The organizing committee for the Iola’s Farm City Days has announced that Kris Kobach, Republican candidate for the governor of Kansas, can mount a machine gun replica on a campaign jeep during the event, according to local media reports.
The committee previously told Kobach that he would have to remove the replica gun from his jeep, also sporting a Stars and Stripes paintjob and a Donald Trump bobblehead, if he wanted the vehicle to take part in the parade.
#AP ☛➧➧ Kansas town says Kobach can’t use replica gun in parade
— Matters How U Stand (@MattersUStand) 12 октября 2018 г.
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Organizers of a small-town Kansas parade have told Republican Kris Kobach that he must remove a replica machine gun from the back of a Jeep that’s become a key part… https://t.co/jlByIDFX9M pic.twitter.com/0x4Pwu77fV
In response to this development, Kobach declared that this decision would "violate his free-speech rights as a proponent of the right to bear arms."
Daniel Schowengerdt, an attorney for the organizing committee, claimed however that the group he represents did not intend to "forcibly prevent [Kobach] from entering" the parade.
As Schowengerdt explained, the committee now expects Kobach to mark the machine gun as a replica, and also to mount a sign on his jeep, saying that the parade does not "condone the display of large-scale military weapons."
