FRANKFORT, Ky. — As the nation braces for armed demonstrations at all 50 Capitols in the coming days, Gov. Andy Beshear (D) produced a stern video message on Friday.
"Our commitment is that what happened at the U.S. Capitol does not happen here," Beshear said in the brief video posted to social media.
All week, the administration had been mum on security tactics, as not to provide unnecessary intel to anyone seeking violence. But Beshear said there would be support from Kentucky State Police - the Capitol's regular security force - with aid from Franklin County Sheriffs deputies and the Kentucky National Guard.
Those guardsmen and women had been particularly busy this week, deploying both to Frankfort and to Washington, D.C. to assist with security at the nation's Capitol.
University of Kentucky law professor Jonathan Shaub spoke with Spectrum News about how a protest can devolve into a riot and, potentially, insurrection.
"To me, that’s when you start talking about a riot," Shaub said, describing the events of Jan. 6 in Washington, when a permitted crowd of supporters of the president moved from a vocal protest to a violent mob at the Capitol building. "And, because it was at the Capitol itself – the seat of government – and it interrupted the act of governing, I think it’s right to call it an insurrection."
Beshear announced Kentucky's Capitol would be closed on Sunday, a date circled by far-right militant groups threatening violence across the country, according to the FBI.
"There have been no requests for permits for gatherings over the coming days," Beshear continued. "So, there are no gatherings or rallies that can or should be happening."
Can law enforcement, therefore, declare any gatherings this weekend an unlawful assembly?
"There’s a line of first amendment law and jurisprudence that says, if it’s a public forum, a traditional public forum – which the classic example is a sidewalk – then the public has a right to be there and to speak," Shaub answered. "But, the courts have also held that the government can impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions."
The phrase "unlawful assembly" is familiar to thousands of Louisvillians who gathered and marched last summer to protest the killing of Breonna Taylor. Police declared unlawful assemblies, at times, when protests blocked traffic, or when peaceful gatherings remained undaunted after an imposed curfew.
Those summer protests were in much more densely populated city streets and neighborhoods than the usually quiet Capitol grounds in Frankfort, but they also displayed a much less visible display of potential deadly force than gatherings witnessed at the Capitol over the past year.
Kentucky is a constitutional carry state, meaning any person over the age of 21 who is allowed to own firearms can carry and conceal them without a permit.
Those protesting in Frankfort often skip the "conceal" part of their extended freedoms.
Self-titled "militia" have made a point to brandish long guns on Capitol grounds multiple times since Beshear took office, even walking up to the windows and knocking on doors of the governor's mansion after hanging Beshear in effigy during a protest opposing mask regulations and business closures to protect Kentuckians from a rapidly spreading COVID-19 virus in May.
Lawmakers from both major parties condemned the actions of that day, but Kentucky conservatives were champions of the bill allowing constitutional carry. State representatives like Savannah Maddox (R - Dry Ridge) have happily addressed crowds of gathered "militia," lauding their display of their Second Amendment rights they believe allows them to carry nearly any weapon any place, at any time.
Not all Republicans are happy to see weapons brandished on Capitol grounds. State Sen. Julie Raque Adams (R - Louisville) spoke with Spectrum News reporter Mario Anderson after the deadly attempt to overthrow Congress on Jan. 6.
"You should never bring a gun when you’re having public policy conversations," she said during a segment for "In Focus."
"The two just don’t fit. We use words. We don’t use weapons and we don’t use violence."