5 March 2016
April Gaede says armed man did not belong to her protest group
On 1 March, I observed and spoke to an armed man who was standing with the anti-immigrant and anti-refugee group organized by April Gaede. Today I received from Gaede an email asserting that the armed man was not a member of her group:
Nobody associated with the counter protest was armed. The armed person just happened to walk by and spoke to those holding signs. We are in Montana you know so things like that might happen to either side. Open carry is legal, you see it in the grocery stores even.
If you had been observant you would have noticed, like I did, that the clothing of none of the counter protesters (holding signs) matched the clothing of the man who was open carrying his firearm. They could just as easily have posted pics of the open carry person and indicated that he was from the Love Lives Here side trying to intimidate them.
Those are her words. You can decide for yourself whether to believe them.