Matter of time before Antifa starts shooting.
Kansas City police ordered armed antifa groups and others to remove ammunition from their weapons and from their possession at a rally Saturday morning in Washington Square Park.
The armed individuals peacefully complied. Several with the antifa groups said the action violated their rights under state law allowing them to openly carry weapons. They said they planned to fight the order but decided not to take any action at the park.
“We don’t see any merit to fight it now,” said one person who removed ammunition from a rifle under order of the police.
His face was covered, as were the faces of many at the rally just north of Crown Center, and he declined to identify himself other than to say he was a partisan from the Kansas City Revolutionary Collective, which describes itself as an “autonomous Marxist-Leninist-Maoist collective.”
He and several others whose faces were covered said they were concerned about becoming the target of harassment if their identities became public.
“We disarmed ourselves in front of the police,” said another man who identified himself as a member of Serve the People in Kansas City. He said police ordered him to empty a rifle and a 9mm handgun he carried.
Others at the rally included members of the Kansas City chapter of Progressive Youth Organization.
As one person was emptying a weapon, he was advised that he hadn’t finished the job.
“You might clear that action because I think you racked another round,” an onlooker said.
Police had expected groups with opposing views to show up at the park Saturday morning, and had closed some streets.
Later Saturday morning, police required some armed anti-communist protesters to remove ammunition from their weapons and from their person, said Sgt. Kari Thompson with the Kansas City Police Department.
With all the groups, police cited a city ordinance that prohibits possession of a weapon “readily capable of lethal force,” Thompson said. She said ordinance 50-261.(a)(7) allows possession of a weapon but not along with the ammunition it uses.
“The gun and the bullet cannot be together,” Thompson said.
She added during a text exchange with The Star that the ordinance “prohibits open carry anywhere” in the city unless the individual also carries a concealed-carry permit.