Dick Anthony Heller, the lead plaintiff in the D.C. v. Heller lawsuit that overturned the District of Columbia's handgun ban in June 2008, urges a child to pose with a thumbs up during the 2nd Amendment march that took place at the Washington Monument on the National Mall on April 19, 2010. Because federal and local laws prohibit individuals from carrying firearms in public in the District of Columbia, the approximately 2,000 individuals in attendance were unarmed. At the event, the Executive Director of Gun Owners of America, Larry Pratt, stated, "We're in a war. The other side knows they are at war, because they started it. They are coming for our freedom, for our money, for our kids, for our property. They are coming for everything because they are a bunch of Socialists."