Gun rights supporters at the event in Richmond, Virginia. ABC News/Reuters.
Thousands of gun rights supporters showed up in Richmond Virginia today to protest new gun control laws put forth by Governor Northam and the Democratic Party. ABC News/GMA. There was no violence and almost no arrests at the event, despite claims from Northam that violence was likely due to threats from "white supremacists". Around 22,000 people showed up according to State Police, with 6,000 entering the capital unarmed with the rest staying on the streets, many with weapons. The rally has been a tradition since 2003 but took on special urgency after the Democrats took control of the Virginia state house and immediately introduced hated "assault weapon" bans and "red flag" laws, that take guns from people without due process. The only arrest was for a 21 year old woman who refused to take off a mask, which is illegal in Virginia.
My Comment:
I watched a bit of this event this morning and I have to say that it looked like a major success. People were calm, collected and determined to exercise their 1st and 2nd amendment rights and they did so without incident. The crowd was fairly diverse and peaceful and it looks like it would have been a special event to attend in person. Makes me wish I could have gone despite living nowhere near Virginia.
Once again, the people that said something was clearly going to happen were wrong again. Just like they were wrong about World War III breaking out due to Iran, they were wrong about Civil War 2: Electric Boogalo breaking out in Virginia.
I admit that even I was a bit worried that something bad would happen. I did not trust Governor Northam's actions and I still believe that he was doing whatever possible to make sure that blood was shed. However, despite actions like banning guns from the capital grounds, fencing off a "free speech area" and ensuring there were limited exits, nothing happened.
Why? Part of it is the shear deterrence factor of having thousands of armed people in the same place. Anyone that tried to shoot this even up or picked a fight with someone would have been ventilated very quickly, not only by the police, but by armed civilians as well. People tend to underestimate how effective armed men are at keeping the peace and also forget that the violence in Charlottesville happened after the armed militias pulled out.
Another part of it was the lack of an antagonist. Most gun owners and police officers have a level of respect for each other, while conservatives in general aren't anti-cop. Though there is certainly some level of animosity for police in the gun rights community, especially on the libertarian fringe, the two groups mostly get along, which makes sense as many cops are gun hobbyists as well.
Though many people were sure that Antifa was going to show up and cause trouble, as far as I am aware they did not. Indeed, Antifa was experiencing some obvious discord and cognitive dissonance with the whole event. Antifa is surprisingly pro-gun and some people talked of joining the gun rights supporters against Governor Northam. Plus they, along with most of the far left, hate Northam because of his obvious and odious racism due to his blackface/KKK scandal. They also only seem to cause trouble when they both have the support of local officals and outnumber or otherwise outmatch their opponents. Neither of those things looked to be true today in Virginia.
I do think the hand wringing and hysteria about potential violence probably reduced the numbers of people that showed up. Though it was cold out today, I think more people would have showed up if they weren't afraid of violence happening. Many of the gun rights websites I visited had many hysterical people saying that an obvious false flag was going to happen and that hundreds of people would die.
They were practically begging for people to stay home, saying that a shootout would hurt the gun rights community more than having few people show up at a rally. I think a few of these people were genuine as there was a real fear, due in no small part to Governor Northam, that violence was going to happen. Hell, even I would not have been surprised if violence would have happened. But I think a lot of these people were likely anti-gun shills trying to torpedo the event. The Democrats and their allies had a vested interest in this event being a failure and were lying to us
In the end though, the doomsayers and chicken littles were wrong yet again. The gun rights community had a successful event with no violence that sent a clear message to the Government of Virginia, which was "we will not comply" with new gun laws. Nobody got shot and it looks like nobody even threw a punch. It was a good day, not only for the gun rights movement but for democracy in general.
So what happens next? I think that Virginia's government will likely pass some of these stupid laws but they won't be worth the paper they will be printed on. Most of the state has already rejected these laws and will not enforce them. And I am guessing the Democrats will be too cowardly to push the issue if they do pass them as they know doing so would be an absolute disaster.
Legal challenges will be the next effort as some of these laws are clearly unconstitutional. The recent Supreme Court case New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. v. City of New York, might end up being an expansive judgement that could render a few of these laws illegal on their face. And even if that doesn't happen I fully expect all of these laws to be challenged in court.
Furthermore I expect a recall election for Governor Northam. Though the Democrats are trying to prevent that with new legislation, I expect the next big fight to be against him. He's proven incapable of listening to his constituents and he needs to go and go soon. My sincere hope is that the people of Virginia throw him out of office as soon as possible.
Finally, I think that this movement has energized the right in Virginia in such a way that it could have an impact in the 2020 election. Virginia went for Clinton in 2016 but that was due to a lot of Virginia conservatives staying home, along with the 2019 election that lead to this mess in the first place. I think a lot of the people that stayed home in those elections realized the cost of doing so and may flip the state red in 2020 for President Trump.
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