Via Gateway Pundit who received an email from a witness.

“Hey Gateway Pundit.

I attended the town hall event in Bristol,VA today. Though very few were allowed inside, there was an amazing turnout outside of people protest healthcare reform, among other things. I hope to send you pictures soon of some great signs I saw. It was expected that those in opposition to the bill would outnumber those in favor by 10-1, but I feel it was much, much more.

I do have a question I was hoping you could answer. During the motorcade when the president was arriving, there were several vehicles following the limo that contained the secret service. All of the vehicles had all the windows rolled down, and back hatch open on the SUVs with the men holding their, I assume assault rifes, machine guns, drawn on everyone lining the streets. Needless to say it took my breath away at the sight of them, and made my friends and I dizzy with fear. I have seen the secret service before, but never like this. While they were intimidating, I never felt in danger. The guns were not drawn when the motorcade was leaving the event. But I turned on a local talk radio program as we were leaving and all the calls were about witnessing the guns being pointed at them and nothing else until the end of the program.

Having said all that, my question is, is this normal protocol during such an event? It very well could be, but after I had to get over the shock of it, I began to feel offended. We were all there peaceful, and have no problems with Obama the man, we have problems with his policies and wanted him to know the opposition was there to be heard, and know that a strong opposition did indeed exist, and that so many people don’t approve of his policies, with this bill in particular.

So, is this normal, and I’m making a mountain out of mole hill, or did they make an exception in this mainly conservative area?

Thanks.
Destiny Baker”

GP rightly answers that it is NOT protocal, and I can confirm that. The only time that that weapons can be drawn in a motorcade is when the operations commander deems the area “hostile”. Hard to understand how US citizens, exercising their right to protest, could be deemed “hostile”.

It’s not the first time Obama’s SS pulled it’s weight in such a way. Back in April, the Secret Service ordered off-duty city cops to check their weapons or stay home from a pro basketball game President Barack Obama was attending in DC.

But then it’s the MO of the Obama administration to go after dissent, or what they call “distractions”. Like I said before, they’d better get used to it, they haven’t seen anything yet.

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