Participants in Monday’s “God. Family. Guns” rally at the State Capitol oppose legislation that would restrict Virginians’ gun rights. (Photo by Jay Paul)
About 100 gun rights activists — sporting orange stickers saying “Guns Save Lives” and a kaleidoscope of colorful umbrellas and caps — gathered Monday on the steps of the Virginia State Capitol under cloudy skies to rally against gun control legislation proposed by the incoming Democratic majority for the 2020 Virginia General Assembly session.
Proponents of gun rights are also expected to appear at county government meetings in Chesterfield and Hanover counties this week to push for adoption of “Second Amendment sanctuary” resolutions.
Speakers at Monday’s “God. Family. Guns” rally, organized by the Virginia First Foundation, said the proposed legislation improperly restricts Virginians’ right to self-defense and gun ownership.
Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, warmed up the crowd by promising to cause legislators’ phones to melt down and ensure that their “emails will be so cluttered that they’re not going to be able to tell what time of day it is.”
"We will not compromise," Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, told attendees. (Photo by Jay Paul)
To the rousing applause and whistles of those gathered, Van Cleave vowed that with their support and that of other followers of the Second Amendment sanctuary movement, “We are going to pound them like they’ve never been pounded. And they need it.”
Some of the legislation that has Van Cleave and others particularly riled up includes bills proposing to prohibit future sales of military-style assault weapons, establishing “red-flag” laws that would permit police and family members to ask a judge to temporarily remove weapons from people the court deems a danger to themselves or others, and bills to provide additional resources to law enforcement officials to close loopholes in the current background checks for people buying guns.
Although Democrats who plan to introduce an assault weapons ban say it will contain a grandfather clause, Van Cleave said in an interview before his speech that he doesn’t trust that the legislation won’t result in taking guns or making someone a criminal for possessing such a weapon.
“We will not compromise,” he told the crowd. Van Cleave did promise to work with Democrats to get more money for mental health care. “That is our common ground. We need to improve what we are doing in that area."
Another speaker, Jackee Gonzalez, a former Republican primary candidate for the 4th Congressional District, said she was moved to become a part of the “Second Amendment sanctuary” movement because she loves “this country and the U.S. Constitution.” She shared that she decided to learn how to handle a gun after she was "working in a United Nations refugee camp in Kenya a few years ago and a group of us got stopped by terrorists with AK-47s. None of the refugee workers had guns. All we had was prayer.” After that experience, she said she was inspired to realize that the right to have a gun is “God-given."
Bishop Leon Benjamin (right), who heads a nondenominational church in Richmond’s East End, shows his support for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. (Photo by Jay Paul)
Bishop Leon Benjamin, who heads a nondenominational church in Richmond’s East End, attended the rally wearing a black cap emblazoned with the letters ICE, the initials of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. He said he sees no conflict between supporting the agency — which enforces the removal of undocumented immigrants from the United States, prompting a sanctuary movement to protect them from deportation — and the Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions that vow to oppose laws restricting gun ownership. “I support ICE as someone who served in the Gulf War and Desert Storm to protect this nation,” he said.
Benjamin, chairman of the Richmond City Republican Committee, said he is a candidate for the 4th Congressional District and is running against U.S. Rep. A. Donald McEachin, an ordained Baptist minister who holds a master of divinity from Virginia Union University. Asked how he comforts his congregants who have experienced gun violence in their lives, Benjamin said, “We must understand that God is leading us to a greater glory and understanding of his will. We must fight the forces of darkness with the tools the good Lord gives us.”
Other speakers said gun-control measures do little to reduce crime or prevent mass shootings.
“Hands off our guns, hands off our rights,” said Bob Good, a member of the Campbell County Board of Supervisors, one of more than 40 Virginia counties that have declared themselves to be Second Amendment sanctuaries in recent weeks, including Dinwiddie, Goochland, King William, New Kent and Powhatan.
Gun rights supporters cheer speakers at Monday's “God. Family. Guns” rally. (Photo by Jay Paul)
A Second Amendment sanctuary resolution is on the agenda for the Hanover County Board of Supervisors meeting on Wednesday, Dec. 11., at 3 p.m.
The Chesterfield County Board of Supervisiors also meets on Wednesday, with a work session at 2 p.m. and an evening meeting from 6 to 9 p.m. There’s no Second Amendment resolution on the agenda for either meeting, but Leslie Haley, the board chairwoman, told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that individual supervisors are expected to comment on the issue. The article quotes her as saying board members believe such a resolution is premature and that it does not give citizens protection.
In response to an email request for comment, Matoaca District Supervisor Steve Elswick, who did not seek re-election in November, says the county attorney advised him that any resolution by Chesterfield supervisors would be "ceremonial in nature and give citizens a false, feel good feeling that the county could somehow stop the state’s action." He says that the county would challenge in court any action it believes that state or federal government has taken in violation of the U.S. Constitution.
"As a gun owner and avid hunter , it is my opinion our efforts will be better served contacting our state and federal representatives to discuss our concerns concerning the Second Amendment," Elswick says.
A Chesterfield County spokeswoman announced that in light of an expected increase in attendance, there will be one 45-minute public comment period at the beginning of the evening meeting. An overflow area will be provided in front of the 1917 courthouse, and the meeting will also be shown via live-stream video on the county's website, as well as its YouTube page and on television: Comcast channel 98 and Verizon channel 28.
"We will listen to public comments and look at our emails and if anything will be done, it will be put together by the next board," retiring Bermuda District Supervisor Dorothy Jaeckle says by email. "I just hope the group that shows up tonight continues to stay active and puts pressure on the legislators and governor. I am a firm believer that gun control only controls law-abiding citizens and puts more guns in the hands of criminals. Gun-free zones are a major cause of shootings. The only people that are free of guns in gun free zones are law abiding citizens leaving them sitting ducks for a mass shooter."
The Henrico County Board of Supervisors opted not to pass such a resolution. Prior to the opening of a 30-minute comment period at the Nov. 26 board meeting, Chairman Tyrone Nelson said the board has rarely adopted resolutions against state legislation.
“When the board has done so , it was because the legislation affected the county as a potential political jurisdiction,” he said. “For at least the last 50 years, the board has not adopted any resolutions about state legislation that potentially affects individual citizen rights under the U.S. Constitution. One reason? Federal and state courts — not legislative bodies — interpret and decide the meaning and scope of individual constitutional rights. Citizens have the right to challenge any legislation they think infringes on individual constitutional rights in court.”
