Originally published 2020-06-03.
On 9 May 2020, a small group of anti-lockdown demonstrators carrying rifles, shotguns, handguns and what looked like a shoulder-fired rocket launcher walked through downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, and stopped for lunch at a Subway sandwich shop. Travis Long, a photojournalist with The News & Observer, photographed them at the counter. His pictures spread around the world within hours.
The scene was real, but some of the hardware was not what it seemed. Viewers who zoomed in soon pointed out that the "rocket launcher" appeared to be a spent or inert tube, and that at least one of the long guns looked like a wooden replica. The group reportedly asked staff politely before coming in, ordered food and went back to their march.
What happened in Raleigh
Long shared his photos on Twitter the same day, describing a group of about 11 people, most of them armed, who were protesting North Carolina's stay-at-home order. He added the hashtag #MealTeamSix, a joke on the name of the US Navy's SEAL Team Six, and it quickly became the nickname for the image.
A group of about 11 mostly-armed demonstrators protesting the stay at home order marched around downtown Raleigh and ordered sandwiches at a Subway. #Covid_19 #ncpol #MealTeamSix pic.twitter.com/XA1BIU7JHH
— Travis Long (@vizjourno) May 9, 2020
The News & Observer reported that the walk was organised through a Facebook group called Blue Igloo, which described the event as a chance for supporters of the First and Second Amendments to "get together, meet people with commonalities and get some exercise while we're all wasting away at home."
According to reports of the group's own livestream, members asked whether they could come inside and said they did not want to frighten anyone. There were no reports of threats, injuries or arrests at the restaurant.
Was the rocket launcher real?
The most eye-catching item was a green tube carried over one protester's shoulder. Wikipedia's summary of the US anti-lockdown protests notes reports that some North Carolina protesters carried an AT4 anti-tank launcher. The AT4 is a single-shot, disposable military weapon: once fired, the empty tube is no longer a weapon, and such empty tubes are sold as collectibles.
Close-ups of the Raleigh photos were widely reported to show markings indicating the tube was inert. A working launcher of this kind would be classed as a destructive device under US federal law and would be very hard for a private citizen to own legally. Based on what can be seen, the most likely explanation is that it was an empty or replica tube carried for effect. That has not been officially confirmed, so it is fair to say the item was reportedly inert rather than certainly fake.
Online commenters also suggested that one of the rifles was made of wood. That detail comes from photo analysis by viewers, not from the protesters or the police, and should be treated as unconfirmed.
Why the protesters could carry guns openly
North Carolina is an open-carry state. Adults who may legally own a firearm can generally carry it visibly in public without a permit, a right the state's Supreme Court protected as far back as 1921 in State v. Kerner. Concealed carry is a different matter and requires a permit.
That does not mean guns are welcome everywhere. Private businesses can ask people not to bring firearms inside, and some places, such as schools and certain public buildings, have their own restrictions. Whether a particular restaurant chooses to serve armed customers is largely up to the business.
The wider anti-lockdown movement in 2020
The Raleigh walk was part of a wave of protests across the United States in spring 2020. Demonstrators argued that stay-at-home orders were damaging their livelihoods and violated constitutional rights, including freedom of movement and assembly. Supporters ranged from small-business owners and mainstream conservatives to armed militia groups.
The most widely reported armed protest took place on 30 April 2020 at the Michigan State Capitol, where many demonstrators carrying firearms entered the building while lawmakers were in session. In North Carolina, groups such as ReOpen NC had already held rallies outside the state legislature in Raleigh on 14 April (about 100 people) and 21 April (about 300 people).
The timing of the Subway photo is worth noting. Governor Roy Cooper's statewide stay-at-home order took effect on 30 March 2020. Phase 1 of reopening began on 8 May, the day before the photo was taken, and Phase 2 followed on 22 May. Cooper defended a gradual approach, warning that some people wanted to "completely obliterate these restrictions. It would be a catastrophe."
How the internet reacted
Reaction split along familiar lines. Some saw a peaceful, if theatrical, exercise of constitutional rights. Others found it surreal, or saw it as a sign of how far American gun culture had drifted from other countries'. Many simply found it funny.
The mockery centred on the props. If the launcher was inert and a rifle was wooden, critics asked, what was the point of carrying them? Within hours, edited versions of the photo appeared, including one in which the weapons were swapped for sandwiches.
— 153 days and counting (@MeThatYouKnow) May 9, 2020
For the organisers, the publicity was arguably part of the purpose. Open-carry walks are designed to be seen, and a photo that travels worldwide gets a message out, even if not always the message intended.
Reading viral protest photos carefully
The Raleigh images are a good reminder of a few habits worth keeping when a dramatic picture goes viral:
- Check the place. Some headlines at the time said the group was "in the subway", as if on a train system. Raleigh has no underground railway; this was a Subway restaurant.
- Be careful naming weapons. Replicas, inert training items and empty tubes can look identical to working weapons in a photo. Descriptions should come from people who examined them, not from a caption.
- Find the original. Here, the original photos and caption came from a working photojournalist at a local paper, which makes them far more reliable than reposted screenshots.
- Keep the context. The size of a group, the date and the legal setting all change how an image should be read.
What came next
By early June 2020, North Carolina had recorded roughly 900 to 1,000 Covid-19 deaths, passing 1,000 on 8 June, according to state figures compiled on Wikipedia. Anti-lockdown protests faded from the headlines as nationwide demonstrations after the killing of George Floyd took centre stage, but arguments over public-health rules, personal freedom and the open carrying of firearms at protests continued long after the pandemic's first spring.
Sources: Photos and first report by Travis Long, The News & Observer (via his Twitter post embedded above); Wikipedia: COVID-19 protests in the United States; Wikipedia: COVID-19 pandemic in North Carolina; Wikipedia: Open carry in the United States.
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