RICHMOND, Va. ─ Thousands of gun-rights activists, banned from carrying their weapons out of fear of violence, crammed into the Virginia Capitol on Monday to urge state lawmakers to reject sweeping measures to limit the spread of firearms.
The rally, planned for weeks as part of a citizen-lobbying tradition held on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, has focused national attention on Virginia’s attempts to enact new gun regulations, pushed by Democrats who took control of the Statehouse for the first time in 26 years. Gun control supporters say they are acting on voters’ wishes, propelled by a May mass shooting in Virginia Beach.
Gun-rights proponents warn that the measures ─ including universal background checks, a ban on military-style rifles and a bill that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others ─ will snowball into attempts to disarm the public.
“We will not comply,” activists chanted from both sides of a security fence ringing the Capitol grounds. The crowd was largely white and diverse in age, with most wearing orange stickers saying “Guns save lives.” Many rode chartered buses from all over the state, then waited hours in line to get into the Capitol grounds before passing through airport-style security. On the other side of the fence, many activists openly carried firearms, including long guns. Many also wore camouflage and military gear.
In the days leading up to the rally, there were fears that the rally would be a repeat of the violent 2017 protest in Charlottesville that ended in a woman’s death. Gun safety groups canceled a Martin Luther King Day vigil at the Capitol that was supposed to begin after the gun rights rally.
But the rally was largely peaceful, with no reported violence and little sign of extremist groups whose potential participation had been cited as reasons for the firearm ban.
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Nicholas Freitas, a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates, spoke to supporters outside the Capitol cordon, many of whom were armed. Freitas, who represents three counties in northern Virginia, said the threat of violence from outside groups was overblown, and that Northam had been wrong to issue the weapons ban. He said he felt safer there than “inside those cages” where the gun ban was being enforced.
“I’m not going to tell one of my constituents who is a law abiding gun owner who has never broken the law, I’m not going to tell them you have to chose between lobbying me or having the means to defend yourself,” Freitas told reporters. “That shouldn’t be an either-or proposition.”
Jay Lowe, who was in the crowd on the Capitol grounds, said gun-control supporters were wrong to think that people were safer where firearms were restricted. “So many people are misinformed and think you are safer because you take my guns away,” Lowe, who lives in Chesterfield County, south of Richmond, said. “My guns have never killed anybody. And I carry a lot.”
Lowe also said he was angry that the rally had been tainted by links to hate groups.
“They are not the right. Conservatives are the right. We are not like those people,” Lowe said. “If there are Nazis here, white supremacists, they are not welcome by me. I do not want them on my side ever.”
Last week, Gov. Ralph Northam, a Democrat, declared of state of emergency that banned guns and other weapons from the Capitol grounds, citing “credible intelligence” from law enforcement that armed militias and hate groups were threatening violence. Gun-rights groups, led by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which organized the rally, tried unsuccessfully to get a court to overturn the ban.
A day after Northam’s announcement, federal authorities said they had arrested of three members of a neo-Nazi group called The Base, whom law enforcement officials said had been planning to attend the rally. More alleged members of the group were arrested on Friday.
There were some signs of militia members in the crowd on Monday, but the rally seemed made up largely of ordinary gun-rights supporters, including many sporting shirts and hats proclaiming their support of President Donald Trump. There were chants calling on Northam to resign and shouts calling journalists “fake news.”
The prevailing concern among participants was that the Virginia measures would mark a slow erosion of rights that would expand beyond guns. Many said they saw an imbalance in the way gun owners were being targeted by the laws while other policymakers sought to protect undocumented immigrants or reduce the number of people in prison.
“Why are you going after the people that don’t commit crimes?” said Sue Ferrick, a nurse from Salem, Virginia. “We see that the people who commit crimes are getting more favors and we’re getting more stripped away from us.”
Warren Baker, who traveled from Hanover, Connecticut, to attend the rally, added: “Criminals are not going to give up their guns. So they will have guns and we won’t.”
On Sunday night, as activists prepared for the rally, there were tense exchanges around the Capitol. A group of men interrupted a television reporter who referred to “extremist groups from out of town,” saying they were “freedom lovers, patriots.” Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones filmed a video at the top of the Capitol steps. A group of people identified themselves as members of the Proud Boys, a far-right organization designated a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center that has clashed with anti-fascist demonstrators in other parts of the country.
As the rally ended and the Capitol began clearing out, Vanessa Dallas of Virginia Beach noted how peaceful the day had been. She figured she was standing in the safest place in the state.
“We’re the good guys. We’re not the ones out committing the crimes,” Dallas said. “We just want to have our guns to protect ourselves, to go to target practice, go to the range.”
Ben Kesslen reported from Richmond, Jon Schuppe from New York.