FOXNews.com: Firearms owners, advocacy groups head to ranges, gun shops for 'appreciation day'

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Firearms owners, advocacy groups head to ranges, gun shops for 'appreciation day' Jan 19th 2013, 16:39 Firearms owners and their advocacy groups headed to gun shops, shooting ranges other places Saturday as part of "Gun Appreciation Day." Organizers are encouraging gun-rights supporters to "send a message" to President Obama two days before his second inauguration by "lining up around the block" at gun shops, ranges and shows with a copy of the Constitution, U.S. flags and a "Hands off my Guns" signs. "We're just supporting the second amendment," John Kenney, who went to Clark Brothers Guns, in Warrington, Va., said.  Kenny said he visited the shop-shooting range in part to try to reverse recent efforts to make gun ownership "look ugly," instead showing Americans owning a firearm is "a fabulous thing." The president on Wednesday announced his gun-control plan that includes enacting a new and stronger assault-weapons ban, limiting magazines to 10 rounds and extending mental health treatment to young Americans. His plan follows the Dec. 14 shootings inside a Connecticut elementary school in which 20 first-graders and six adults were killed. "It's in our Constitution to come out here to shoot a weapon," Larry Hunter, an event spokesman said last weekend at Clark Brothers. Hunter and other organizers hope to achieve the same level of outpouring support as one in August for Chick-fil-A, which had faced criticism after the fast-food chain publicly acknowledged its opposition to same-sex marriage. In Maryland, opponents of gun-control legislation are holding a demonstration Saturday next to the Maryland State House, in Annapolis. Gov. Martin O'Malley, a Democrat, is backing a comprehensive measure that includes a ban on assault weapons and new licensing requirements for handguns this session. It also includes provisions relating to mental health and school safety. Efforts by Democrats and some Republicans to pass gun-control legislation in Congress begin in earnest when lawmakers return to Washington after the inauguration. California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein has said after the fatal shootings Dec. 14 at a Connecticut elementary school that she would introduce legislation calling for a 10-year ban on assault weapons, like the one she got Congress to pass in 1994. Supporters of more gun-control legislation face strong opposition from gun-rights advocacy groups, particularly the National Rifle Association. Larry Ward -- who is leading the appreciation-day effort Saturday and is president of the Republican consulting firm Political Media Inc. -- said earlier this month that the event is being supported with an online, mailing and media campaign over the next two weeks that is expected to reach 50 million people. The coalition behind the gun appreciation day includes the Second Amendment Foundation, Special Operations Speaks, Revolution PAC and the Conservative Action Fund.  "We've had so much of this divisiveness from this particular administration," Kenney said.

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