By now you’ve heard that Virginia’s Democratic Governor Ralph Northam has declared a “state of emergency” and banned the possession of firearms in downtown Richmond where a massive gun rights rally is set to take place on January 20th.
Northam has been threatening the move for days, and it culminates what has been the worst slander against lawful gun owners in recent memory. Gov. Northam and his allies in the media have conflated white supremacists with legitimate peaceful protesters, and Northam’s executive order confirms that slander in the minds of the public: gun owners are dangerous, and their presence in the capital necessitates a state of emergency.
Northam probably knows more about white supremacy than I do, given his history, but this is starting to get ridiculous.
The Governor
Virginia’s intelligence officials may have picked up evidence that extremists are planning violence on January 20th, but you wouldn’t know it from Northam’s order.
He beings by alluding to the far-right white supremacist rally that took place in Charlottesville in August of 2017. This has become a theme in the media coverage of this event and in the governor’s statements. If you weren’t paying attention, you’d think the upcoming rally was about guns and white supremacism.
In the next paragraph, he gives Virginians his justification for declaring a state of emergency. He says, “Credible intelligence gathered by Virginia’s law enforcement agencies indicates that tens of thousands of advocates plan to converge on Capitol Square for events culminating on January 20, 2020.”
No offense to Virginia’s law enforcement agencies, but a groundhog with an internet connection could have figured that one out. You don’t need “credible evidence” to determine that a massive rally is about to take place in Richmond.
Northam continues: “Available information suggests that a substantial number of these demonstrators are expected to come from outside the Commonwealth, may be armed, and have as their purpose not peaceful assembly but violence, rioting, and insurrection.”
Notice he switches from “credible intelligence” to “available information” when describing the threat from out-of-state “demonstrators.” Also, notice the vagueness of the term “substantial number.” How many is that? 10? 100? 10,000? Is the Galactic Empire descending on Richmond, Gov. Northam?
The Virginia Citizens Defense League is confused as well. The gun-rights group responsible for organizing the rally noted in an email to supporters that “neither the Governor nor any of his law enforcement has informed VCDL of any of these alleged threats.” Whatever threats the governor’s team has discovered, they haven’t bothered to tell the organization in the best position to keep the rally peaceful.
I’m old enough to remember when Democrats complained for two solid weeks about how President Trump’s drone strike on Qasem Soleimani was ill-advised because the White House couldn’t publicly name a specific, “imminent” attack. Maybe it’s just me, but I think the standard of evidence required for vaporizing a terrorist should be lower than the evidence required from delegitimizing a civil rights protest. The same Democrats who cried for proof of specific threats to kill a bona fide terrorist are happy to intimidate gun owners on what appears to be far less evidence.
Anyway, that’s it. Those two sentences are Northam’s justification for his executive order.
It’s entirely possible that Virginia’s finest have, in fact, discovered a plot to sow violence and “insurrection” on Monday. But does anyone think those individuals will pack up their swastikas and their Lugers and go home just because Northam banned lawful gun owners from carrying firearms? This is a microcosm of the entire gun rights debate over the last 50 years, and Northam’s massive gun-free zone could very well endanger those who seek to demonstrate peacefully. Honestly, you could cut this irony with a knife.
Northam, in short, has made it clear that the right to peaceful protest is sacred to every group except Second Amendment supporters. Women’s rights leaders associated with open anti-Semites were allowed to descend on the nation’s capital during the Women’s March without so much as a peep from mainstream politicians or state governors. But when gun owners rise up peacefully to make their displeasure heard, their efforts are cast as racist and violent.
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