MEDFORD Freedom Park was the aptly named venue for a rally Sunday that drew staunch defenders of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The right to bear arms and the need for tax reform timely topics amid the raging gun debate and the looming April 15 filing deadline were among the subjects passionate speakers expounded upon for a flag-waving crowd of about 3 dozen conservatives who gathered at the Union Street locale.

We are armed with conviction and spirit and the history of resistance. We will not allow tyranny to cry havoc. We will not go quietly into the night, said Bill Haney, the campaign manager for Republicans4Burlco, a political slate running for county and state offices in the June 4 Republican primary election.

The New Jersey Second Amendment Society, New Jersey Constitution Party, New Jersey Tea Party Caucus, New Jersey 10th Amendment Center, and FairTax New Jersey also were represented at the rally, which was organized loosely under the banner, We the People.

The freedom theme resonated with Scott and Debbie Gager, a township couple whose son is a soldier deployed in Afghanistan.

It concerns me when I watch the news because I feel our freedoms are being taken away every day. I think a lot of Americans are just asleep, said Debbie Gager, who was not affiliated with any of the groups at the rally.

Music was provided by Scott Gager, who performed a song he co-wrote with his wife. Red and Blue is about the divided political nature of the country.

The countrys economic health is what concerns FairTax New Jersey volunteer Doug Dash, who considers the U.S. tax code and the Internal Revenue Service to be the single largest impediment to prosperity and the creation of America-based private jobs.

We want America to be the best place to do business, the best place to manufacture, the best place to work, and a magnet for jobs instead of a country which is hemorrhaging jobs to countries all over the world. None of these things are going to happen, Dash said.

The rally was held the day after a county-sponsored gun buyback event at Abundant Life Fellowship Church in Edgewater Park. That event was protested by Bill Moore and Carole Lokan Moore, an outspoken Republican couple from Edgewater Park who also attended Sundays rally.

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Freedom Rally draws gun, tax activists to Medford