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Uprising: 90% of Virginia counties become gun ‘sanctuaries,' expanding movement to nine states
Uprising: 90% of Virginia counties become gun ‘sanctuaries,' expanding movement to nine states by Paul Bedard December 18, 2019 08:41 AM
Stirred awake by Democratic proposals to take, register, and possibly seize their legally obtained weapons, Virginia gun owners in just 43 days have pushed 90% of the state’s counties to become gun “sanctuaries,” the latest three on Monday night.
Since the Nov. 5 election that gave Democrats control of Richmond, an “organic,” pro-gun movement has prompted the governments of 86 of Virginia’s 95 counties, as well as 15 towns and cities, to adopt some type of sanctuary language, putting Gov. Ralph Northam and other liberals on notice that their gun control plans aren’t welcome.
“I did not think it would be that high of a number,” said sanctuary advocate and Culpeper County Sheriff Scott Jenkins.
Zitat Stafford County is now a sanctuary! That’s the last for tonight and number 101! — Phil Van Cleave VCDL (@VCDL_ORG) December 18, 2019
“It’s an organic thing that just took off after Election Day. Elections have consequences, and this is the result. This has truly rocked the conservative, libertarian group's core. It has really shook a lot of them awake. They are fully awake,” he told Secrets.
Remarkably, the effort has not seen a big push from the National Rifle Association. Local groups, notably the Virginia Citizens Defense League, have led the campaign that has brought thousands of gun-rights advocates to county board meetings.
It has also become the national model for the movement that has now reached Illinois, Washington, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, New Jersey, Florida, and Tennessee. Illinois is credited with starting the movement.
Zitat Chairman of the Prince Edward board of supervisors says there are at least 550 people in attendance, and says supervisors have a “pretty good idea” of how the residents of the county feel.
The county is limiting comments to 12 speakers on each side. pic.twitter.com/YLg16jNFdU — Cam Edwards (@CamEdwards) December 18, 2019
“What’s happening is Virginia is becoming a national story and model,” said Cam Edwards, editor of Bearing Arms and a national authority on gun laws.
Late Monday, three counties in Virginia — Stafford, Prince Edward, and York — and the town of Vinton joined the effort.
The language adopted in the movement uses words such as “Second Amendment Sanctuary” and “constitutional,” and signals that police will not enforce anti-gun laws. Proposals before the Virginia legislature include gun bans, gun registration, expanded background checks, and limits on the size of magazines that hold cartridges.
Proponents warn, however, that the resolutions do not provide legal protection against gun control measures.
Zitat Thank you for your strength in this fight. Virginia Sheriff: ‘I Will Deputize Thousands of Citizens To Protect Their Gun Rights’ https://t.co/E3oFTQEkZC — Scott Jenkins (@ScottHJenkins) December 17, 2019
Jenkins said that Richmond should instead enforce laws already on the books to target criminals, not those who use their weapons legally.
“It’s all part of an agenda to further take away firearms, restrict and register weapons, and there is no need for it. There are enough laws already in place on weapon restrictions. We need no new laws. We need to focus on the ones we have,” he said.
He and Edwards said that the movement is the latest evidence of the urban-rural divide.
“It’s not the NRA, as everyone might expect,” said Jenkins, who has proposed deputizing gun owners to protect their weapons from any gun grab.
Instead, he added, it is a movement of people who feel their culture and way of life are under attack.
“They are the ones you don’t hear from. They’re not going to speak out at the board meetings or polling places and write editorials. They’re the everyday man who is focused on raising a family, going to work, and trying to live a good life and be a good citizen, and they see this as people who have no knowledge of what they’re family means when it comes to protection or the bearing of arms, nor can they relate to their culture of hunting or sport shooting or anything about them, and yet they want to come from their urban areas … and they drive to Richmond, where they want to implement these laws where the vast amount of Virginia is going to be affected by it even though they have not done anything wrong,” he said.
ZitatDemocratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill say local police who do not enforce gun control measures likely to pass in Virginia should face prosecution and even threats of the National Guard.
After November's Virginia Legislature elections that led to Democrats taking control of both chambers, the gun control legislation proposed by some Democrats moved forward, including universal background checks, an “assault weapons” ban, and a red flag law.
Legal firearm owners in the state, however, joined with their sheriffs to form Second Amendment sanctuary counties, which declare the authorities in these municipalities uphold the Second Amendment in the face of any gun control measure passed by Richmond.
Over 75 counties in Virginia have so far adopted such Second Amendment sanctuary resolutions in the commonwealth, the latest being Spotsylvania County. The board of supervisors voted unanimously to approve a resolution declaring that county police will not enforce state-level gun laws that violate Second Amendment rights.
Virginia Democratic officials, however, already say local law enforcement supporting these resolutions will face consequences if they do not carry out any law the state Legislature passes.
“I would hope they either resign in good conscience, because they cannot uphold the law which they are sworn to uphold, or they're prosecuted for failure to fulfill their oath,” Democratic Virginia Rep. Gerry Connolly told the Washington Examiner of local county police who may refuse to enforce future gun control measures. “The law is the law. If that becomes the law, you don't have a choice, not if you're a sworn officer of the law.”
Democratic Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin suggested cutting off state funds to counties that do not comply with any gun control measures that pass in Richmond.
“They certainly risk funding, because if the sheriff's department is not going to enforce the law, they're going to lose money. The counties' attorneys offices are not going to have the money to prosecute because their prosecutions are going to go down,” he said.
McEachin also noted that Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam could call the National Guard, if necessary.
“And ultimately, I'm not the governor, but the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law,” he said. “That's his call, because I don't know how serious these counties are and how severe the violations of law will be. But that's obviously an option he has.”
Oh, you bet, ordering the National Guard to seize privately held weapons would be one dandy idea. That couldn't lead to any problems assuming the Guard members would obey such a stupid order.
Go ahead, Northam, do it.
Virginia suffers from the same disease we do here in the NW. The more heavily populated urban areas, especially in the north of the state where so many survive by sucking at the government teat, are "progressive" enclaves. A map of election results shows the vast majority of counties vote Republican, but the populous areas vote Democrat.
For us it is Seattle and environs, in Oregon it's Portland and the rest of the I5 corridor. VA's Leftism is more scattered but it's the same urban areas.