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What to Watch For at the Virginia Gun Rally Virginia Gun Rally Live Updates: Large Crowds and Long Lines
(about 1 hour later)
RICHMOND, Va. — The capital of Virginia is bracing for the arrival on Monday of busloads of demonstrators from across the state and around the nation who are angry over a series of gun-control measures making their way through the state Legislature. The capital of Virginia was bustling on Monday morning as the city braced for a highly publicized gun rights rally, organized to oppose a series of gun-control measures making their way through the Legislature. The rally is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m. and last until noon.
Along with mainstream gun-rights activists, the event is also expected to attract white supremacists, members of antigovernment militias and other extremists, stoking fears of the sort of violence that left one person dead and some two dozen others injured in 2017 during a far-right rally in Charlottesville, about an hour’s drive from Richmond. White supremacists, members of antigovernment militias and other extremists have said they planned to be in Richmond for the rally as well, stoking fears of the sort of violence that left one person dead and some two dozen others injured during a far-right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
Hoping to head off trouble this time, state officials have set up a security zone around the State Capitol and have banned weapons on its grounds. Here is what you need to know as the day begins. Hoping to head off trouble, the state has set up a security perimeter around the Capitol grounds and has banned weapons — including firearms — from the area inside the perimeter. Police officers guarded the area with the help of bomb-sniffing dogs, and people entering the perimeter through the single entrance were being screened with metal detectors.
For years, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, which falls early in the legislative session, has been a day for ordinary Virginians and advocacy groups to lobby state legislators on issues that concern them. But this year, gun rights groups made especially big plans for “Lobby Day.” Even so, plenty of demonstrators came armed to Richmond, and officials worried that confrontations could develop just outside that entrance or in the surrounding streets, where weapons will still be allowed.
That is because control of the legislature flipped in the November election. After a generation of dominance by Republicans sympathetic to gun rights, the State Senate and House of Delegates are now run by Democrats who want to impose tighter regulations — measures that have become increasingly popular in the state, especially after a gunman fatally shot 12 people last May in Virginia Beach. Pro-gun advocates walked through Richmond streets armed with assault-style weapons on Monday morning, and demonstrators from across the country carried signs and wore stickers with slogans like “Don’t tread on our gun rights” and “Guns Save Lives.”
The State Senate approved three gun control bills last week that the House of Delegates could approve as early as this week. The prospect of new laws restricting firearms has met with stiff opposition in the state’s rural areas, though. Since November, more than 100 municipalities have declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” — a purely symbolic step, but one that highlights the widening rift in Virginia between its cities and its rural areas, which have been losing population and political power for years. Demonstrators started early on Monday, with lines at the security checkpoint beginning to form before dawn. The crowd of onlookers steadily grew until it filled the area immediately outside the entrance to the Capitol grounds.
Gun rights groups from other states have also taken notice and are sending supporters to the event in Richmond. The rally is being organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a well-known Second Amendment advocacy organization in the state. The group has said it expected the protest to be peaceful. But it has also accepted help from militia groups to provide security for the rally, and friction with counterprotesters is possible during the event and afterward.
Participants in the gun rights rally plan to start arriving at the State Capitol grounds in car pools, vans and about 60 charter buses early in the morning — at 8 a.m. or before. The organizers have told law enforcement authorities that as many as 100,000 people could show up. Around 6,000 people posted on the event’s Facebook page saying that they planned to attend.
The rally is scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m. and last until noon. It is being organized by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, a well-known Second Amendment advocacy organization in the state. The group has said it expected the protest to be peaceful. But it has also accepted help from militia groups to provide security for the rally, and friction with counterprotesters is possible during the event and afterward. Richmond was alive with activity as early as 6 a.m. as clusters of people made their way toward the Capitol. The traffic downtown included a Jeep flying an American flag, and numerous pickup trucks.
The organizers have told law enforcement authorities that as many as 100,000 people could show up. More than 6,000 people have posted on the event’s Facebook page saying that they planned to attend. In a parking garage near 14th Street, David, a 55-year-old gun rights supporter from Boston who declined to give his last name, was taking supplies out of his truck.
“People paint gun owners with a very broad brush,” said Brendan Mooney, 29, a gun rights activist who recently left the Navy, and who said he will be at the rally. “I’m not ‘Billy Bob’ or ‘Jimbo.’ I’m a 20-something and I’m passionate about this. The Second Amendment was written so we can defend ourselves against a government that can overreach.” “To pass laws that a certain segment of the population feels violates their basic rights, that’s what’s creating the emotion here today,” he said, standing next to a man dressed in military attire who identified himself as Captain Parker. “This is a watershed moment in the culture wars and in American politics right now.”
Besides gun rights advocates, the event is also expected to draw white supremacists and anti-government extremists. Several men who have ties to right-wing militia groups and who planned to attend the rally have been arrested in the past week. “It takes a lot to get folks off their sofas,” he observed.
In response to fears about the potential for violent clashes, the state has set up a security perimeter around the Capitol grounds and has banned weapons — including firearms — from the grounds through Tuesday. There will be just one public entrance to the grounds, and anyone who wants to enter will be required to pass through a metal detector there. Long lines are likely to form. Lev Huntington, 77, traveled to the rally from Virginia Beach. Mr. Huntington, who owns firearms and has a concealed carry permit, belongs to the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the group organizing the rally. He said he knew others who wanted to attend, but were afraid because of the threats of violence.
The authorities say they will try to separate gun rights activists from counterprotesters, but with everyone having to use the single entrance to the Capitol grounds, confrontations may develop just outside that entrance or in the surrounding streets, where weapons will still be allowed. “They write to me and said, ‘I’m not going tomorrow, because things might get tough and I got to think about the kids,’” Mr. Huntington said. “I said, ‘This is about the kids.’
Gun rights supporters acknowledge that, despite their opposition, a number of gun control measures are likely to be approved in the current legislative session and signed into law by Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat. But gun owners think they may be able to persuade a few Democratic lawmakers to oppose some measures, including a proposed ban on assault-style rifles. Logan Smith, 25, a transmission plant worker from Indianapolis, said he set out Saturday night and drove in his black Dodge Charger for 9 hours and 46 minutes to reach Richmond on Sunday. Standing in a teal sweatshirt in the early morning cold on Monday, his hands in his pockets, he watched the line for entrance to the Capitol grounds start to snake around the block.
Karen Greenhalgh, who said she would drive an hour and a half to Richmond from Virginia Beach on Monday, said the chance to meet her representative at the Capitol was so important to her that she would leave her .380-caliber Smith & Wesson pistol at home. “I see how it matters — it matters to me back home,” Mr. Smith said of gun rights. Referring to the gun regulations bills before the Virginia legislature, he said, “Seeing stuff like this being pushed, it doesn’t sit well.”
“I’m going to tell him how important the Constitution is to me, and that if we don’t follow the Constitution, then what will we become?” she said. But because she will not be allowed to carry a weapon onto the Capitol grounds this year, she said, “I’m going to have to give up my Constitutional right to do that — to talk to my legislator.” Around the corner, a whoop went up from a small crowd when several men unfurled a large cloth banner with a long gun emblazoned on the front.
Teri Horne, 51, stood on the sidewalk directly across from the entrance to the Capitol grounds, with a Smith & Wesson M&P 15T assault-style rifle straddled around her shoulder and a Texas flag at her side. Ms. Horne, of Quitman, Texas, and about three dozen others from the women’s chapter of Open Carry Texas drove about 24 hours from Texas “to support the people in Virginia.”
A group of other Texans wearing camouflage-pattern clothes approached Ms. Horne and asked if they could take a photograph with her. Another man walked over to offer her a National Association For Gun Rights sticker.
“This is where freedom began, right here, and this is what they’re doing to the people of Virginia,” Ms. Horne said. “Thomas Jefferson, he was a very livid character, he would have some strong words to say.”
For years, Martin Luther King’s Birthday, which falls early in the legislative session, has been a day for ordinary Virginians and advocacy groups to talk with state legislators about issues that concern them, in a tradition known as “Lobby Day.”
This year, gun rights groups made especially big plans, after control of the legislature flipped in the November election.
After a generation of dominance by Republicans sympathetic to gun rights, the State Senate and House of Delegates are now run by Democrats who want to impose tighter regulations — measures that have become increasingly popular in the state, especially after a gunman fatally shot 12 people last May in Virginia Beach.
The State Senate approved three gun control bills last week that the House of Delegates could approve as early as this week.
The prospect of new laws restricting firearms has met with stiff opposition in the state’s rural areas. Since November, more than 100 municipalities have declared themselves “Second Amendment sanctuaries” — a purely symbolic step, but one that highlights the widening rift in Virginia between its cities and its rural areas, which have been losing population and political power for years.
Sabrina Tavernise, Timothy Williams and Zolan Kanno-Youngs reported from Richmond, Va., and Sarah Mervosh from New York.