Next week, anyone carrying a weapon around the state capitol who’s not a police officer will be in big trouble. In response to rumored acts of civil disobedience around or during a “massive rally over gun rights” Governor Ralph Northam has declared a “temporary emergency” to ban all weapons - yes, including guns- from Capitol Square. That’s the plaza and immediate area around the state capitol.
That emergency declaration bans all weapons from the Capitol building and surrounding grounds from 5 p.m. Friday to 5 p.m. Tuesday, January 21.
Since Monday is the Martin Luther King Jr. Day -and a state holiday- Northam has told all non-essential government employees they don’t have to come to work.
There will be a single entrance to the Capitol grounds on Monday (9th and Bank streets if you’re interested), and anyone going onto the grounds will have to go through metal detectors.
Roads around the Capitol will also be closed.
Meanwhile, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the organization holding their annual lobby day, says their intent hasn’t changed from any other visit- to let legislators know that voters are watching their actions and express their concerns over proposed legislation.
Northam, in response, said out of-state groups planning to join the VCDL on Monday “were’t coming to peacefully protest. They are coming to intimidate and cause harm.”
Philip Van Cleave, the head of the Virginia Citizen Defense League, told the Virginia Pilot he fully expected 50,000 to 120,000 people - including out-of-state-groups not associated with the VCDL to attend, but didn’t address Northam’s claims of online postings that spoke of “storming the capitol” or weaponizing drones.
He did say he’d heard reports of video surveillance around entrances and exits.
That would be government surveillance of citizens, not the other way around.
Lawmakers in the Democratic majority-ruled legislature had already used a special rules committee to ban guns inside the Capitol and legislative office building. The capitol grounds, however, aren’t under the legislature’s purview.
So, Northam used his authority to declare the temporary emergency.
In case you were planning on attending and your fashion statement included a helmet or shield, they’re also on Northam’s “verboten” list, although I suspect there will be more than a few police officers “turned out” in just those items.
Of course, there’s not much mainstream attention paid to the fact that this is, in essence, a “manufactured” crisis. Escalation of the annual legislative trek by Van Cleave’s group into a “major rally for our rights” was, caused by the legislature’s promise to pass anti-gun laws ranging from from a limit on handgun purchases to universal background checks.
There’s little reason to wonder why law-abiding Virginia gun owners are outraged. The legislature has pledged to pass “universal” background checks, an “assault weapons” ban, a standard magazine capacity ban, a silencer/suppressor ban, a once-a-month gun purchase law, and a regulation that makes gun owners libel for prosecution if I they fail to report a stolen firearm in a timely manner.
In response to the promised legislation - and in direct defiance of Northam’s threats- more than 120 cities, counties and towns in Virginia have already declared themselves sanctuaries for gun rights. They insist they will not enforce those laws if passed.
That’s another reason emotions are running so high there. It’s also a reason that while most of the firearms industry will be in Las Vegas next Monday, many of us will also be keeping one eye on what’s happening in Virginia.
And speaking of Las Vegas and SHOT Show, there will be more than a little conversation about things going on inside the industry.
Today’s news section, for example, has details of the retirement of Taurus Holdings’ CEO David Blenker and the company’s announcement of new CEO Brett Vorhees, most recently the VP of Sales and Marketing at Walther Arms. I’ve been told both will be on hand in the Taurus booth at SHOT, allowing attendees the opportunity to say goodbye to Blenker and meet Vorhees.
There are other outstanding questions about the industry that will likely only be answered at SHOT. They’re not particularly controversial, but more than a bit intriguing for attendees. The question I’ve gotten most often over the past few days is this: will the companies formerly known as American Outdoor Brands (Smith & Wesson, et al) be together, or will there be some sort of separation between what is now effectively two different companies?
Beats me. But questions like this are what make SHOT Show so interesting. But if you’ve read today’s news section, you’ll have another question raised: What the heck just happened?
Yes, we’ll keep you posted.
—Jim Shepherd
Hatsan announced the FlashPup Synthetic pre-charged pneumatic, a lightweight, affordable PCP rifle. It features an all-weather synthetic stock and an enhanced side cocking lever.
