Second Amendment Supporters Gather in Anderson for Baird Open-Carry Fundraiser

Kari Chilson
22 hours ago
3 min read

ANDERSON, Calif. — Supporters of Second Amendment rights packed the Anderson VFW Hall on Friday evening, August 21, 2026, for a fundraising dinner and live auction supporting The Legal Fund to Restore 2nd Amendment Rights & Open Carry in California. The event focused on Mark Baird’s legal challenge to the state’s ban on openly carrying loaded firearms, with Baird delivering a clear message at the heart of his case: government was created by the people to protect their liberty—not the other way around—and governments themselves possess no rights.

The flyer for the gathering celebrated a “HISTORIC VICTORY” in Baird v. Bonta, in which a Ninth Circuit panel ruled that California’s open-carry ban violates the U.S. Constitution.

Organizers declared “Rights Do Not Require Permission. Rights Are God Given!” and called for donations to push the case toward the U.S. Supreme Court.

Guests enjoyed a 4 p.m. mixer with a no-host bar and a 6 p.m. barbecue dinner by Jon Knight & Patriots at the Anderson VFW Hall, 3210 W. Center St.

In his keynote address, Baird zeroed in on the foundational relationship between the people and their government. “What is the proper role of government?” he asked the room.

“Did government create people so that they could rule over us? No. People created government. This was not a land filled with government waiting for us to show up so we could be ruled over. This was a land filled with people who created government in order to do what? In order to protect the liberty we hold most dear.”

Baird repeatedly underscored that governments have no rights of their own. “Governments can’t have rights,” he stated. “Nowhere in the Constitution, nowhere in the codes of California, nowhere in the California Constitution, nowhere in the Declaration of Independence, nowhere in any document signed by the United States government does it stipulate that the government has the right to do anything. Governments can’t have rights. Governments are the object of the contract written by the states, demanded by the people of those states.”

https://youtu.be/AQSMPnVMAgI

Drawing from the Declaration of Independence and both the U.S. and California Constitutions, he explained that governments are “instituted among men” solely “to secure these rights.” The people, endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, established government as their servant—not their master—to safeguard the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity.

Baird tied this principle directly to Penal Code 25850, which criminalizes carrying a loaded firearm in public view. He stated that this penal code banned the Second Amendment. He described open carry as a natural right that predates government, one that cannot be reduced to a permission. The case, he said, is less about guns than about reclaiming liberty from a government that has overstepped its limited role.

He recounted the procedural history: a 2-1 win before a Ninth Circuit three-judge panel, followed by an en banc rehearing. Only one attorney—from New York—would take the case after hundreds of California lawyers declined. Baird covers his personal expenses; every donated dollar funds legal work under strict oversight.

Local officials in attendance were recognized, including Darren Hale of Anderson City Counsel, Dr. Paul Dhanuka of Redding City Council, Shasta County Register of Voters Clint Curtis, Corky Harmon, Shasta County BOS, and Arthur Gorman of the Shasta County Office of Education.

Baird closed by invoking Patrick Henry’s call for liberty: “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death.”

Organizers framed the dinner as both a celebration of the panel victory and a vital step toward funding the continued fight to restore open-carry rights—and to reaffirm that government exists to serve the people who created it, not to claim rights of its own.