Guns, girls and guts

CREATED Feb. 23, 2013

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  • Eric Fink reports Video by IdahoOnYourSide.com

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Saturday, an AR-15 is strapped to Cynthia George's body.

George is one of more than 550 Idahoans attending the "Armed Women are Safer" rally inside the Idaho Statehouse rotunda.

"I'm a 5'2, 95-pound woman that needs help in defending herself against men who are mentally ill," Geroge said.

A proud mother of three, George argues she exercises her right to carry for her daughters' safety. "The cops won't always be there to protect you," George said. "It takes them so long to answer a call. I got three kids, two of them are female and I wouldn't want to see anybody hurt them."

Its the second rally of its kind at the statehouse in as many months. Men, women, children, all packing heat to send a message to the president and lawmakers in Washington, D.C.

"We have the right to protect ourselves and our families just as much as a man has the right protect his family," Courtney Krause said. "I'm a law abiding citizen and I should have the right to carry a gun if I want a gun."

Rex Hoopes stood in the second-level rotunda listening to various speakers. Hoopes is a gun owner who spent almost a decade with the Idaho Department of Correction.

I know what criminals can do," Hoopes said, "so I support our rights to bear arms. Every ounce of rights we get taken away from us, whether it be a clip or a type of gun, it's another thing we don't have a freedom for."