African American Man Carries Assault Rifle to Obama Protest in Phoenix

I saw part of this when it aired on the CNN Newsroom with Rick Sanchez yesterday.

President Obama was speaking before the VFW yesterday in Phoenix and protesters were gathered outside. One of protesters was carrying an assault rifle which is legal in Arizona. The person happened to be an African-American male who refused to give his name but said he was exercising his Second Amendment rights. Sanchez briefly acknowledged the man's race.

Now, if that man had been white every network would have been carrying that image not just CNN. The man would have been portrayed as an angry white male who objects to having an African-American President. The Janeane Garofalos and the Chris Matthews of the world would have been foaming at the mouth. But the fact it was an African-American man carrying the assault rifle disrupts that narrative.

Now heaven forbid that anyone should make an attempt on President Obama's life. But imagine if the would be assassin were African-American? Of course, the liberal media would investigate any conservative leanings. But what if the would be assassin were African-American and thought Obama was insufficiently left-wing and had betrayed his principles? Then the liberal media would do its best to minimize that person's race and political background and say such things are irrelevant and instead focus their attention on passing more gun laws and weakening the Second Amendment. Needless to say, I hope such an incident never comes to pass.

At least in this instance, it appears this African-American man was engaging in protest and nothing more. Yet Sanchez does raise a legitimate issue. If I were in the Secret Service and it was my job to protect President Obama I would be very, very concerned about people carrying assault rifles regardless of who might be carrying them.