Activists from Patriot Prayer hold rally at closed campus
VANCOUVER — The activist group known as Patriot Prayer, held the first of three scheduled rallies at the closed Clark College campus Monday.
Clark College President Bob Knight closed the campus in reaction to the potential for violence at the rally.
The group focused today’s event on voicing opposition of Washington’s Initiative 1639. The initiative centers on increased background checks for the purchase of firearms, increasing the age to purchase a semi-automatic rifle from 18 to 21 and criminalize non-compliant storage of firearms if unauthorized use occurs.
Joey Gibson, a native of Clark County, is the founder of Patriot Prayer, and announced plans for the rallies last week.
“Freedom first,” Gibson said, standing atop the Evergreen Boulevard overpass across I-5. “With every single policy question, you ask yourself, ‘Does this increase our freedoms or decrease our freedoms?’ We’re at a point right now where we’ve already lost way too many freedoms. We don’t need more rules, we don’t need more regulations, we need less.”
For more information regarding campus closures, rally locations and safety recommendations, visit the websites of Clark College and WSUV.
