Second Amendment event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse moved from Capitol

LANSING — High-profile speakers including gun rights advocate Kyle Rittenhouse are scheduled to headline a Second Amendment rights event in the Ionia area this week.

The event was previously scheduled to take place on the grounds of the state Capitol in Lansing.

Organizers said they moved the event because of logistics concerns about the Capitol grounds.

Here's what we know about the event:

What is it?

The event is billed as an all-day, all-ages event for gun rights supporters to come for food, mingling and merchandise.

Jon Rocha, an organizer for the event, said there will be 38 vendors and entertainment throughout the day.

“We're really trying to build that coalition, spread the word, spread the news, activate new people,” he said.

The event was previously scheduled for the Capitol lawn but was moved to Freedom Farms in Ionia Township. Rocha said it made more sense logistically to hold the event on private property.

Rocha said some vendors would have been limited in their sales on Capitol property.

“This allows us to put it all in one spot and it makes it a little bit easier,” he said.

Barb Thumudo, events coordinator for the state Capitol, said the main issue with the event was including vendors on the property. She said her office sent an email with questions to organizers of the event, which was not answered. Capitol staff found out the event had been moved through social media, she said.

If you go

The event is scheduled from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday, July 19, at Freedom Farms, 1652 Kingston Road in Ionia Township.

Open carry of weapons will be allowed at the event, organizers said on Facebook.

At 10 a.m., music from the American Revival Band will begin. Speakers will take the stage at noon and continue until 3 p.m.

A VIP event will take place from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. where donors can meet with headlining speakers for a $150 donation to the Sons of Liberty PAC.

Who are the headliners?

Rittenhouse, 17 at the time, shot and killed two protestors in Kenosha, Wisconsin, during unrest following the shooting of James Blake by police. Blake, a Black man, was left paralyzed by the incident. Rittenhouse claimed self-defense and was found not guilty on all counts by a jury.

Former Arizona sheriff Richard Mack, a gun rights advocate, former Oath Keeper and guest of Alex Jones’s Infowars show, will also be featured as a headlining speaker, along Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The couple was made famous for touting firearms outside of their St. Louis home as a Black Lives Matter protest crossed near and on their lawn.

The event will also feature Lucas Gerhard, a former Upper Peninsula college student who was arrested and charged with terrorism after posting a picture in 2019 with an assault weapon and the text “(taking) this bad boy up, this outta make the snowflakes melt, aye?"

Several prominent Michigan politicians will be attending or sponsoring the event, according to Rocha and materials circulated by organizers: Bob Bezotte, a Republican member of the state House representing part of Livingston County; Nikki Snyder, a member of the state Board of Education and U.S. Senate candidate; and Malinda Pego, co-chair of the Michigan GOP.

Contact Sheldon Krause at skrause@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @sheldonjkrause.

This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Second Amendment event featuring Kyle Rittenhouse moved from Capitol