Police arrested just one person during a protest that brought more than 20,000 Second Amendment activists to Virginia.
The protesters, thousands of whom attended the Monday rally in Richmond heavily armed, voiced their outrage with proposed legislation that would expand gun control in the commonwealth. The demonstration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day featured high-profile gun rights advocates, politicians, and conservative media commentators.
Thousands of gun rights advocates from all over the country are rallying on the steps of Virginia state Capitol to oppose legislation that would restrict access to firearms in the state.
“All we want to do is be able to defend ourselves,” activist Manny Vega tells @sarasidnerCNN pic.twitter.com/z7blNrXABc
— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) January 20, 2020
Shortly after 2 p.m., streets were mostly clear of demonstrators, and roads were open again to traffic. Approximately 7,000 people entered the weapon-free zone within Capitol Square, and another 15,000 people stood on the streets outside the gate, the Virginia Mercury reported.
Some attendees were seen removing trash and other litter from the streets as they left the area.
Groups picking up trash off the road after the rally is over. #VirginiaRally #Virginia2A @ABC13News pic.twitter.com/RgMlQroE2N
— Caroline Eaker (@caroline_wset) January 20, 2020
Police reported just one arrest during the more than three-hour-long demonstration in which thousands of protesters held pro-gun signs and Gadsden flags; chanted, “We will not comply;” sang the national anthem; and recited the pledge of allegiance. Officers arrested 21-year-old Mikaela E. Beschler for allegedly violating the state’s anti-mask law after she continued wearing a bandanna despite a warning to uncover her face.
2A Protesters in Virginia singing the Star Spangled Banner.
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) January 20, 2020
Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has endorsed pieces of legislation from the state’s Democratic Party that would limit handgun purchases to once a month, virtually ban military-style assault weapons, and include “red flag” clauses that would allow local law enforcement to take guns from citizens believed to be a threat to public safety.
Some of the protesters chided Northam over scandals unrelated to guns that have troubled his time in the executive mansion.
“I am Gov. Ralph Northam and I am in blackface today.”
Pro 2nd Amendment protesters have some fun at the #VirginiaRally
?️: @Julio_Rosas11 pic.twitter.com/8iBjO5jDP1
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 20, 2020
News of the legislation has sparked nearly 100 Virginia counties to pass resolutions declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries because gun rights activists believe the bills violate the United States and Virginia constitutions.
A sheriff of a rural southwest Virginia county warned he wouldn’t enforce state law that violated individual gun rights.
“If the bills go through as proposed, they will not be enforced; they’re unconstitutional,” Grayson County Sheriff Richard Vaughan said. “We swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Virginia, and that’s what we’ll do.”
Rumors that violent white nationalist organizations were planning to hijack the demonstration led Northam to declare a citywide state of emergency to beef up security and ban guns from the grounds of the Capitol.
President Trump tweeted support for the protesters on Monday, later saying he will “NEVER allow our great Second Amendment to go unprotected.”
The Democrat Party in the Great Commonwealth of Virginia are working hard to take away your 2nd Amendment rights. This is just the beginning. Don’t let it happen, VOTE REPUBLICAN in 2020!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020
I will NEVER allow our great Second Amendment to go unprotected, not even a little bit!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 20, 2020
