RICHMOND, Va. - A pro-gun rally expected to draw thousands around Viriginia's capitol building on Monday has authorities bracing for violence, but it also marks shifting battle lines in the U.S. gun debate.
Those
backing tougher curbs see Democrats taking control of the Virginia legislature
for the first time in a generation on campaign promises of tougher access to
arms as offering a model for other traditionally gun-friendly states.
Facing
off against them are gun enthusiasts.
They
argue Virginia is stomping on their constitutional right to bear arms and vow
that Monday's rally will help citizens understand how quickly they can lose the
ability to carry guns, based on who wins at the ballot box.
"The
Virginia election last November was an indictment of guns, and it was not an
outlier," said Christian Heyne, who leads legislative efforts at the gun
violence prevention group Brady.
"Virginia
candidates flipped things on their head when they won because of the gun issue,
not despite it. That is a fundamental shift."
Tension
rose ahead of the rally after the FBI arrested three members of a small
neo-Nazi group last week, who authorities said had hoped to ignite a race war
through violence at the gathering, reminiscent of a 2017 white supremacist
rally in nearby Charlottesville.
People
across the United States were focused on the Virginia gun issue, said Philip
Van Cleave, leader of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which is organizing
Monday's rally.
"People
are looking at this and saying, 'This is a canary in the coal mine. If they're
coming after rights in Virginia, then they'll be coming for ours as
well,'" Van Cleave said on Sunday.
"They
don't want us to fail in stopping this. We've gotten huge donations from other
states."
Van
Cleave has rejected calls for violence, but he has urged tens of thousands of
armed militia leaders from across the United States to be in Richmond's streets
to provide security for his group.
A
spokesman for the Capitol police said Van Cleave had worked closely with law
enforcement officers on rally plans.
High-profile
national militia figures gathered for a meeting on Sunday near Richmond said
they wanted Monday's event to be peaceful, but feared the worst, with most
saying any "lone wolf" could unleash bitter fighting with a single
shot.
"The
buildup is probably one of the most intense I've seen," said Tammy Lee, a
right-wing Internet personality from Oklahoma, who was a figurehead in
Charlottesville.
Christian
Yingling, head of the Pennsylvania Light Foot Militia and a leader at the
Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, said none of his men would
carry long guns and they wanted to avoid skirmishes, but forecast they would
come.
"With
somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 people possibly coming out, this thing has
enormous potential to go bad," he said.
FANNING
THE FIRE
Virginia
Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, has vowed to push through new gun control
laws. He is backing a package of eight bills, including universal background
checks, a "red flag" law, a ban on assault rifles and a limit of one
handgun-a-month purchase.
The
state's gun owners responded with a movement to create "sanctuary
cities" for gun rights, with local government bodies passing declarations
not to enforce new gun laws.
Since
the November election, nearly all of Virginia's 95 counties have some form of
"sanctuary", a term first used by localities opposed to harsh
treatment of illegal immigrants.
The idea
has quickly spread across the United States, with over 200 local governments in
16 states passing such measures.
Despite
the pushback, proponents of stronger gun laws say they are clearly winning the
argument with the public, based on who got voted into office, and blame the
tension on gun supporters.
"We're
in this situation because the gun lobby has been pushing their message that
we're going to take all guns away - they've been fanning this fire for
years," said Michelle Sandler, a Virginia state leader for Moms Demand
Action, the grassroots arm of Everytown for Gun Safety.
It is
not Northam's first bid to tighten state gun laws. He called a special
legislative session last summer after the massacre of 12 people in Virginia
Beach, but the Republicans who then controlled it refused to vote on his
proposals.
'SERIOUS
ATTACK'
President
Donald Trump fanned the flames on Friday when he said the U.S. Constitution was
being attacked in Virginia, where he was soundly defeated in 2016 by Hilary
Clinton.
"Your
2nd Amendment is under very serious attack in the great commonwealth of
Virginia," Trump posted on Twitter, referring to the provision that gives
Americans the right to keep and bear firearms.
The NRA,
which is not involved in organizing Monday's rally, also blasted Virginia's
Democrats, who received campaign contributions last year of more than $2.5
million from Everytown for Gun Safety, started by former New York mayor and
Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg.
"Anti-gun
billionaires who invested millions in the 2019 Virginia elections expect a
return on that investment," said NRA official D. J. Spiker.
"The
NRA is fully prepared to work to defeat Governor Northam's gun grab - but also
work to find compromise."
http://news.trust.org/item/20200120102713-6c14n
***Reporting
by Brad Brooks; Additional reporting by Jonathan Drake in Richmond; Editing by
Lisa Shumaker and Clarence Fernandez