Exercising The Right
Backlash Against Gun Control in Virginia
The Washington Post reported on November 23 about how pro-gun-rights Virginians continue to stick to their guns, so to speak, when it comes to the Second Amendment. A Board of Supervisors meeting in Amelia County was packed to the gills with supporters of a Second Amendment sanctuary ordinance. This column has previously written about this concept in which local municipalities pass resolutions that state they won’t permit the enforcement of any gun-control laws that violate the Second Amendment. The large crowd demanded that the Board of Supervisors declare Amelia County a Second Amendment sanctuary, part of a larger movement spreading like wildfire throughout the state. Both chambers of the state’s general assembly came under Democratic control in the past election, and when the new legislative session begins in January, Democratic politicians have already made it known, new gun-control laws will be on their agenda.
The list of county governments that have passed Second Amendment sanctuary bills include Charlotte, Campbell, Carroll, Appomattox, Patrick, Dinwiddie, Pittsylvania, Lee, and Giles. Amelia Sheriff Ricky L. Walker assured the crowd that he wouldn’t comply with an unconstitutional seizure of guns. “My oath of office is to uphold the Constitution of the United States,” he told the crowd. Clay Scott, a construction project manager, spoke to the growing rural-urban divide that has split the state and addressed concerns that the cosmopolitan North is going to force its will on the rural southern part of the state. “We need to send a signal to Richmond about Northern Virginia. We don’t want their influence to affect us down here. We’re very different people,” Scott was reported by the Post to have said. The Board of Supervisors won’t vote on the resolution until next month, but the large showing of people sent a message that there is legitimate support for its passage. The Post reported that around 300 people showed up. Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Citizen Defense League, told the Post, “I’ve never seen anything like this…. Everything has exploded right now. Gun owners are awake.”
House of Delegates member John J. McGuire III (R-Henrico) told the assembled crowd that he was seeking next year’s GOP nomination to challenge U.S. Representative Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), and got a good reaction when he said, “I don’t understand what part of ‘shall not infringe’ they don’t understand.”
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