Governor Ralph Northam of Virginia is declaring a state of emergency for next Monday because a bunch of gun proliferation advocates are planning to descend on the Capitol to protest some new gun control laws.
At a press conference, Northam described the potential for violence and said he was prohibiting all weapons, not just guns. He cited “credible intelligence” from law enforcement that groups including out-of-state militias and hate groups had “malicious plans” for Monday’s rally.
“We’re seeing threats of violence,” the governor said. “We’re seeing threats of armed confrontation and assault on our Capitol.”
Evidently, the gun people have been planning this for some time and are working themselves up into a frenzy on their channels.
“They’re coming to intimidate and cause harm,” Northam said of the “violent groups and white nationalists from outside Virginia.” Later, he expressed concern about “another incident like the one we saw in Charlottesville,” where a white nationalist killed an anti-fascist protester in 2017 at a chaotic rally in which racist groups fought in the streets with counter-protesters.
Like other Americans they could protest gun laws without carrying loaded guns. They could carry signs, they could march around, they could occupy a building or participate in civil disobedience, which requires that one submit oneself to the law. But they don’t. They carry loaded guns to protests and political events.
And that means these protests and political events are not opportunities for people to freely debate and disagree. After all, protests and political events are by their nature often contentious, angry and emotional. When one side is armed with automatic weapons, I think the other side can be forgiven for being reluctant to engage them.
That is obviously not what was intended by our bill of rights. Basically what these folks are saying by arming themselves in this political context is, “nice little democracy you have there. Go ahead, exercise your first amendment. Make my day.”