Man Gets Suspended Sentence for Shotgun on Freedom Plaza

Adam Kokesh, the activist who loaded a shotgun on video in downtown D.C. in July,  was sentenced to a year in prison Friday, with all of the time suspended.

A judge ordered that Kokesh serve two years of probation for the gun charge he incurred after posting the "protest" video on YouTube.

Kokesh, 31, was arrested July 9 on the gun and drug charges after authorities searched his Herndon, Va., home and seized 10 weapons -- including the shotgun shown in his YouTube video.

The search came five days after Kokesh posted a video to YouTube that showed him loading a shotgun while standing on Freedom Plaza between the White House and the Capitol. It is illegal to carry guns in the District of Columbia.

"We will not be silent; we will not obey; we will not allow our government to destroy our humanity," Kokesh said in the video. He later said he was protesting the fact that citizens are permitted to carry guns in Virginia but not once they cross the river into the District.

Kokesh was the organizer behind the called-off Open Carry March, which he said would have had at least a thousand people marching -- with their guns -- from Virginia across the Memorial Bridge into D.C. on July 4.

The D.C. event was cancelled in advance, with Kokesh urging people to protest gun regulations at their state capitols instead. Kokesh said thousands of people did so.

Kokesh also received a 100-day credit for the time served while refusing to leave his cell for a hearing.

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