Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi wants the National Park Service to withdraw a permit for an alt-right rally at Crissy Field at Golden Gate National Recreation Area/NPS
Editor's note: This updates with statement from Golden Gate NRA acting General Superintendent Cicely Muldoon.
National Park Service officials, cognizant of concern over a "prayer First Amendment" event at Golden Gate National Recreation Area, are reviewing the situation and will decide in the coming week whether to let the event proceed.
Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi has asked the Park Service to withdraw a permit for the alt-right rally scheduled for August 26 at Crissy Field, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco.
“I am deeply alarmed by the hateful and dangerous nature of the event, its timing so soon after the horrors in Charlottesville, and the serious questions over whether the National Park Service is at all equipped to ensure public safety during a white supremacist rally," the Democrat said. "The NPS should reevaluate its decision and its capacity to protect the public during such a toxic rally.
"We must wonder, where is the decision to permit a white supremacist rally in a national park being made? At the National Park Service? In the Department of the Interior? Or under guidance from the White House?," she added.
Thursday evening Golden Gate's acting general superintendent, Cicely Muldoon, issued a statement acknowledging the concerns.
We have heard and take very seriously the concerns expressed by the public and elected officials regarding the proposed August 26 Patriot Prayer First Amendment event at Crissy Field. Our highest priority is to ensure public safety, while honoring our obligation to uphold one of our nation’s most cherished Constitutional rights, the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
We are guided by the Constitution, the law, longstanding court precedent, and National Park Service policy, which tells us we must be deliberative and not preemptive in our decisions related to First Amendment gatherings. Golden Gate National Recreation Area and the U.S. Park Police are closely coordinating with other federal, state and local agencies to ensure a robust plan is in place before we issue a final permit.
We want to thank everyone for expressing their heartfelt opinions and valid concerns. Anyone interested in expressing their opinion may do so by writing us at [email protected]. We are reviewing all comments, but we are not able to respond to everyone due to the large volume we are receiving.
We will make a final determination on the permit within the next seven business days based on the thorough public safety review. We will make a public announcement of our decision at that time.
The Park Service in the past has allowed rallies by the Ku Klux Klan at Gettsysburg National Military Park in Pennsylvania. Early last month such a rally brought several hundred armed militia members to Gettysburg to rally in support of the park's Confederate statues and symbols. No violence broke out, but one of the militia members shot himself in the leg.
Rep. Pelosi, though, didn't think it prudent to allow for such a rally at Crissy Field.
“Perhaps those making the decision did not know that Crissy Field is a place where families gather, where tourists visit, and the community comes together. Free speech does not grant the right to yell fire in a crowded theater, incite violence or endanger the public in any venue," she said.
Comments
Just to clear up my last comment, I "would advocate" for NPS to stick with their principles. I guess I could edit it, but then it would change the order as the comment would be reordered.
And as far as the basics go, bringing in weapons still isn't allowed under the Code of Federal Regulations. The exception was made only for firearms as that law was inserted into a credit card consumer protection law. I suppose it's also up to law enforcement to figure out what is or isn't legitimately considered a weapon. There are sports fields and other sports activities on NPS land that might require the use of equipment that could theoretically double as weapons. The Presidio has a baseball field, so there is a legitimate use of baseball bats. Also there's a gold course.
With the whole thing about the organizer bringing in armed security, about the only ways I think it would be allowed is if they do have valid California CCW permits, security guard open carry permits, or are law enforcement. This in San Francisco, and most people wouldn't be allowed to carry firearms on the street by law, and the same applies to the Presidio. If they do have CCW permits, then the rule under California law is that the firearm has to be concealable but it doesn't have to be concealed. So no shotguns or rifles. And definitely no firearms that are illegal under California law.
The organizer has said that the Oath Keeper guys he uses all have California concealed carry permits. However, in an interview (I found this from someone else) he says he wasn't quite sure if they'd be armed. He said "it depends on the permit" which I interpret as meaning that he doesn't know if the First Amendment permit contains language that states that weapons aren't allowed. I would hope that would be the case, because one private group having guns while the other doesn't seems to create the potential for intimidation based on the weapons being present.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/joey-gibson-organizer-controversial-white-supr...
EC--
1) That's not what you claimed above, nor is it what Trump said.
2) Let's get back to parks. Have you made your Yosemite trip yet? Did you see bears? Did the South Fork or Empire fires affect your plans?
tomp2
1) I said " I just note that one side had a permit to march. The otherside showed up without a permit to be confrontational." The United crowed had a permit for Emancipation park, the Antifa crowed showed up at Emancipation Park without a permit. What relevance does having a permit someplace else have? They wouldn't have been confrontational somewhere else.
2) Start my trip early September. Capital Reef to Great Basin to Yosemite to Sequoia/Kings Canyon to Lake Mead to Dinosour. Don't expect the fires to be an issue as we are hiking from Tuoloume to the Valley well north of the fires.
I don't get why you keep on worrying about who did or didn't have a permit. It's frankly irrelevant when it's about about a public park. Someone from the city verified that it's a public park and people are free to enter if they want to listen to what they have to say or even counterprotest.
And in the case of the planned appearance at the Presidio of San Francisco, people who show up to protest the speaker don't strictly need a permit. A permit is a good thing for NPS in order to gauge how to prepare, but in the end it's not strictly needed for someone to legally enter a place that's open to the public.
Y_P_W - I agree the permit is not a big deal and yes people can wander into a park individually. But I believe to have an organized, advertized demonstration or protest a permit was required. If permits weren't required, why would they exist and why would anyone make the effort to obtain one?
The ACLU has a lot of material on this. They are generally the experts on the laws regarding protests. If people decide to show up a rally that has been mentioned on a message board or social media, it's a bit difficult to call that an organized protest per se. A lot of these things tend to happen quickly anyways, so getting a permit for a counterprotest may not be practical given the time contstrains.
Certainly having a permit doesn't put anyone in a morally superior position. NPS says that at Golden Gate they require a permit for a group of over 25, but there's just that basic difficult in determining how many people are going to show up . Patriot Prayer is clearly organizing a First Amendment event that's going to require a permit. However, if people just organically show up to counterprotest, the lack of a permit shouldn't be an issue.
The various marches that went on on the UVa campus had no permits and according to the University didn't require any.
Looks like some people are preparing for reality: http://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2017/08/21/san-francisco-police-force-w... It will be a circus.