Mohammad Cartoon Contest to be held outside Phoenix mosque; guns encouraged

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Jon Ritzheimer is a former Marine, and he has no middle ground when it comes to Islam.

A T-shirt he wears pretty much says it all: "F--- Islam."

Ritzheimer is the organizer of Friday's "Freedom of Speech Rally" outside the Islamic Community Center in Phoenix.

It's the mosque that Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi attended for a time. They're the men who drove from Arizona to a Dallas suburb to shoot up a Prophet Mohammed cartoon contest there. Both were killed by police early this month.

Many Muslims consider any depiction of Mohammed to be blasphemous and banned by the Islamic holy book, the Quran.

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Some 600 people say they're attending.

It's scheduled to start at 6:15 p.m., about the time evening prayers are taking place inside the center. The rally also features its own cartoon contest, similar to the one targeted in Texas.

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"Recently the mosques here in Phoenix actually received threatening letters -- very specific threats, saying that we are going to massacre your congregations," he said.

Ritzheimer anticipates possible problems because of the rally and says people should bring their guns.

"People are also encouraged to utilize (their) second amendment right at this event just (in case) our first amendment comes under the much anticipated attack," the event's Facebook page says.

Bikers will be there too, according to the post.

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