In the aftermath of last November’s elections in Virginia, Democrats took control of the state legislature for the first time in two decades. They promised to remake Virginia, and boy are they trying. These aren’t your father’s Southern Democrats – many of them are transplants from the North, bringing their New England prohibitionist mindset with them and attempting to force it on the people of Virginia.
Within days of the election, Democrats had already pre-filed numerous pieces of legislation. Among them was a sweeping “assault weapons” ban that would be one of the most onerous and draconian in the nation. The backlash from Virginia voters was swift, with gun rights organizations such as the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League (VCDL) helping focus energy toward counties, towns, and cities declared themselves to be Second Amendment sanctuaries. To date, 96% of Virginia counties and 94% of Virginia localities have declared themselves to be Second Amendment sanctuaries.
Learning nothing from that backlash, Democrats doubled down and introduced more and more draconian pieces of legislation. Their intent is not to prevent mass shootings or to keep the public safe, it’s to punish gun owners and anyone else who disagrees with them. They’re not interested in boiling the frog slowly, they want that sucker dead. But the frog isn’t going to go along willingly.
Every year VCDL hosts a “Lobby Day” for gun rights supporters to go to Richmond and lobby their legislators to pass pro-gun bills and oppose gun control bills. Interest in this year’s Lobby Day is stronger than ever. Other groups have jumped on the bandwagon, with an informal “Rattlesnake Rally” forming. Both Virginia residents and out of state gun owners plan to attend.
Initial estimates are that tens of thousands of gun owners will descend upon Richmond on January 20th to lobby for their gun rights. Many are planning to attend while carrying AR-15 rifles, which remain legal to carry in Virginia as of now. If Democrats have their way, however, carrying rifles in public may be banned, along with many other rights that Virginians currently enjoy.
It will be interesting to see how Governor Northam and the Democrats in the General Assembly react to the rally, and to the huge amount of anger that has ensued. They seem to view their victory in the elections as a mandate, despite the fact that Republicans gained 37,000 more votes than Democrats. If a mere 9.6% of the population (823,000 Democratic voters) can dictate to the other 90% of the population what it can and cannot do, and make felons out of millions of law-abiding gun owners with the stroke of a pen, that is tyranny. One need only look at the Virginia flag to see what Virginians think of tyrants.
This article was originally posted on Red Tea News.
