Nearly 600 people rallied outside the Michigan Capitol as part of national Gun Appreciation Day demonstrations, the Lansing State Journal says.
Protesters waved American flags and signs, chanted, "Freedom" and cheered as speakers declared the right to bear arms a fundamental tenet of liberty, Louise Knott Ahern reports.
"We're doing this to show that good people carry guns, too," said Phillip Hofmeister, president of Michigan Open Carry, a nonprofit that encourages legal gun owners to display handguns in public.
Many at the rally had hand guns strapped to their legs or rifles slung across their backs, Steve Carmody tells Michigan Radio listeners.
There were signs that said gun bans are ineffective, illegal and only punish law-abiding citizens, according to an Associated Press dispatch.
