An Odessa, Texas, bar owner and a group of armed supporters were arrested by SWAT teams Monday after violating Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) shutdown order.
Texas Scorecard reports that Gabrielle Ellison, owner of Big Daddy Zane’s Bar, opened her business, citing “financial hardship” caused by the shutdown.
Ellison allegedly extended an invitation to a group of shutdown protesters, who came and stood in support of the bar’s reopening. Many of the protesters were allegedly armed.
Ector County Sheriff Mike Griffis stood behind the arrests, suggesting the participants were not protesting so much as “they were just standing around with guns.”
The AP quoted Griffis saying, “I understand their side of it. Defying the governor’s orders is one thing, but when you bring a bunch of armed vigilantes in from other parts of the state for a show of force, I just got a problem with that.”
Six individuals with “AR-15 type weapons” were arrested.
Ellison explained what she sees as the dangerous aspects of the shutdown, saying, “I think some rights were taken away from us which one of them was like a right to survive. We have to survive and I think those rights were stripped from us.”
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. You can sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.