Maryland Campaign for Liberty plan to peacefully rally at the 700 block of Concord Street in Havre de Grace at 4:00 PM on Saturday, May 4th, to celebrate the history of Havre de Grace in 1813 and show support for gun rights and liberty in Maryland. This is in the wake of newly passed stricter Maryland gun laws—laws that the groups say are not at all about gun control, but people control.

George Tucker, who in 1813 was a Virginia Supreme Court judge appointed by James Madison, wrote this about gun control: “This may be considered as the true palladium of liberty… The right of self-defense is the first law of nature; in most governments it has been the study of rulers to confine this right within the narrowest limits possible. Whenever standing armies are kept up, and the right of the people to keep and bear arms is, under any color or pretext whatsoever, prohibited, liberty, if not already annihilated, is on the brink of destruction.”

Havre de Grace is planning major celebrations and reenactments of the storied defense of the town against the British attack and burning of the city in 1813. Patriots plan to gather to educate citizens that their freedom and liberty are similarly under attack today, from our own elected representatives in Annapolis and Washington.

In May of 1813, most of the citizen militia (by US Code definition, all able-bodied males between the ages of eighteen and forty-five) were in Baltimore to defend that city. Left in town were the older militia members. One local man became the hero who did all he could to protect his town. John O’Neil, a gunsmith and nail maker, manned the cannon to keep the British barges at bay until he was injured and forced to use only long rifle fire and retreat to the commons.

The older militia members who were still in Havre de Grace feared the British superior display of firepower and had retreated. They left the city to be looted and burned, and John O’Neil to be captured. Similarly, these patriot groups fear that Marylanders are letting the legislature—without serious opposition—‘burn’ their rights and destroy the liberties that made Maryland the once “Free State”.

Participants are expected to point out the hypocrisy of anti-gun rights Governor Martin O’Malley (who was scheduled to speak at 7 PM at the lighthouse) being at a celebration of citizens defending themselves with the best weapons available. His administration is actively working to take away the rights of Marylanders to defend their homes, families and country with the best weapons available today. O’Malley’s office says now that this event “is not on his calendar.”

“The Kentucky long rifle was the ‘assault weapon’ of that day,” said Maryland Liberty Pac’s Joe Fleckensyein. “If O’Malley had been governor in 1813, we could be British today—and like Britain, citizens would be disarmed and crime would be rampant.”

The organizers are urging liberty-minded Marylanders to arrive by 4 PM to meet and greet the crowds with literature celebrating the history of the patriots of Havre de Grace who fought to defend all of the freedoms enumerated in the Bill of Rights. Copies of the Constitution will also be given out at no charge.

For additional information as well as an interesting interview about the event, visit http://www.HdGGunRally.com, call Patrick McGrady at 410-916-7913 or email: [email protected].