Armed protestors attend President Obama´s Phoenix meeting

For the second time in a week armed protesters have showed up outside an Obama event.  Witnesses say about a dozen protesters with guns showed up at a rally in Phoenix yesterday, just outside a conference center where the President was addressing war veterans.  

The rally consisted mostly of unarmed people with placards in favor or against the President´s plans for health care reform. The armed protesters, who did not appear to be together, included a man with a semi automatic assault rifle slung across his shoulder. The man refused to give his name, but said he was simply advocating his right to bear arms and expressing his opposition to Obama´s policies on health care and gun control.  CNN reported that a second man with a semi-automatic weapon was also present.

This comes less than a week after a man wearing a handgun around his leg came to Obama´s town hall meeting in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The incidents have raised concerns that armed protesters will continue to show up at Obama events and that these protesters may be part of a larger trend.

FSRN spoke to Mark Potok from the Southern Poverty Law Center. His organization has been monitoring the activities of radical right wing militia groups since the early 90s. Their recent report on the rise of militia groups can be found at www.splcenter.org