PALM BEACH, Florida — President Trump accused Virginia Democrats of undermining Second Amendment rights with efforts to toughen gun laws just as thousands of armed militias were arriving in Richmond for a rally.
He used Twitter to express his support for gun enthusiasts in the state as tensions grew ahead of Monday’s event.
“Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia,” he wrote in a post as he arrived in Palm Beach on Friday evening for a weekend at his Mar-a-Lago resort. “That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away.”
Two gun rights groups say they expect to host 130,000 supporters at the Virginia State Capitol.
New gun control measures have been introduced following a deadly mass shooting and an election that saw Democrats take control of the statehouse for the first time in two decades.
Your 2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia. That’s what happens when you vote for Democrats, they will take your guns away. Republicans will win Virginia in 2020. Thank you Dems!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2020
On Thursday, the state Senate passed bills requiring background checks on all arms sales and limiting handgun purchases to one per month. The legislation also allows local governments to ban weapons from public buildings.
On the same day, the FBI announced it had arrested three members of a neo-Nazi group that allegedly planned to spark a race war at the rally.
It followed warnings of violence and came a day after Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency, banning firearms from the 12-acre grounds.
“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies that there are groups with malicious plans for the rally that is planned for Monday,” he said.
Officials said they were trying to prevent a repeat of the deadly violence associated with a white supremacist march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.
