According to gun groups who feel threatened by the Obama administration's newfound push for gun-control legislation, January 19 has now been designated "Gun Appreciation Day," which somehow will be somehow different from all the other days gun owners appreciate their firearms. The timing has raised eyebrows since the new "holiday" falls two days before President Obama's inauguration and because the groups behind it — a coalition including the Second Amendment Foundation, Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms, Citizens and Country, and more — are speaking out against Obama and Democratic lawmakers in particular. "We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack," Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation tells The Washington Post's Rachel Weiner.

We've seen these types of initiatives before, Weiner reports: "The group is emulating the anti-gay marriage activists who made the Christian fast food chain Chick-fil-A into a national conservative cause with 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day.'" If you recall, on Chick-fil-A Appreciation day, people were encouraged to buy that delicious chicken to support the First Amendment and implicitly show their anti-gay marriage views... at a fast-food chain. On January 19, instead of gorging themselves on spicy chicken sandwiches, enthusiasts are encouraged to do, well, this: 

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at aabadsantos at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Alexander Abad-Santos