Will America Break Up?

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Pushing civil war

Posted on December 14, 2019 by TPOL Nathan


While Congress implodes, still further eroding public confidence in themselves, their parties, and everything else about the FedGov, the States seemingly race to see which can be the first to also melt down.

Recent stories from California, Virginia, and New Jersey illustrate this. The Virginia story is the most alarming. Virginia is very likely on the verge of civil war.

The Virginia General Assembly is now massively Democrat and strongly Regressivist after an election fueled by money from haters of our right to defend ourselves and other liberties. Together with their baby-killing Governor and accused sexual-predator Lieutenant Governor, they have already proclaimed their intent to disarm hundreds of thousands of Virginians. However, a funny thing happened: a wave of declarations of “Second Amendment Sanctuaries” swept the state: 59 jurisdictions, including three-quarters of the counties in Virginia to date, and more weekly, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

So the state government backed water, stating they would NOT actually confiscate semi-automatic black rifles. Virginian lovers of liberty (gun liberty, at least) aren’t satisfied yet: they also do not believe gun registration and prohibition on future purchases of weapons is acceptable just because they can keep their other guns for now.

So instead of continuing to talk and perhaps admitting that they were wrong, the powers that be in Virginia are doubling down. Not only are they calling for the arrest, trial, conviction, and imprisonment of any local official (sheriff or other county or city official) who does not enforce their tyrannical enactments. Now they seem to be seriously considering a proposal made by a Democrat member of Congress.

It is a simple one, as discussed by the Washington Examiner. And a very old one. Send in the troops. Deploy the Virginia National Guard to enforce their gun control. Occupy those “rebellious” portions of the state.

I assume that the military would be ordered by the governor to:

• Round up the disobedient local officials and put them in prison, pending trial (I don’t think that the governor would authorize drumhead courts martial, but maybe I’m wrong).
• Seize the stock of gun shops to prevent them from selling newly-illegal guns.
• Seize the guns of anyone who has failed to register them with the state (assuming that they don’t just seize ALL guns, having dropped their recently-proposed compromise).
• Arrest and imprison anyone who resists any of the above actions – that is, anyone who is not killed outright for resistance.

Of course, those are just the specified missions. Here are some very possible implied tasks that the National Guard units would have to accomplish, sooner or later:

• Seal off the borders of the Commonwealth to prevent other weapons, and friends, family, allies and partisans of the arrested people, from entering Virginia.
  
• Set up and operate concentration camps (excuse me, holding camps) for those arrested – Virginia doesn’t have enough jails and prisons to do so. (And for that matter, it would need to have troops run many of the jails, because those prisoners would likely include many of the staffs of those jails and prisons.)
• Provide security for the State Capitol and office buildings in Richmond and elsewhere, and the families of state government leaders and bureaucrats. And protect their own bases: especially their 46 armories.
  
• Occupy and control quarries, factories, and other locations with materials which can be used for IEDs and other weapons.
• Road patrols and operations against snipers, IED deployment, and ambushers.
• THE BIG ONE: Suppress mutinies within the National Guard itself, and arrest and confine those officers, NCOs, and enlisted personnel who refuse to carry out these orders.

It is a nasty, sickening scenario. But if they even attempt to order the Virginia National Guard (and it would have to be the Army National Guard, not the Air National Guard) to “enforce the law,” this is what would have to happen.

Assuming that even the senior leadership of the Virginia would actually obey. I don’t know anything about MG Timothy P. Williams. In fact, I don’t know a single member of the VA ARNG. But I suspect that many of them would NOT accept these proposed actions of the Virginia State Government as constitutional. Not only do I suspect that many of them would just not obey these orders, but many Guardsmen, from brand-new recruits just out of basic to flag officers, are going to be part of the problem (as far as Richmond is concerned). They will be the ones failing to surrender or register their weapons, and all the rest.

Indeed, many of them will likely be aiding those civilians that must have the law enforced against them: not just private citizens but sheriff’s deputies, police officers, and many more.

Let us assume, for a moment, that the Virginia Guard has become so corrupt and filled with social justice warriors that all 7500 of them obey the orders to “enforce the law.” Virginia has 8.57 million people! Forget 3% – just 1% resisting would be 85,700 people. How many private guns do Virginians have? I haven’t the foggiest.

Even if the governor called up the Virginia Defense Force (7,800 at full strength) and augmented them with draftees, (and they obeyed) I think that the mission is not possible. There are just 2700 Virginia State Police employees (no idea how many are armed). The numbers for law enforcement against even a tiny aroused and rebellious population in rural Virginia just are not there.

But the numbers for civil war ARE. At least some people WILL resist. And many of those will be in the very organizations tasked to enforce, just as the sheriffs are presently doing.

Is this really what that pair of thugs and their comrades in the General Assembly want? Do they even comprehend that? The idiot Congresscrittur obviously does not. Or do they honestly think that they can win a war in Virginia that could not be won in Afghanistan or Mesopotamia or Vietnam?

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Virginia Gov. Northam Seeks Gun Registration as Down Payment on Gun Confiscation

Friday, December 13, 2019



Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) must think that Old Dominion gun owners are stupid. After months of Northam and his Michael Bloomberg-backed General Assembly allies advocating for the enactment of gun confiscation legislation, the governor has told the Virginia Mercury that he will support a gun ban bill that would grandfather currently possessed firearms but require owners to register the newly-prohibited firearms with the government. As astute gun owners know, gun registration facilitates gun confiscation. Northam wants law-abiding gun owners to register their guns with the same people who have already stated that they want to confiscate them.

The evidence is clear: Virginia politicians want to confiscate your firearms

On June 4, an embattled Gov. Northam announced a special session of the General Assembly in order to enact a raft of gun control legislation. During his remarks, the governor expressly said that “I will propose many of the same ideas that we have proposed before… A ban on assault weapons…”
On July 8, Del. Mark H. Levine (D-45) delivered for Northam and pre-filed gun ban bill HB 4021. The legislation garnered 23 cosponsors. That same day Sen. Adam P Ebbin (D-30) pre-filed the identical SB 4024, which attracted 16 co-sponsors.

The legislation would have banned the importation, manufacture, sale, transfer, and possession of what it termed “assault firearms.” The term was defined to include any semi-automatic centerfire rifle with a fixed magazine capacity in excess of 10 rounds or any semi-automatic centerfire rifle that has the ability to accept a detachable magazine and has one of several enumerated features. These features included, a folding or telescoping stock, a pistol grip, a thumbhole stock, a second handgrip, a bayonet mount, a silencer, a flash suppressor, a muzzle brake, a muzzle compensator, or a threaded barrel. The legislation also would have banned commonly-owned semi-automatic shotguns and centerfire pistols with any one of several prohibiting features.

As Levine and Ebbin’s legislation prohibited possession of these firearms, the bills, which were drafted at Northam’s request, were firearms confiscation.
On November 18, Sen. Richard L. Saslaw (D-35) pre-filed SB 16 for the 2020 session. This legislation would ban the same types of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms as HB 4021 and SB 4024. Again, as the bill would ban the possession of these firearms, it is gun confiscation.

Northam is misleading the public

Discussing the governor’s proposed ban, Northam Spokeswoman Alena Tarmosky told the Mercury, “In this case, the governor’s assault weapons ban will include a grandfather clause for individuals who already own assault weapons, with the requirement they register their weapons before the end of a designated grace period.”
The website also reported,

The Northam-backed plan mirrors the federal assault weapon ban passed in 1994, which included a grandfather clause for weapons that were legally owned when the legislation was enacted. The federal ban expired in 2004.
It’s not clear whether the Mercury has been misled by Northam’s staff or whether the paper is misinformed on the matter of gun law in general, but this paragraph is directly contradicted by Tarmosky’s statement.
Under the 1994 Clinton assault weapons ban, gun owners could continue to possess and transfer prohibited firearms that were lawfully possessed prior to the ban. In direct contrast to the purported Northam proposal, the federal ban had no firearm registration requirement.

The details of Northam’s gun ban have yet to be released. However, the Clinton ban’s prohibiting criteria were far different than what has been proposed by Northam’s General Assembly allies. Whereas the proposed Virginia legislation would ban commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms with only one offending feature, the “assault weapon” definition under the 1994 federal ban required that a firearm have two prohibiting features. Further, the enumerated prohibited features under the Virginia legislation are far broader and include such innocuous characteristics as thumbhole stocks.

The Mercury item also noted that Northam told reporters, “I’m a supporter of the Second Amendment…” and “we’re not going to propose or pass any unconstitutional laws.” In reality, the gun bans proposed by Northam and his allies are unconstitutional under the Second Amendment as interpreted by the U.S. Supreme Court in District of Columbia v. Heller and McDonald v. Chicago.

Heller decision author Justice Antonin Scalia made this clear when he signed onto a dissent from denial of certiorari in the case of Friedman v. Highland Park, which concerned a local ban on commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms. The dissent, written by Justice Clarence Thomas explained,

Roughly five million Americans own AR-style semiautomatic rifles. The overwhelming majority of citizens who own and use such rifles do so for lawful purposes, including self-defense and target shooting. Under our precedents, that is all that is needed for citizens to have a right under the Second Amendment to keep such weapons.

Gun registration facilitates confiscation

For undeniable evidence that gun registration facilitates gun confiscation, consider the experience of Virginia gun control financier Michael Bloomberg’s hometown of New York City.
In 1967 New York City passed an ordinance requiring gun owners to register their rifles and shotguns. In 1991 the New York City Council and Mayor David N. Dinkins enacted a bill to prohibit the possession of commonly-owned semi-automatic rifles and shotguns.

The year after the ban was enacted, a man`s home in Staten Island was raided by the police after he had announced that he would not comply with the city`s ban. He was arrested, and his guns were seized.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) notified the 2,340 New Yorkers who had been licensed earlier to possess semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that any of those licensed firearms that were covered by the ban had to be surrendered, rendered inoperable, or taken out of the city. The recipients of the notification were directed to send back a sworn statement indicating what had been done with those firearms. NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters Jeremy Travis, told the Daily News at the time, "for now, the department is taking owners at their word, but spot checks are planned."

During the mayoral administration of Michael Bloomberg, New York City again used its firearms registry to confiscate guns.
In 2010, the city passed an ordinance prohibiting the possession of rifles or shotguns capable of holding more than five rounds of ammunition. In 2013, the NYPD began sending out letters to registered gun owners alerting them that their firearm was banned. The letters demanded that gun owners either surrender their firearm, permanently modify the firearm to bring it into compliance with the ordinance, or remove it from New York City. Those who chose to modify or move a prohibited firearm were forced to submit documentation to the government that they had done so.
For more proof that registration facilitates confiscation consider New Zealand’s recent gun control measures.
In early 2019, the New Zealand Parliament enacted a ban on the sale and possession of all semi-automatic centerfire rifles and semi-automatic and pump-action shotguns capable of holding more than five rounds of ammunition. To enforce the prohibition, New Zealand required owners to surrender their newly-prohibited firearms.

However, New Zealand does not have a registry of most of the banned rifles and shotguns. This created a policy dilemma for New Zealand’s gun control advocates. Without knowing how many newly-prohibited firearms were in the country or who owned them, there was no effective way for the anti-gun officials to enforce their oppressive edict.
Complaining that the lack of a registry would hamper enforcement, New Zealand Police Association President Chris Cahill told the press in May, “We really have no idea how many of these firearms are out there in New Zealand… Which really points to how bad our firearms legislation has been, that we have let this get out of control.”

Gun Control NZ co-founder Philippa Yasbek admitted that the lack of a registry would make the firearms confiscation plan difficult. Yasbek was quoted by the Washington Post as stating, “These weapons are unlikely to be confiscated by police because they don’t know of their existence… These will become black-market weapons if their owners choose not to comply with the law and become criminals instead.”

Gun owners will not comply

Contrary to what Gov. Northam might think, gun owners are not stupid. Gun owners understand that firearms registration is an integral part of the gun control plan to disarm law-abiding Americans and choose not to comply.
According to New York State Police Data there was massive noncompliance with the SAFE Act’s registration provisions. Out of an estimated 1-1.2 million semi-automatic firearms within the state that were required to be registered under the act, 23,847 people registered a grand total of 44,485 guns. Using the lower estimate of one million semi-automatic firearms, the data shows a compliance rate of 4%.

A 2013 Connecticut law required residents to register commonly-owned semiautomatic firearms, and individual magazines with a capacity greater than 10, by January 1, 2014. Out of an estimated several hundred thousand guns and 2.4 million magazines that were required to be registered, Connecticut gun owners had registered 50,016 firearms and a mere 38,290 magazines.

In 1989, California enacted a law requiring registration of commonly-owned semi-automatic firearms. According to a February 17, 1992 Los Angeles Times article, in the years following enactment only 46,062 semi-autos were registered. The article went on to note, “The state Department of Justice has estimated there are 200,000 to 300,000. Others have calculated as many as 450,000 to 600,000.” The authorities attempted to bolster the lackluster compliance with a 90-day amnesty period at the start of 1992; this program only netted another 13,470 firearms.

Fight back

All Virginia gun owners must organize to stand and fight against Northam and Bloomberg’s gun registration plan. Virginia’s anti-gun legislators have made it clear that they intend to confiscate guns and any registration scheme would enable their unconstitutional plans.
Stay tuned to www.nraila.org for updates. In the meantime, please sign up to volunteer to help defeat this and other terrible gun control legislation.

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It begins: Virginia forms active militia to protect sheriffs, citizens from unconstitutional laws

Posted by Gregory Hoyt | Dec 16, 2019 | Must Reads, News, Editorial, Featured

Things are getting really bad in Virginia. But this group isn’t going down without a fight.



Virginia – Earlier in the week, we reported on how lawmakers over in Virginia were threatening to use the National Guard if members of local law enforcement refused to enforce laws passed in the state that they felt violated the second amendment.

Well, looks like Tazewell County isn’t going down without a fight. On top of calling themselves a second amendment sanctuary county, they’re also crafting a militia as well. The Virginia county has taken the movement that has swept across the state and added an element that is sure to trigger pro gun-grabbing politicians in the state.


Virginia lawmakers threatened to deploy the National Guard if members of law enforcement refused to enforce strict new gun laws. (Defense.gov)

Just this past Tuesday, on December 10th, the Board of Supervisors from Tazewell County passed two different resolutions in light of controversy circling those who are pro-gun. The first resolution declared the county to be a second amendment sanctuary. This is not at all surprising to see, as 76 out of 95 counties, 9 out of 38 independent cities, and 13 towns have adopted second amendment sanctuary resolutions.

The second item on the agenda was the proposition of establishing a militia in the county. When both of the resolutions passed, the crowd cheered loudly in support of the decisions. Also, the resolutions didn’t exactly pass by a small margin; the votes were unanimous, with more than 200 citizens standing by in support.

The motion of the creation of the militia had already succeeded in an unofficial way based on the results of a survey conducted earlier in the month by county officials. But Board Chairman Travis Hackworth said people have persisted to press for the district to declare itself a second amendment sanctuary.


As new measures come to vote, citizens are preparing themselves for a fight. (Keesler Air Force Base)

Hackworth went on to state that there were three attorneys on the Board of Supervisors. Many of the other declarations made from other counties in Virginia were closely checked by the three attorneys to ensure nothing important would be glossed over or left out.

Two of the biggest factors in resolutions such as these can be boiled down to funding and prosecution.

The resolutions in Tazewell County would remove funding for any law enforcement department that would infringe residents’ right to keep and bear arms.

Yet, if the state wanted to combat the resolutions, they could deny the county funding in areas other than law enforcement, or perhaps attempt to evict public officials from their held offices. Those are rather valid fears, considering this week’s warnings from Northam and Congressman McEachin.

County Administrator Eric Young reportedly considered that element, and that’s why they opted for the militia aspect:

“Our position is that Article I, Section 13, of the Constitution of Virginia reserves the right to ‘order’ militia to the localities. Therefore, counties, not the state, determine what types of arms may be carried in their territory and by whom. So, we are ‘ordering’ the militia by making sure everyone can own a weapon.”

Thus, if anyone from the state tries to remove the Sheriff from their elected office because they refuse to enforce unjust laws, those state officials will be faced with a lawful militia composed of citizens within the state.

Caroline County Va Sheriff Tony Lippas comments on 2A. “I know the Sheriff can start a militia if need be.” #2A #Virginia #Constitution #liberty #wehaverights @TuckerCarlson pic.twitter.com/V2aab4DbpN
— SirJames24820 (@james24820) December 12, 2019

The county is taking their militia element very seriously as the new ordinance calls for concealed weapons training for any resident of the county that can lawfully own a gun.

They’ve also called for schools to adopt firearms safety training programs. Considering the blue wave that hit the state, along with Bloomberg pouring in millions toward the election, this is a massive win that shows gun owners aren’t going to lie down.

And as they’re pushing to ramp up safety and training – officials within the state are trying to get rid of personal defense. And if it’s not bad enough that they’re going after firearms, they’re going after self-defense measures as well.

An amendment to a current law in Virginia has some martial arts companies, as well as some citizens concerned.

Known as SB64, the bill, according to Self Defense Company, would “instantly transform all martial arts instructors into criminal felons.” They also claim that it would criminalize all firearms training classes, including concealed carry classes.

According to SDC, the law would “even criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle.”

The law, which was initially passed in 1987 relates the following:

A person is guilty of unlawful paramilitary activity, punishable as a Class 5 felony if he:

1. Teaches, demonstrates to any other person the use, application or making of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, knowing or having reason to know or intending that such training will be employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder;
2. Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, intending to employ such training for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder;

SB 64 adds the following language:

1. Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof.

According to the article in Natural News, the language of the bill as written is too wide open to interpretation, especially in a state that appears to be going hard left like Virginia. We recently published a couple of stories on new confiscatory gun laws that are being proposed in the Virginia legislature.

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Virginia is Ground Zero & Here is Why!



https://youtu.be/Ha9Wx6R-P0I



National Guardsman Breaks Rank On Dems Virginia Gun Control: ‘We Will Not Comply’

By William Addison on December 22, 2019

Over the last few months, Virginia Democrats have worked to pass extreme gun control measures in the state. In fact, a Democratic congressmen went as far as to say that the National Guard my have to be used in order to enforce a door-to-door gun grab.

“And ultimately, I’m not the governor, but the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law,” Rep. Donald McEachin said, according to Newsweek. “That’s his call, because I don’t know how serious these counties are and how severe the violations of law will be. But that’s obviously an option he has.”

However, one National Guardsman — who opted to remain anonymous — will not be going along with state’s prospective gun control measures, writing a direct letter to McEachin that “we will not comply.”

Here’s the letter, per Law Enforcement Today:

Mr. McEachin, have you ever heard of a little thing called the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878? Apparently, you are not.

Allow me to fill you in.

The purpose of the act is to limit the military branches from enforcing laws against US. citizens. While the PCA does not prevent a governor from calling the Virginia National Guard, the law enforcement capacity of the Guard while on state active duty is full-scale enforcement of martial law when local law enforcement can no longer maintain civilian control.

Are you listening Mr. McEachin? If Governor Northam were to call up the National Guard, it would be through enacting martial law. …

Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civilian functions by a government, especially in response to a temporary emergency such as invasion or major disaster, or in an occupied territory.

Sheriffs and police chiefs refusing to go against the Constitution to fulfill your stupid anti-gun drivel hardly constitutes a temporary emergency.

If you and your fellow Constitution-hating hacks continue to push an agenda of gun banning, forfeiture and confiscation, I can almost assure you that you might meet more than one requirement for enacting martial law.

If you force local law enforcement to start violating peoples 2nd Amendment rights by taking their guns, you will wind up with temporary emergency due to an occupied territory.

…

If the state deems that it should enact martial law because sheriff’s, whose only “crime” is standing up for the Constitution, here is what it looks like.

The state Constitution would be suspended. So would habeas corpus and civil rights.

There would be no freedom of the press, assembly or speech.

Curfews would be enforced on the people.

Troops would be in the streets for enforcement.

Checkpoints would be set up for control.

The Guard would have the ability to hold a person without charge.

Imprisonment without representation or due process.

Seeing that we are talking about gun control, there would be warrantless, house to house confiscation of firearms, ammunition, food supplies.

I have to wonder if this is really what Democratic leaders in Virginia want. Because what it equates to is a tyrannical government using its military as ‘enforcers.’

And that is exactly what the 2nd Amendment was created to protect against.

If the Virginia legislators want to push this issue, it could get ugly.

And oh, by the way, plan on seeing the vast majority of the Virginia National Guard become Conscientious Objectors. It will be really hard for them to arrest cops and confiscate guns when none of them will carry the necessary arms to enforce said arrests and confiscations.

How do I know this? I am one of them and will be one of the first to lay down my gun and walk away.

I will not be a pawn in a tyrannical game of human chess. Neither will most of the men and women I serve with.



FACEBOOK VIDEO:

Steve Huff

December 18 at 6:09 PM ·



Breaking my own rule about Political post. This is just too important to stay quiet about.

Please, PLEASE WATCH and SHARE it everywhere you can.

Virginia is about to illegally lose the majority of our 2nd Amendments Rights if we don't stop this NOW!

Georgia Legislation Bans Common Hunting, Sporting Guns

Posted on December 12, 2019

Donzella James, (D-Atlanta)

State Senator Donzella James, (D-Atlanta), has pre-filed legislation that would ban the possession of semi-automatic firearms. The prohibitions in Senate Bill 281 would even ban common semi-automatic shotguns used for bird hunting and trap shooting. Any person convicted under this new law “shall be punished by imprisonment for a period of 5 years.” SB 281 has yet to be assigned to a committee.

Legislation like SB 281 continues to be introduced across the nation, and many legislators jump at the chance to be at the forefront of gun-control efforts. Passage of SB 281 will do nothing to curb gun violence committed by criminals, but instead punishes law-abiding sportsmen.

“SB 281 is a wakeup call for sportsmen and gun owners,” said Bruce Tague vice president government affairs for Sportsmen’s Alliance. “Whether you are a duck hunter, deer hunter or trap shooter, it doesn’t matter. This bill unjustly penalizes law-abiding hunters, sport shooters and gun owners.”

About the Sportsmen’s Alliance: The Sportsmen’s Alliance protects and defends America’s wildlife conservation programs and the pursuits – hunting, fishing and trapping – that generate the money to pay for them. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation is responsible for public education, legal defense and research. Its mission is accomplished through several distinct programs coordinated to provide the most complete defense capability possible. Stay connected to Sportsmen’s Alliance: Online, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

https://www.sportsmensalliance.org/n...shooting-guns/


Virginia AG Declares Second Amendment Sanctuary Cities Have ‘No Force Of Law’


(Alex Edelman/Getty Images)
Comments
December 20, 2019 3:19 PM ET

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring issued a legal opinion declaring that the second Amendment sanctuary city decrees of more than 100 localities in Virginia have “no force of law,” the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Friday.

Herring’s advisory opinion comes as the vast majority of Virginia’s 95 counties have declared themselves sanctuary jurisdictions from strict gun control legislation currently making its way through the state legislature. The bills, backed by Democratic Governor Ralph Northam, would ban the sale of certain semi-automatic rifles such as the AR-15 and mandate that current owners register their weapons with the government.

“Neither local governments nor local constitutional officers have the authority to declare state statutes unconstitutional or decline to follow them on that basis,” Herring wrote in the opinion. “Neither the Federal Constitution nor Virginia law recognizes any “anti-commandeering” principle that allows localities or local constitutional officers to refuse to participate in the enforcement of state law.”

Three Virginia counties — Arlington, Chesterfield, and Fairfax — are currently sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants, flaunting federal immigration law.


Page County Sheriff Chad Cubbage Says His Staff Will Protect Second Amendment Rights (3:43)

https://youtu.be/BG8mofium34

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VIRGINIA CHECKPOINTS: WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?

Posted by Matt Bracken | Dec 21, 2019 | Legal, News and Links, Uncategorized | 17 |

[This excerpt from my 2003 novel “Enemies Foreign And Domestic” takes place two weeks after a false-flag sniper attack on a packed football stadium, one week after all semi-automatic “assault rifles” are banned, and a few days after a prominent anti-gun Senator from Maryland is assassinated.]

Virginia Attorney General Eric Sanderson was in his favorite place, standing in front of a bank of television cameras. There was nothing he loved better than being in the public eye, and today he was taking personal credit for pushing through a brand new anti-terrorism program.

While his aides gave him a countdown to air time, news producers were shoving five dress-uniformed chiefs-of-police around behind him like movie extras, framing the television shot for the best effect. These medal-wearing law enforcement officials went along passively with being grabbed and pushed like stage props: they were also aspiring politicians, and they cheerfully suffered the indignity of the moment as fair trade for the television face time.

It had not been a simple matter for Sanderson to pull together a television-ready demonstration gun checkpoint team in 48 hours, but he had done it. He had the gift, he was going places and all of the important people knew it. Doors opened themselves magically in front of him as they had all of his life, from Harvard Law up until today, because success was Eric Sanderson’s birthright.

Now it was 11:59 AM on Friday, and a dozen television cameras were bore-sighted on his powdered face and perfectly coiffed hair. Behind him and the police chiefs, spreading across the west-bound lanes of I-64 in Norfolk, Virginia State Troopers were directing cars at a walking speed through channels of orange traffic cones. Randomly selected vehicles were being directed onto the shoulder of the highway to park and await inspection. Desert camouflage painted Humvees at each end of the control zone provided the military bookends commanding the scene and framing the camera shot.

A careful television viewer might have noticed fully automatic M-16 assault rifles slung on the shoulders of the half dozen camouflage-wearing National Guardsmen posted evenly along the hundred-yard length of the control zone. Unseen were the dozen Norfolk Police SWAT Team members concealed around the area with their own sniper rifles pointing outward, protecting the publicly-gathered VIPs from the fate of Senator Randolph. Unseen were the three police helicopters orbiting high above with their zoom video cameras scanning the surrounding neighborhoods. Unseen were the Glock and SIG pistols beneath the suit jackets of the undercover Virginia State Police bodyguard detail located just off camera on both sides of the Attorney General, looking stern and almost Secret Service-like with their sunglasses, earpieces and coded lapel buttons.

Standing behind a podium jammed with a cluster of microphones, Sanderson began his prepared text at exactly 12:03 PM, precisely timed to give TV producers and mid-day news anchors a chance to begin their shows and then cut to him as the “live and local” breaking news story. Besides all of the local network news affiliates, several of the national cable news channels were also present, preparing to send his words and images of his highway checkpoint program nationwide from coast to coast. Already his staff had been approached by producers from several network news shows to schedule interviews. One weekly show was already referring to him in a promotional piece as the “national gun safety crusader.”

Down the front of his podium there was a printed sign:

1-855-GUN-STOP

Firearms

Inspections

Stop

Terrorism

“Good Afternoon. On behalf of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia, and at the direction of President Gilmore, I’m here in Norfolk today to announce the launching of a new anti-terrorism program. On the highway behind me you are seeing the very first of Virginia’s ‘Firearms Inspections Stop Terrorism’ mobile units, working to ensure the safety and security of all Virginians.” Sanderson paused to give the cameras a chance to pan across the checkpoint area.

“Beginning with the Stadium Massacre twelve days ago, we have all witnessed an unprecedented outbreak of domestic terrorism, much of it, tragically, originating here in Tidewater Virginia. Fortunately, the true home-grown militia origins of the Stadium Massacre were discovered, otherwise we might have placed the blame for that atrocity on our Muslim countrymen, as the conspirators had obviously intended. The Stadium Massacre, as horrible as it was, would have been even worse if it had been falsely blamed on an innocent and too often maligned segment of our diverse multicultural society.

“The Stadium Massacre was caused by the easy availability of assault rifles in America. Since the passage of the Schuleman-Montaine Firearms Safety Act that flood of weapons has been stopped, but, realistically, we know that there are militantly reactionary segments of our society who do not intend to comply with our new firearms safety laws. The sniper rifle murder of Senator Geraldine Randolph on Tuesday, the day the new law went into effect, is an indication of the lengths that a small but extremely dangerous number of gun fanatics will go to in order to sabotage effective gun safety legislation.

“We have also seen a local wave of firearms-related violence, such as gun store arson attacks, and the drive-by machine gun shooting of a mosque in nearby Portsmouth Virginia. The very location of this checkpoint where I am speaking today is itself less than one mile from where militia leader Mark Denton’s car bomb exploded, before he had a chance to plant his terror bomb in the Norfolk federal building. As we know, Denton was also transporting a virtual arsenal of assault rifles and high powered cop-killer bullets when his bomb exploded prematurely on the highway, taking the lives of five innocents.

“So today I am announcing that the highways of Virginia will no longer provide a safe avenue for terrorists to transport their illegal firearms and explosives.”

Sanderson pounded his own fist on the podium for effect. “Starting today, mobile FIST units will be in operation around the Commonwealth of Virginia, and they will soon be adopted by other states as well, beginning next week with Maryland. These FIST units will provide much-needed security to all of us, by preventing terrorists from getting a free ride on our freeways.

“Now I am asking all of the decent, law-abiding citizens of Virginia to assist our law enforcement officers by cooperating fully when you come upon a mobile FIST unit. Courtesy will be returned to our cooperative citizens, and only a few moments of your time will be required if you are asked to pull over for a brief inspection. I’m confident that the good people of Virginia will consider showing this cooperation to be an opportunity for them to play their own part in our ‘war on terrorism.’

“Additionally, I wish to assure those of you in our immigrant community that FIST units are not intended to harass or intimidate you in any way. The Commonwealth of Virginia respects and welcomes all of our hardworking immigrant population, regardless of their technical documentation status. FIST units will only be looking for illegal firearms, and not for immigration papers.

“I would like to remind my fellow Virginians that all semi-automatic rifles are now illegal, and should have been turned in for destruction already. Also, I would like to remind the hunters of Virginia, and I am proud to say that I am one of that group, that tomorrow, Saturday at midnight, the transportation of sniper rifles will also be forbidden. This is according to President Gilmore’s last executive order, which he made under the provisions of the Patriot Act based upon an ‘imminent terrorist threat.’ A sniper rifle is now legally defined as any rifle with a magnified telescopic sight. After midnight tomorrow, it will be a felony punishable by five years in federal prison to transport a sniper rifle on the highways of the United States.

“Since the Stadium Massacre and the assassination of Senator Randolph, both crimes committed using scoped sniper rifles, we find ourselves in dangerous new territory, unfamiliar to law-abiding Americans. As I said, I am a hunter myself, and I am aware that many Virginia sportsmen will perhaps feel that they are being unfairly burdened by this law. But since this war of snipers and terrorists has been brought to us by a handful of gun fanatics, all of us must now unfortunately share in the burden of increasing security, for the benefit of all of our society. So you hunters, don’t forget to take off those scopes by tomorrow night! There’s still plenty of time to get to the range and practice with those old iron sights before deer season starts next month. I’ll be at the range doing just that myself, and I don’t think it’s too much to ask as our own small contribution in the war on domestic terrorism.

“Now I’ll take a few of your questions.”

An older male reporter called out, “Attorney General Sanderson, how many FIST teams will there be and where will they be located?”

“I think for rather obvious reasons I can’t discuss all of the operational details of the program, but there will be plenty of FIST units, you may be certain of that. Enough to do the job.”

Sanderson pointed to a middle-aged African American reporter next.

“Will the FIST units use racial or ethnic profiling in determining who they are going to pull over and search?”

“No, the FIST unit commanders will select cars completely at random, in accordance with constitutionally tested precedents.” Sanderson did not even crack a smile as he uttered both of these blatant lies.

A reporter in the middle of the gallery called out, “Are you going to run for Governor next year, or the Senate?” and Sanderson replied, “I plan to serve the people of Virginia to the best of my ability.” When the same reporter called out again, “Is that a yes?” Sanderson ignored his question and pointed to a perky young blonde reporter who had been waving her hand frantically.

“Mr. Sanderson, isn’t ‘FIST’ a rather… harsh name?”

This question drew chuckles and guffaws from the other reporters, and from the police chiefs still dutifully standing shoulder to shoulder behind the Attorney General. But Eric Sanderson didn’t laugh, instead he pounded his own fist down hard on the podium, and the sound boomed through the microphones.

“Is the FIST program harsh? You’re damn right it’s harsh! We intend to be very harsh with domestic terrorists, illegal militias and criminal gun runners! Very harsh!” He brought his tightly-balled fist up in front of his chin for effect and held it there, suddenly aware in that instant that it would be on the front pages of tomorrow’s papers across Virginia, and that he had just created the six-second sound bite that would sweep him into the Governor’s mansion, and then onto the U.S. Senate. His harsh visage slowly melted into an avuncular smile, and finally he brought his hand back down and gripped the sides of the podium.

“Now before I go, I’d like to remind everyone about the new toll free and totally confidential illegal firearms tip line: 1-855-GUN-STOP.”

Sanderson pointed to the number displayed across the front of the podium just beneath the cluster of microphones. “You can serve your state and your country by calling this number if you have knowledge of anyone in possession of semi-automatic rifles of any kind. Calls which result in arrests for possession of assault rifles will be rewarded with up to $5,000 for each illegal rifle which is recovered, so you can serve your country and yourself at the same time, if you know anyone who is holding onto an illegal assault weapon.

“And wives, if your husband is still holding onto an assault rifle, ask yourself: is it worth it to your family to have him sent to prison for five years? For the good of your whole family, get rid of those illegal semi-automatic rifles now! You can’t be sure who knows about them; they’re probably already listed on several data bases, and it’s only a matter of time until they’re found. So for your family’s sake, get rid of those illegal assault rifles now!

[The following scene occurs shortly after the sniper assassination of the Virginia Attorney General.]

Brad was driving his red pickup with Ranya in the passenger seat next to him as they crossed the five-mile-wide I-664 James River Bridge-Tunnel from Newport News back into Suffolk. It was a little after four on the warm Sunday afternoon when they passed back onto the northern shore of Suffolk County, almost within sight of the burned ruins of the Edmonds house. Neither one of them spoke of it, although they both stared in that direction.

Driving back down they had been listening to the local news on AM talk radio. The latest shock to hit Tidewater was an accidental police shooting. Either Virginia Beach Police or an FBI team—it wasn’t clear which—had shot a man in the head at a traffic stop. The man, whose identity had not been released yet, had been pulled over in his black full-sized pickup truck on Laskin Road, and misidentified as a possible suspect in the shooting of Attorney General Sanderson.

The driver had been shot in the head through the windshield, with either a police or FBI assault rifle or submachine gun. This had happened two hours ago in broad daylight, in front of numerous witnesses, some of whom were already angrily calling in to the radio talk shows. Apparently the police and FBI undercover agents had been seen whooping it up and “high-fiving” over the bleeding body of the man they had thought was the sniper. According to witnesses who were calling in, no firearms or weapons were recovered from his vehicle.

Brad and Ranya were in a grim mood, the magic of their afternoon aboard his sailboat Guajira already shattered. The news of the man’s death hit Ranya with another spiritual hammer blow. She felt personally responsible, because instead of pursuing her for Sanderson’s murder, the police had killed an innocent person. Her stomach knot twisted another turn tighter, but of course she couldn’t share this secret pain with Brad, who had no idea that she had been Eric Sanderson’s executioner.

In a few minutes they would arrive back at Crosby’s Boatyard in Portsmouth, where she had left her Yamaha the day before, and then they’d return once again to Brad’s boat with both vehicles. She was looking forward to wrapping herself around the bike and snapping it into gear, using its clutch and throttle to fly over the highway at three-digit speed. She hoped the wind blast and the onrushing pavement might clear her mind of its accumulation of guilt, pain and fear.

“I need to get gas,” Brad told her, and he pulled over onto the exit lane for Hoffler Boulevard. The exit ramp cut through a break in the wall of pines alongside the highway, then curved off out of sight to the right and sloped gently downward.

“Oh crap, what’s this?” he said, braking quickly.

Ranya bolted upright and buckled her seat belt. There was a police cruiser on the side of the ramp just beyond the trees, and a cop was standing in the middle holding up both hands, blocking Brad’s truck and two cars in front of him.

“Checkpoint!” Ranya said. “It’s one of the FIST checkpoints, it’s got to be!” The FIST program, the brainchild of Virginia Attorney General Eric Sanderson, was intended to stop the transportation of illegal weapons. Sanderson had come down to Norfolk to announce and promote the program on Friday, he had been shot and killed Saturday morning, and Sunday afternoon they had driven straight into one of his FIST checkpoints. There just seemed to be no escaping his reach, she thought.

Thank God she’d left her .223 caliber single-shot sniper pistol hidden back on Guajira! But she still had her father’s gift to deal with: the .45 caliber pistol was in her pack on the floor.

Hopefully they would be able to slide through the checkpoint unmolested. The police would readily verify that the pickup carried no long guns of any kind. On the other hand, Ranya was sure that if the pistol was found, its serial number would be called in to some national data base, and she would be taken aside and cross-examined closely. She would be questioned about the legal ownership of the gun, leading to more questions about her recently murdered father. She would be questioned about Brad, about their relationship, their destination, what they were doing together…

Maybe they would be questioned separately, and there was no way to know how such a split interrogation session would turn out. Should she admit to the police that she had the pistol if she was asked, or deny having a firearm in the car and hope it wasn’t found in a search? Fear constricted her throat, instantly turning her mouth desert dry yet again. But at least she didn’t have the scoped .223 pistol with her. It would have linked her to Sanderson’s death as neatly as a signed confession.

She had to tell Brad that she had a gun. While they still had time, they had to quickly get their stories lined up, in case they would be questioned separately.
“Brad, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I’ve got my .45 with me. What should we do?”

“Ahh…crap. Okay, it should be all right. I think they’re just looking for assault rifles. I hope.”

“Me too.”

The exit ramp made a slight right then left “S” curve as it descended through brush down to Hoffler Boulevard. Halfway down the ramp, parked along the right shoulder, there was another police car, then a line of eight or ten civilian cars and SUVs, then two more police cars. Orange traffic cones divided the wide asphalt ramp down the middle. Police and camouflage-clad soldiers were walking alongside the row of parked cars; some of the cars had open doors and trunks. A single slow-moving motorcyclist was being waved past the line of cars to proceed on his way, a fact which Ranya noted with great interest. Obviously, the police did not think a motorcyclist could be concealing a banned semi-auto or sniper rifle.

Two hundred yards away at the bottom of the ramp, parked off to the left in the weeds and facing uphill towards them, was a desert-painted Army Humvee.
“Damn, look at that!” said Brad. “The Humvee’s got a machine gun on it. I’ve never seen that before, not in Virginia.”

She said, “I’ve seen them up around DC sometimes. They put them near the Pentagon and Reagan National during security alerts. They were there all the time after 9-11.” A helmeted soldier’s head and torso was visible, sticking out of the Humvee’s roof behind the pintle-mounted machine gun.

“They picked a perfect spot for a checkpoint,” said Brad. “I didn’t see anything until it was too late. I wonder if they’re checking every car, or if they’re letting some pass around? I wonder if they’re going to hassle us?”

“A thirty year old white guy in a red pickup truck? What do you think, Brad? They’re not looking for guys named Mohammed down here; they’re looking for guys named Bubba.”

“I guess we’ll find out in a minute.”

* * * *

The young father in the white Acura, the second car from the front of the line, said, “No sir, I won’t open my trunk, not without a warrant, and I do not ‘consent’ to be searched.”

The even younger Virginia National Guard corporal standing outside his driver’s side window looked around, confused. This situation had not come up before. Could this guy just refuse? Was that allowed?

The holdout’s young wife said, “Martin, please, just do like he says. Don’t make trouble; the girls are frightened.”

“Honey, it’s the point of it. This is still America, and there’s still a Constitution.”

“Daddy, why are there soldiers here? Is there a war?” asked seven year old Danielle from the back seat. Her four year old sister Ashley, next to her in her booster seat, sucked her thumb, afraid without knowing why.

“No sweetie, there’s no war. The soldiers are helping the police to look for some bad men.”

“Criminals daddy?”

“That’s right, sugar plum. Criminals.”

Another man walked up to their window. Martin Powell could not tell if he was from the military or the police: he was dressed in black from his helmet to his boots, with no badge or insignia in sight. The man in black rapped on his driver’s side window with the steel muzzle tip of his black submachine gun. “Open up! Get out! Now!”

“Officer, do you have a warrant? What’s your ‘probable cause’ to search our car?” Martin Powell was trying very hard not to show the fear he felt, holding onto the wheel to keep his hands from visibly shaking. He hoped he did not sound as afraid as he felt. He remembered reading about the Eagle Scout in Maryland who had had his face shot off by an FBI agent after a mistaken traffic stop. Powell had not yet heard about today’s accidental police shooting in Virginia Beach of the man in the black pickup truck. His wife could not stand listening to the news or talk radio, and they played soft rock music instead.

“My probable cause is you’re an asshole who refuses to give consent for a search, that’s what! Now get out! Out! Out!”

* * * *

ATF Special Agent Alvin Bogart was already having a bad day, and now he was angry enough to chew up barbed wire and spit out nails. He was angry because it was Sunday afternoon, and he was pulling the absolute shit duty of all time manning a FIST checkpoint, instead of kicking back on his recliner in his den with a cold Budweiser in his hand, watching the Ravens play the Eagles. For this he had become a Federal Law Enforcement Agent?

He was angry because he was pulling his second consecutive day of twelve hour checkpoint shifts, which really meant a fourteen hour work day, only with no overtime pay like the State Troopers were raking in. And worse, he knew that he had to do it again tomorrow and the next day and it looked like forever. If he had wanted to pull this kind of shit duty, he would have joined the Border Patrol, like his brother Daryl!

He was angry because he had to walk around all day in full tactical gear in almost 90 degree heat, including his Kevlar helmet and black body armor including heavy rifle plates, carrying his MP-5 as if they were expecting a head-on terrorist attack right here in Hicksville Suffolk Virginia. This had been at Sanderson’s direct orders. Sanderson, that preppie douchebag who was not even in his Federal chain of command. Sanderson, who had never sweated like a pig beneath heavy body armor and tactical gear on a hot day in his life. Just for this alone, Bogart was glad that Sanderson had had his head blown off on the golf course yesterday!

But unfortunately, the FIST checkpoints had not died with the Virginia Attorney General; instead they had been ramped up. And Bogart was extremely angry because earlier today he’d heard through unofficial federal law enforcement back channels that a brother ATF agent had been killed in the line of duty last night, shot in the neck by some punk-ass redneck during a gun raid not three miles from here.

And now Alvin Bogart was positively livid because this curbside Alan Dershowitz in the piece-of-crap Acura wanted to give him a lecture on the 4th Amendment, consent searches, and probable cause. As if he needed to hear that shit! Like all ATF men, Alvin Bogart held a special burning hatred for “Constitution fanatics.”

“So, you refuse to give voluntary consent for a search of your vehicle, is that correct?” Bogart smiled pleasantly at the man in the car.

“Yes sir, that is correct. Under the 4th amendment of the Bill of Rights of the Constitution…” The driver’s side window was rolled halfway down. Turned slightly sideways, ATF Special Agent Alvin Bogart had casually slipped the small can of pepper spray from his tactical vest unnoticed, and then he snapped it up and sprayed Mr. Martin Powell, U.S. citizen and taxpayer, straight in his shocked face.

As Martin Powell screamed and dug at his eyes, Bogart snaked his arm down inside the half open window, grabbed the handle, and jerked open the door. While Powell’s wife and daughters screamed both in terror and from the effects of the pepper spray being released inside the car, Agent Bogart grabbed Powell by his hair and shirt and pulled him halfway out, until he snagged up on his seat belt. Bogart unsnapped the belt, and then used both hands to jerk Powell all the way out onto the asphalt, where his head landed with a satisfying smack.

* * * *

Active duty Navy Lieutenant Commander Ira Jacobson was sitting in his mint-condition 1973 red Mustang Mach One just behind the Acura. He was not in uniform, returning from a visit to his mother’s house in Alexandria. His ship, the Burke class destroyer Winston Churchill, was at the Norfolk Naval Base. He was the ship’s Operations Officer.

He had sat patiently in the line awaiting his turn, fully intending to cooperate. But seeing the black-uniformed policeman, (if he was really a policeman, it was hard to tell), abuse the civilians in front of him was getting him steamed. When the black-clad policeman had maced the interior of the car Jacobson couldn’t believe it; he clearly heard a woman and children screaming!

When LCDR Jacobson saw the man in black pull the driver out of his car and slam his head down onto the ground, it was time to take action. LCDR Jacobson would have intervened automatically if he had seen a Chief Petty Officer abuse a junior sailor even half as severely; he’d write the Chief up for Captain’s Mast in a heartbeat! For assault! So Navy LCDR Ira Jacobson, not in uniform, stepped smartly out of his red Mustang. It was his nature and his training to take action, to render instant decisions and intervene in such a situation. LCDR Jacobson did not skate away or tap dance around when dealing with out-of-control junior personnel, and he did not shrink from his perceived duty today.

“Just what the HELL do you think you’re doing to that civilian?” he barked, using his strongest officer’s “command voice” to impose order and gain control of the situation.

ATF agent Alvin Bogart was kneeling on Martin Powell’s chest, one hand around his throat, getting ready to pepper spray him again with the other.
The other ATF agent was at the uphill end of the line of cars when he saw and heard the fracas. He was working with a Virginia State Police K-9 dog handler and his German shepherd, searching the trunk of a Volvo.

Six National Guardsmen and women and three other state troopers were spread out along the line of cars and past it in both directions, directing traffic and generally trying not to be jerks, avoiding actually searching the cars as much as possible. None of them wanted to be there. The two ATF agents were the gung-ho ones, pushing them to search more cars, in order to find contraband weapons.

None of the state troopers or soldiers was certain about what had happened in the white Acura to cause the driver to be pepper sprayed and pulled out, but they assumed an illegal weapon or maybe drugs had been spotted: after all, that’s what they were there for. Suddenly they saw a tall civilian with short black hair jump out of a red Mustang and go after ATF Special Agent Bogart, yelling something. Bogart’s ATF partner shouted, “Turn the dog loose!” to the K-9 handler. He promptly did as he was told, pulling the 100 pound beast back short on his leash, crouching down close to his canine partner to direct its attention, aiming the dog like a missile, and releasing him with the command “Hansie! Attack!”

The German shepherd cleared the thirty yards to Jacobson in a blur and knocked him down from behind, biting him viciously on the buttocks and in the groin area. Ira Jacobson screamed, Martin Powell was still screaming, and Powell’s wife and little girls in the car kept screaming as shocked state troopers and soldiers converged on the scene of the melee.

From Bogart’s first rap on Powell’s window, to the dog attacking LCDR Jacobson, only sixty seconds had passed, but they had been a long sixty seconds! The next sixty seconds were going to be far, far longer.

* * * *

Just behind Jacobson’s red Mustang, ninety year old Luke Tanner’s hands were locked in a death grip on the steering wheel of his cream-colored 1986 Cadillac Eldorado. His teeth were grinding, his breath was short and labored, his heart was racing, and his skin was so flushed that the liver spots on his bare arms were nearly invisible.

The last time that Luke Tanner had seen that black uniform and peculiar black coal-scuttle helmet in person had been seven decades earlier. It had been in the Ardennes Forest in Belgium, trying to hold out against the 6th SS Panzer Army during the defining days of his life during the Battle of the Bulge. Tanner had fought regular German Wehrmacht across France, and he’d fought the Waffen SS in Belgium, and he still held a burning hatred for them even many decades later.

But he had never imagined that he’d see the goddamned black uniform of the SS here in America! Then he watched as a young man was pulled from his car by the storm trooper, and he saw his head bounce off the pavement, he heard a lady and children screaming, and his hand fell to the seat beside him.

He’d lost his wife Edna in 1997 after almost fifty years together. She had been dragged to her death alongside her own Buick, the victim of a botched carjacking in Richmond. After that, Luke Tanner always kept his old Government Model .45 caliber pistol under a folded newspaper on the seat beside him, with a round in the chamber. He didn’t know what the particular legality of that was, and he didn’t care: a man had a right to defend himself, law or no law. It was the very same .45 automatic he’d brought back on the hospital ship in 1945. Every year since then he had fired it at the National Guard Armory range where he knew people, then he cleaned it and reloaded it with fresh bullets. He’d never fired it or any gun in anger in over seventy years.

The last time Luke Tanner had fired a weapon at anything except paper targets had been around frozen Ettebruck, Belgium in 1944, and it had been at a goddamned Nazi storm trooper in a black SS uniform. Who could ever have dreamed that seventy years later, Nazi SS storm troopers dressed in black would be running loose right here in Virginia? Certainly not Luke Tanner. All those good men of the 28th Infantry Division had died in the Ardennes fighting the Nazis, and now here they were again, in the flesh!

Then a brave young fellow got out of a classic red Mustang in front of Luke and proceeded to give the SS Nazi hell for what he was doing to that man on the ground. Good for him! But an instant later a dog, a big German shepherd no less, had that fellow on the ground thrashing like a whirlwind and biting him to pieces, and then more soldiers and police were hollering and screaming and running from all over!

Another of those black-uniformed Nazi SS storm troopers ran past Luke Tanner’s Cadillac and began kicking the man on the ground with his black boots, and that’s when Luke Tanner had seen enough. Too much! The 28th Infantry “Bloody Bucket” Division had not killed all those goddamned Nazis in France and Belgium just so they could regroup here in America! Luke Tanner had always considered every day since December 23rd of 1944 to be a gift from God, a bonus day, springing from the pure dumb luck which had for unknowable reasons deserted so many better and more deserving young men than him.

December 23rd of 1944 was the day that he earned a Purple Heart, a Bronze Star, and a trip home all during one more fight near Ettebruck, Belgium.

He’d lost his left eye and part of his stomach over there, and more recently he’d lost his wife, and that was enough. To Luke Tanner, it was not going to be worth living in America another year if the last vestige of freedom was going to be lost too. What had all those guys died for in France and Germany and all across the Pacific? And then Korea, and then Vietnam, and all those other God forsaken places? What for? What for?

Somebody had to teach the youngsters how to fight Nazis, and Luke Tanner figured he knew about as well as anybody. There just weren’t many of his generation left who’d had the good fortune to still be alive so many years after those bitter-cold never-forgotten days at the end of 1944. He wrapped his leathery old hand around his heavy slab-sided Colt .45, thumbed back the hammer, opened the door all the way, and stepped out into the bright sunshine.

The police and soldiers and Nazi SS storm troopers were all busy, focused on the tangle of confusion beside the white Acura when Luke Tanner walked up along the red Mustang, his .45 held down beside his right leg, hammer back, safety off, finger on the trigger. When he’d picked up that .45 and thumbed back the hammer, the last seven decades cleanly disappeared. But no one paid any attention to the frail-looking old bald man with the thick black-framed glasses, in the yellow short-sleeve shirt. Not until he unexpectedly grabbed one of the Nazi SS storm troopers by his black shoulder strap.

ATF Special Agent Alvin Bogart spun part way around, saw yet another civilian interloper and yelled “Now what the hell do you want, grandpa?”

Luke Tanner, chronological age ninety, and the survivor of many deadly skirmishes and battles with Nazis as a much younger man, smiled unexpectedly and said, “I want to see you dead, Fritz!” He held Bogart off with his once-again strong left arm still gripping the black shoulder strap, quickly raised the pistol from behind his leg, and fired once.

The .45’s report was like a cannon, sending off shock waves through the huddle of police and soldiers. Bogart was hit upward between the eyes. His Kevlar helmet contained his brains, but did not prevent a shower of blood and tissue from flying back out all over Tanner, making it appear that he had been shot himself. Then Bogart went down, dropped like a pole-axed steer, police were screaming “GUN!” and drawing their pistols, soldiers were trying to unsling their M-16s from their shoulders, and Luke Tanner, still smiling, aimed again at the other Nazi SS storm trooper who now stood in wide-eyed mute amazement seven feet away. Tanner fired one-handed, aimed and fired again, as the ATF agent tried to raise his submachine gun, which was snagged by its sling on his body armor and magazine pouches. Then the second ATF agent went down, his wound unseen, acrid gun smoke bitter in everyone’s noses, all ears ringing from the .45’s steady barking in their midst.

The second ATF agent was still rolling away slowly as Tanner continued to fire at him on the ground, until his eight rounds were expended and the empty .45’s slide stayed locked to the rear. He was surrounded by police and soldiers who were all falling back away from him, some running, some seeking cover behind cars, but for the moment it was a “circular firing squad” with police and soldiers and civilians in their cars all around him, causing them all to hesitate, until finally a state trooper took careful aim with his service pistol and fired.

Tanner was hit several times and sat down hard, then fell onto his back staring up past the clouds, blinking at the sun, his empty .45 fallen from his hand at last. A soldier leaning over him heard the old man whisper: “I got ‘em Sarge, did you see me kill them Nazi bastards?” The young soldier could not see who the blood-covered old man was talking to, he could not see in himself Luke Tanner’s last platoon leader, Sergeant Alonso Delvecchio, who was killed in action on Christmas Day of 1944 by a Nazi sniper’s bullet. That was two days after Tanner got his “million dollar wounds” and was evacuated from the battlefield at last; to go home, to live, and to remember.

* * * *

By this point the soccer mom in the forest-green Ford Excursion SUV two cars behind the Cadillac had seen and heard too much, and finally her stunned brain somehow reconnected to her frozen limbs. She switched the ignition back on and in one fluid motion turned the wheel sharply to the left, threw the shift into drive, and stomped hard on the gas pedal. Her giant SUV clipped the Toyota in front of her, spinning it sideways, then ran straight over two National Guardsmen, crossed the exit ramp and headed down the bushy slope towards Hoffler Boulevard, bouncing and picking up speed with every yard. The soccer mom’s mind was operating in an unfamiliar emergency crisis mode; she was on automatic heading for the safety of her three car garage like a crazed doe fleeing before a forest fire.

* * * *

Down at the bottom of the ramp, Private Hector Ramirez was still standing on the middle bolster of the Humvee, leaning back against the ring cut through the roof when everything went crazy up at the line of cars. When the shooting broke out, he had reflexively leaned forward and shouldered into his M-60 machine gun, sighting up the road, but could make no sense out of the “lucha-libre,” or free-for-all fight.

Since hours before, Private Ramirez had been content to accept the duty in the Humvee with the machine gun. For one thing, he remembered how to load and fire the ancient M-60, unlike most of his squad. But mainly he knew he had been given the machine gun duty because his English was very bad, muy malo. Terrible in fact, lo peor, the worst. Sergeant DuBois didn’t want him searching the cars with los policias and dealing with the public because he could not understand rapid southern dialect English; and he could not communicate well in English in any case.

Private Ramirez’ lack of English skill was understandable. After all, he had walked across la frontera into Arizona for the third and final time only a few years before. Then by the grace of all the saints, he had been granted amnistia along with millions of his countrymen living in El Norte. A little later a cousin warned him that the amnistia might be taken away, but that there was a program where if he joined the gringo army, he would be guaranteed full gringo citizenship in only two years, and then he could bring up his mother and the rest of his family. And, in fact, that is exactly what happened.

Gracias a Dios he had been given the answers to the tests before the Army boot camp, or he would have been rejected. But Ramirez more than made up for his lack of Ingles with an abundance of enthusiasm, always shouting “Sir, Yes Sir!” in boot camp the loudest, whether he understood the question or not. His uniform was always perfect, he had the fastest times on the runs, and his Sargentos had put him in front of the Compania to carry the flag on their graduation day. Army boot camp had been a high point of Hector Ramirez’ short life.

So he’d spent the day leaning against the hole in the roof of the Humvee, sitting, standing and trying to stay awake, until all hell had suddenly and without warning broken loose, with people screaming, dogs barking, and now guns firing!

Hector yanked back on the cocking handle of his machine gun and got ready to fire, but was unable to find a target: all he saw were policias y soldados. Anyway, his orders were to just make a show, a demonstration he thought they had said, to be the “blocking force.” Ramirez understood “fuerza bloquear.” It meant that he must keep anyone from escaping from the checkpoint. He understood that mission well enough! This was something he had grown up seeing routinely as a small boy on the roads back in Chiapas. But today, although he had 200 cartuchos of ammunition in the green steel box next to his M-60, he had never expected to fire even one bullet of it.

Suddenly an enormous dark green truck roared out from the line of cars behind all the fighting and shooting, and drove straight over two of the members of Ramirez’s squad, smashing them down! Then it drove faster and faster down the hill directly towards him. And he was the blocking force, to prevent the escape of the terroristas!

He sighted directly at the onrushing windshield and fired a prolonged burst, causing the truck’s windows to explode. The truck veered back toward the highway ramp, and it was still trying to escape as far as Ramirez could tell, so he followed it with his machine gun’s front sight, firing continuously until it crashed into a police car at the bottom of the line. But when Hector took his finger away from the trigger, the maldita machine gun continued to fire without a pause, as if it had a mind of its own, so he raised the barrel to fire safely up and over the hill.

* * * *

A hundred yards away, halfway up the exit ramp, Sergeant Ashante DuBois of the Virginia National Guard was crouching behind the trunk of the cream colored Cadillac, while down the hill Private Ramirez raked the line of cars with 7.62 caliber machine gun fire. The rounds snapped as they passed, and with every fourth shot a red tracer flashed by. Then the windows in the Cadillac blew out, showering her with a thousand tiny glass fragments. The Mexican had gone totally insane with panic!

Sergeant DuBois knew that it was up to her to protect the civilians still hiding in their cars the only way she knew how. She laid her M-16 rifle along the left rear trunk of the Caddy, pulled back the charging handle to chamber a round, aimed carefully at Ramirez and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. Sergeant DuBois turned the rifle on its side and looked at the selector switch, turned it to “semi,” and began to pepper Ramirez with fire as more 7.62mm tracer rounds cracked past her up the hillside and over the highway behind them.

* * * *

Back up at the top of the ramp Brad and Ranya had watched events spiral out of control in disbelief, but when the M-60 on the Humvee opened up on the big green SUV and the tracer rounds started flying past, the policeman in front of them finally ran for cover behind his cruiser. Brad noticed he was a Suffolk cop, and not a state trooper like the rest of them doing the searches down the ramp. He threw his pickup into reverse and burned rubber fishtailing backwards up the ramp, then threw it into forward and took off down I-664.

In another sixty seconds they were a mile and a half away, and Brad took his foot off the gas pedal. There was no remaining sign of the inexplicable mayhem they had witnessed during those two mad minutes on the Hoffler Boulevard exit ramp, except for the adrenaline still pumping through their blood, and their intensely focused memories.

[Volk]

It would be one of those ironies of History, and a sign from God, if the American Civil War 2.0 started up a few miles from Appomattox Court House in Virginia, 154 years later.

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Virginia legislature Democrats pass first gun ban of 2020

WHAT 2ND AMENDMENT?
January 12, 2020 This article was posted by TLB Staff

By M. Catharine Evans

Virginia Democrats have full control of the state government, and they are making the most of it. Less than two days after Virginia opened the 2020 legislative session, newly empowered lawmakers voted to pass a total ban on guns at the state capitol and legislative office buildings. Previously, those with a valid concealed handgun permit were allowed to bring a gun into the Capitol. Weapons were banned only in the Senate gallery and the governor’s office. “Our focus is to keep everybody safe,” said Democratic House speaker Eileen Filler-Corn. “These are policies and rules that should have passed a long, long time ago.”

Democratic House majority leader Charneile Herring claimed the sudden policy decision by the Joint Rules Committee, just a handful of people, was at the request of the Capitol Police. “I think there are times when we sort of have to trust what our law enforcement officers are telling us,” she said. When asked by reporters, after the rushed and less than transparent committee meeting, the Capitol Police’s Col. Anthony Pike said he had made no recommendations on whether guns should be banned, only how to implement the ban. GOP delegate Kirk Cox called Herring’s attempt to put the onus on the Capitol Police “a deliberate misrepresentation, there’s just no way around that,” he said.

House Republican leader Del. Todd Gilbert put out the following statement:

With less than 24 hours notice House and Senate Democrats overturned more than a decade of policy and voted to ban all firearms from the Capitol and office buildings. This measure includes the general public, concealed carry permit holders, and General Assembly members. Law abiding citizens with valid concealed handgun permits have always been allowed to bring their lawful firearms into these facilities.

Not only did the vote take place with little notice and no public distribution of the policy ahead of time it was done in a meeting that was not broadcast to the public like other committee meetings…Furthermore, hiding behind our Capitol police is cowardly.

Garren Shipley works for the House GOP Caucus and was in the committee room when the vote took place. Shipley’s tweets indicate that Republican members were blindsided by the Democrats’ action on Friday. “What just happened, Dems pushed through complete Capitol gun ban, said Capitol police asked for it, Capitol police told members, press they did not…Gun policy given to members at the table, members told they were on the committee less than a day before the meeting. ”

With 118 Second Amendment sanctuaries [sanctuary cities/counties] now resolved to protect law-abiding Virginians’ constitutional right to bear arms, state officials have been voicing their concerns regarding upcoming rallies at the Capitol and surrounding areas. The Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) expects huge crowds of gun rights advocates on January 20. Because of the upcoming rallies and the new gun policy, many people are asking whether the gun ban applies to the square around the Capitol. The inquiries prompted the governor’s office to respond:

The issue of the open space that constitutes Capitol Square is more complicated from a legal perspective. That being said, the Governor is reviewing options in coordination with state and local law enforcement and in light of incoming intelligence. His top priority is keeping Virginia safe.

The policy, set to go into effect Friday at midnight, has some Republicans like Del. Gilbert throwing up a white flag. “That is not a good way to govern and doesn’t speak well of transparency, I think it’s a sign of what’s to come for gun owners,” he said.

On the other hand, we have Senator Amanda Chase here in Chesterfield County. Chase has always been and remains a fierce advocate for our Second Amendment rights. The commonsense senator reminded the Democrats that forcing law-abiding citizens to leave their guns in cars parked on the streets of downtown Richmond provides an opportunity for criminals to steal them. Chase also told reporters, “This isn’t Republican vs. Democrat, this is American vs. un-American.”

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Despite protests, Democratic gun-control bills pass their first hurdle on a party-line vote

By MARIE ALBIGES
THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT |
JAN 13, 2020 | 12:54 PM
| RICHMOND





Gun rights protesters hold signs prior to the start of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary committee at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. The Committee passed several bills related to gun laws. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber / AP)

Four bills Virginia’s Democratic governor says could reduce gun violence passed their first hurdle amid protests from gun owners who say their Second Amendment rights are being violated.

The gun control measures that have for years been quashed by Republicans — implementing universal background checks, limiting sales to one handgun a month, allowing localities to ban guns in certain places and creating an extreme risk protection order — were passed out of a packed Senate Judiciary committee meeting Monday.
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It’s the first week of the new Democratic majority’s ban on guns in the Capitol and lawmakers’ offices — until Friday, concealed carry permit holders could bring their guns inside and lobbyists and staffers with credentials were permitted to bypass the metal detectors — and the first time in decades many of the gun bills saw the light of day.

Democrats — who hold majorities of 21-19 in the Senate and 55-45 in the House — promised swift changes to the state’s gun laws when they convened for the 401st General Assembly session seven months after a gunman killed 12 people in a Virginia Beach government building, sparking a statewide debate over how to reduce gun violence.



Legislative staff and credentialed visitors wait in a long line to enter the Pocohantas Building for at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Monday, Jan. 13, 2020. New rules adopted by Legislators last week require screening for all who enter the Legislative buildings. (AP Photo/Steve Helber) (Steve Helber / AP)

“It is the law-abiding citizens whose rights will be most affected by this legislation, not the criminals,” said Sen. Mark Obenshain, R-Harrisonburg, speaking about the one-handgun-a-month bill and echoing many of the National Rifle Association members who spoke against the legislation over 2½ hours.

NRA t-shirts and orange “Guns SAVE Lives” stickers were passed around on one side of the committee room, while on the other side, women wearing Moms Demand Action shirts handed out “Background checks save lives” stickers. People were lined up to enter the committee room at least two hours before the meeting began.

Members of various gun violence prevention groups such as Moms Demand Action and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, as well as the state public safety department — speaking on behalf of Gov. Ralph Northam — all supported the bills.

Sen. Mamie Locke’s bill, first passed with a bipartisan vote in 1993 and repealed in 2012, would prevent people from buying more than one handgun within 30 days. It exempts licensed firearm dealers or concealed carry permit holders. Three other states — California, Maryland, and New Jersey — have similar laws on the books.

Sen. Louise Lucas’s bill requires background checks for any gun sale with certain exemptions, such as if it’s part of a government buyback program.

A substitute bill offered by Sen. Chap Petersen, D-Fairfax, that passed also exempts any gun transfers and makes it a misdemeanor, not a felony, to sell a gun without a background check.

There’s no way of knowing how many guns are currently sold privately, and how many buyers aren’t subject to a background check. Twelve states and Washington, D.C., require background checks for all gun purchases.

Sen. George Barker’s “red flag” bill would let judges order people’s guns taken away temporarily when police have investigated and they're deemed to be a danger to themselves or others. After 14 days, a hearing would be held to determine if the person’s guns should be kept from them for longer based on “clear and convincing evidence” the person is still a threat. The new order would last 180 days, with the possibility of an extension of another 180 days.

Washington, D.C., and 17 states have passed a version of a “red flag” law, according to the Giffords Law Center.

Lawmakers and speakers raised concerns Monday over the search process for the gun when the order is issued.

“The government will come in and be able to search your house, and you’ve not been accused or alleged of committing any criminal offense,” said Sen. Ryan McDougle, R-Hanover. “Every Virginian should be afraid. “

“Amens” and applause from the pro-gun crowd followed.

Philip Van Cleave, the head of the Virginia Citizens Defense League, which opposed all the gun bills heard Monday, said he was concerned the bill didn’t provide any sort of treatment for someone considered a danger to themselves or others.

Three senators also introduced bills that would allow localities to ban guns in government buildings, at meetings, in public parks or in public places during permitted events.

“Criminals love gun-free zones because there’s no one there to shoot back at them,” said Robert White, a James City County resident.

All the gun bills passed along party lines, with senators constantly interrupting each other or debating procedural rules.

Lori Haas, the state director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, estimates at least 130 gun bills — including many Republican bills to increase criminal penalties for gun offenses — have been filed this session.

The bills approved by the Judiciary committee Monday will likely be considered by the full Senate sometime this week, then move to the House for approval.

Northam has also earmarked a few million dollars in his proposed budget to implement many of the bills.

After a morning of staffers and lobbyists standing in line waiting to be scanned by metal detectors, Minority Leader Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, wrote a letter to Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, asking her to consider changing the policy.

“The policy that has led to these long lines was made in haste and without external input or reflection,” he said. “This type of unintended consequence was predictable and preventable.”

Marie Albiges, 757-247-4962, malbiges@dailypress.com

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VA Democrat Introduces Bill Making ‘High Capacity’ Mag Possession a Felony

AWR Hawkins



A bill put forward by Delegate Mark Levine (D) would make it a felony for law-abiding citizens to possess a magazine holding more than 10 rounds of ammunition.

Moreover, Levine’s legislation, HB 961, even makes it a felony to possess 10-round magazines, if such magazines have a “removable plate” on the bottom that would allow capacity expansion.

Levine’s bill provides four options for Virginians who currently possess magazines that hold more than 10 rounds: 1. They can render the magazine “inoperable.” 2. They can “remove” the magazine from Virginia. 3. They can “transfer” the magazine to a person who meets the legal criteria to own one in another state. 4. Surrender the magazine to the state.

Levine’s bill comes even as 118 local governments in Virginia have declared themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries, vowing not to enforce unconstitutional gun controls.
The Second Amendment Sanctuaries consist of at least 86 counties, plus cities and municipalities around the state.

Gov. Ralph Northam (D) signaled a war on guns in early November 2019, after Democrat won control of the state legislature.

AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.


Virginia Ban On Woods And Backyard Shooting?

Posted on January 9, 2020 by Wes Rhinier

Am I reading this right?

SENATE BILL NO. 353 Offered January 8, 2020 Prefiled January 6, 2020



A BILL to amend the Code of Virginia by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-511.2, relating to outdoor shooting ranges; prohibited adjacent to residential areas; exceptions; civil penalty.———-Patron– Bell———-Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice———-

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:

1. That the Code of Virginia is amended by adding in Article 3 of Chapter 12 of Title 18.2 a section numbered 18.2-511.2 as follows:

§ 18.2-511.2. Outdoor shooting ranges; prohibited adjacent to residential areas; exceptions; civil penalty.

A. As used in this section, “outdoor shooting range” means any partially enclosed or unenclosed area or facility designed for the use of rifles, shotguns, pistols, silhouettes, skeet, trap, black powder, or any other similar sport shooting.

B. It is unlawful to operate an outdoor shooting range within 500 yards of any property zoned for residential use unless the Range Design Criteria developed by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Health, Safety and Security have been met.

C. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is subject to a civil penalty of not less than $1,000 nor more than $100,000 for the initial violation and $5,000 per day for each day of violation thereafter.

By stipulating “any partially enclosed or unenclosed area,” they seem to want to outlaw any backyard or woods shooting, regardless of county or town regulations. In other words, your “range” doesn’t have to be a formally designated range open for business. It might be your backyard, as long as you’ve put up a berm or some steel targets.

I guess they really are coming for the Fudd regardless of what he thinks. Shooting is a perishable skill.

There appears to be no depth to which they will not stoop.


Virginia bill takes aim at gun ranges

A Virginia state lawmaker proposed a gun control bill that critics say will create a firearms registry at gun ranges in the commonwealth.

Virginia Democratic Del. Dan Helmer filed a bill Thursday that would prohibit indoor shooting ranges in the state not owned by the commonwealth or the federal government, and it would require those privately owned to maintain the personal information of customers who wish to use the ranges.

Virginia Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam previously announced that an assault weapons ban that may be passed in the state could include a grandfather clause of previously owned assault weapons that could be possessed but must be registered with the state, thereby creating a registry.

The National Shooting and Sports Foundation, a trade association for the firearms industry, was alarmed at Helmer’s bill, telling the Washington Examiner the legislation would be “an absolute threat” to small businesses across the commonwealth.

The foundation's Director Of Public Affairs Mark Oliva called the bill a "backdoor registry of every firearms owner and every firearms user" in the state.

"The aim of gun control has always been to control not just the guns, but those who own them. The bills presented in this General Assembly have sought that at least twice. This legislation to ban privately owned indoor ranges seeks to collect and store personal information on law-abiding gun owners and the firearms they own and use," Oliva said.

He also pointed to Northam's statements that he wants registration of firearms that meet what Oliva termed "his expansive definition of a so-called assault firearm."

"That is potentially hundred of thousands, possibly millions, of Virginians who would be put in registration lists and monitored by their government for the simple act of exercising their God-given rights," he said.

According to Oliva, the bill would be the first of its kind to be implemented by a state, if passed.

“This is unprecedented. I’ve never seen anything like this. I believe that people like Michael Bloomberg and states like California, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, where you see very strict gun control laws — Illinois among them — I think that they're all looking to see what is going to be happening here in Virginia to see what they could possibly do in their own states,” Oliva told the Washington Examiner. “I think that Virginia has become the bellwether for gun control and the gun rights debate.”

Helmer, an Army veteran who moved to Virginia with his wife and two sons from his native New Jersey in 2013, won his delegate seat in November against eight-term Republican Tim Hugo. He ran on a gun control platform.

The Washington Examiner reached out to Helmer's office on Thursday and asked about the information that ranges would be mandated to collect from customers and later maintain.

"This legislation is a way to keep our community safe from gun violence," Helmer's chief of staff Noah Bardash said. Bardash did not specify how Helmer wants the information to be used or if any co-sponsors had signed on to the bill.

Helmer defended his bill on Twitter on Thursday: “Shooting at the range is fun. But they don’t belong in populated work places & few are located there. Look no further than @NRA HQs in Fairfax, where a worker was wounded in a negligent discharge, to see that office buildings and ranges don’t mix.”

He later tweeted, “This bill would impact few ranges in Virginia. Ranges in #HD40 are responsibly located and will stay open for business. It would impact millions who work in offices in the Commonwealth, ensuring that their buildings don’t suddenly become more dangerous work places.”

The legislation would apply to businesses with more than 50 employees or where less than 90% of its customers are law enforcement. The National Rifle Association, which has more than 50 employees and a headquarters in Fairfax with a firing range, would be among the ranges Helmer’s bill targets.

“Everyone says this was an attack on the NRA's range, and surely it is,” Oliva said. “But this is also an attack on small businesses.”

Oliva pointed to two ranges, a 68-employee range in Manassas and one in Virginia Beach with 60 employees, as examples of small businesses that could be hurt by the measure.

NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen said the move would hurt small businesses, not reduce crime.

“In addition to generating about $18 million each year in revenues, the state’s ranges are the epicenter for vital safety training," she said in a statement. "This is where our law enforcement community comes to train alongside families and individuals seeking skills for home and self-defense.”

Meet Raleigh-Durham IWW: Duke University’s Antifa Communist Group

TOPICS:Gregory Southall WilliamsMegan SquireRaleigh-Durham IWWRann-Bar OnTriangle IWW

Posted By: Hunter Wallace May 23, 2017

Here are the mugshots of the three antifa dirtbags from Raleigh-Durham IWW who were arrested in Graham, NC for attempting to steal and burn a Christian flag:







Is this some local white trash? That’s what some of my followers on Twitter assumed when I posted their mugshots. Appearances can be deceiving though.
Let’s start with Rann Bar-On:

Cool story, bro.
It turns out that Rann Bar-On is an Israeli mathematics lecturer at Duke University who has been sponsored on an employment based Green Card. He is also fond of clashing with police officers and getting repeatedly arrested in North Carolina. This is at least the second time since March. In Graham, he ripped a Christian flag off a flag pole and attempted to set it on fire.

You may have noticed Gregory Southall Williams in the video above. He describes himself as an “ethnic Jew.” Strangely enough, both Gregory Williams and Rann Bar-On are anti-Israeli activists. Williams was also arrested with Rann Bar-On in March for disrupting a Durham County commissioners meeting. They were charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

Gregory is a research assistant working on his doctorate at Duke University:



We know that Gregory and Rann are the leaders of Raleigh-Durham IWW and both are associated with Duke University where Rann is a mathematics lecturer and Gregory is a graduate student:



Who is Comrade Megan Squire?

She is a professor of computing sciences at Elon University who is involved with this crowd:

Comrade @brdngresistance was in Graham, NC too:

Right now in GRAHAM, NC:
Locals & @triangleiww protesters gather for a counter-protest against a neo-Confederate group, ACTBAC NC. #Antifa pic.twitter.com/8SkBjmpAhd
— braiding resistance (@brdngresistance) May 20, 2017

She is better known as Anastasia Karklina. She is a Jewish immigrant from Latvia who is working on her doctorate in literature at Duke University:




We know that more of these people are connected to Duke University including Eli Meyerhoff, a professor of International Comparative Studies at Duke University and Joe Stapleton, a youth pastor at Cornerstone Community Church.

Don’t forget to support your local antifa!

“Rann Baron, 36, of 201 N. Driver St., Durham, charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer and misdemeanor injury to personal property. Bond was set at $11,500.
William Anthony Hood, 34, of 145 Kingsbury Drive, Chapel Hill, was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer inflicting serious injury and misdemeanor possession of a weapon at a parade or rally. Bond was set at $15,000.
Gregory Southall Williams, 37, of 904 W. Murray Ave., Durham, was charged with misdemeanor resisting a public officer. Bond was set at $1,500.”

Note: Itsgoingdown.org is passing around a hat for their boy William A. Hood. Contact PayPal and complain about their service being used to raise bail money for antifa terrorists.



Update: Narrative Collapse has a featured article on Rann Bar-On. Comrade Megan Squire is also feigning innocence on her Facebook page:



But that’s you again, darlin’:



Don’t insult our intelligence by pretending you are not involved with Raleigh-Durham IWW. You are going to their events, attending their meetings and raising your fist with them on Twitter. Own it.

Anastasia Karklina is trying to hide from us by changing her Twitter account and hiding her tweets:



This genius posted videos of herself on Twitter! LMAO.

Oh, and RIP @triangleiww. It is too bad nothing you post on the internet every really goes away. This post was 100% me with a little help from Restoring The Honor, who you foolishly trusted, and our NEETs haven’t even gotten on the case yet. We will expose the rest of you too.

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HB 842 Removal of public officers; petition requirements, signature requirements.

Introduced by: Paul E. Krizek (by request) | all patrons ... notes | add to my profiles
SUMMARY AS INTRODUCED:

Removal of public officers; petition requirements; signature requirements.

Clarifies that the requirement that a petition for the removal of a public officer be signed under penalty of perjury applies only to the person or persons filing such petition with the circuit court. Registered voters signing the petition for purposes of reaching the required number of signatures shall not be required to sign under penalty of perjury.

The bill also increases the required number of signatures to a number of registered voters in the locality equal to 25 percent, up from 10 percent, of the total number of votes cast at the last election for the office, and requires the signatures to be collected within a 60-day period.

FULL TEXT

• 01/07/20 House: Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/08/20 20100729D pdf | impact statement

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URGENT! Call To Action in Virginia!

We Need Boots on the Ground and Trainers​

Oath Keepers and patriots!

Our patriot brothers and sisters in Virginia need our boots on the ground, and they need us to stand shoulder to shoulder with them, as they stand against unconstitutional violations of multiple provisions of the Bill of Rights. We need you to help!

THREE CRITICAL ACTION ITEMS​

1. Critical Gun Rights And Pro-Constitution Rally On Monday, January 20, 2020:

Virginia gun rights groups and patriots, led by Virginia Citizens Defense League, are assembling for a massive rally in the state capitol of Richmond, VA on Monday, Jan. 20. Go here for info on the rally. All who can make it are urged to attend to lend our voices in support of the rights of the people of Virginia.

It is critical that we have a strong presence at that rally to show our support for the people of Virginia as they stand up for their rights, and as they work to put pressure on their state legislators to honor their oaths by refusing to vote for any legislation that violates the right to keep and bear arms. See below for details on why this is so critical, and what we can do to help.

2. Oath Keepers Is Sending A Leadership And Training Team To Virginia To Assist In Organizing Resistance To Unconstitutional Acts And To Organize And Train Armed Posses And Militia.

Oath Keepers national leadership and some of our best trainers are on their way to Virginia to work boots on the ground, starting right after New Years Day, to do all we can to assist in organizing, training, and advising local town and county resistance to the unconstitutional and dangers actions of the Governor. We will stay for the duration, until the work is done! Among our trainers are U.S. Army Special Forces veterans and SWAT law enforcement trainers. They will focus on helping Sheriffs raise and train an official armed posse in each county, under command of the Sheriff, and on organizing, training, and equipping official county militia, under the authority of the county government.

In addition, they will form up and train Spartan Training groups in each county, to bring all patriotic Americans together to train in critical skills so they are a pool of well trained volunteers that constitutional sheriffs and patriotic county officials can call on to assist in time of need, and that can serve as posse and/or militia. See below for details.

WE NEED MORE TRAINERS! If you are an experienced military or law enforcement trainer, please step up and volunteer to help. Email us at: oathkeepersok@gmail.com. Put “volunteer military trainer” or “volunteer LEO trainer” in subject line. See below for details.

If you cannot make it in person to volunteer to help organize and train the patriots of Virginia, please donate to support those who can make it.

3. Oath Keepers Will Directly Outreach To The Virginia National Guard, State Police, And All Local Law Enforcement.

We will be directly reaching out to all levels of military and law enforcement in Virginia that the governor may try to use to enforce his unconstitutional tyranny. We will do so through several different outreach methods and missions. See below for more details and info on how you can help.

WHY THIS IS A CRISIS​

The Virginia Governor, with the assistance of oath- breaking politicians in the state legislature, is not just violating the Second Amendment. He seeks to violate the First, the Fourth, the Fifth, and the Sixth, though criminalization of free speech and assembly and gun confiscation without due process via horrendous “red flag” legislation, as well as weaponizing the state statute against paramilitary training to ban even training for lawful self defense or defense of others, or assembly and speech while armed. And, of course, seeing to ban entire categories of weapons essential to a well regulated militia, and attempting to criminalize normal, wholesome family shooting activities.

In addition, the Governor has begun to threaten to use the VA National Guard against the people of Virginia, in reaction to sheriffs and county officials declaring their counties to be Second Amendment Sanctuaries and pledging to refuse to comply with the Governor’s edicts and pretend legislation.

We are confident that many within the National Guard and State Police will refuse those orders and will stand down, but we want to maximize that outcome and we want to prepare the people of Virginia for the worst case scenario of attempted use of force by the Governor to carry out his orders.

Oath Keepers is responding to the crisis in Virginia, where the leftists are in a full frontal assault against the right of the people to keep and bear arms. Our response will be multi-pronged, and will NOT be a one day response, but will instead be an ongoing campaign/deployment that will begin right after New Years Day.

OUR PLANNED COURSE OF ACTION​

1. Attend The January 20, 2020 Gun Rights Lobby Day.

When: Monday,20 January 2020 @ 8:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Location: General Assembly Building — Richmond VA

Go to Virginia Citizens Defense League - VCDL Lobby Day -- Richmond VA for details on the rally. IF you are within driving range and can attend, please do! The goal here will be to maximize the size of the audience at this rally, to help send the message to the VA legislature that the people of Virginia want them to do the right thing and refuse to vote for these attrocious and dangerous bills that violate the rights of the people – and that the people of the United States stand in unity with them.

We urge you to dress like average Americans, not in cammo or full battle rattle. Our purpose is to be force multipliers for the people of Virginia. Oath Keepers shirts, hats, etc are fine, or any other patriotic gear, but please no camouflage or military gear. We want to present as quiet professionals. That is according to the wishes of the event organizers and of the Virginia patriot groups we are already working with, who have the most skin in the game in their home state. Please respect their wishes and help them in their chosen strategy. They also prefer that we go concealed carry for those who will be carrying. And they prefer that there be no long guns at the rally. Again, this is their preference and we owe it to them to abide by that preference. We are there to support and assist them in their political fight to try to keep these bills from being passed in the first place.

2. Oath Keepers Is Deploying A Leadership Team/Training Team In Advance Of The Jan 20 Rally And That Team Will Remain In The Ground In Va After The Rally, For The Duration To Do The Following:

A. Urge All Counties To Follow The Example Of Tazewell County, VA By Passing A Resolution Establishing An Official County Militia.

Tazewell County, VA has already taken the momentous step of passing a resolution to establish an official county militia, under the authority of the duly elected county political leaders. That is historic. A resolution to establish a formal militia in the county is a critical first step. And every other county in VA should follow Tazewell County’s superb example. Oath Keepers will be sending in national leaders to advocate for, and assist, all counties in VA in following Tazewell county’s example.

Oath Keepers Founder, Stewart Rhodes, will be there in person to lead this leadership team and he will put his legal training from Yale Law School to use in assisting in the drafting of any needed resolutions. It is critical that the people of Virginia use their official county governments to organize militia units instead of just organizing private groups. An official county militia would be acting under, and pursuant to, the full authority of the elected government of the county, not just a private “militia”. That is an important distinction, especially considering the clear intent of the anti-gun leftist to weaponize the state statute against paramilitary training to try to shut down any and all training for self defense or the carrying of weapons for self defense When a town or county government stands up, that pits one government entity against another, and puts patriots in a much stronger position.

The Founding Fathers fully utilized their town and county governments when resisting the tyranny of the Crown. We must do the same when resisting the tyranny of the governor and the state legislature. NOTE: this does NOT mean we will not be working with non-official volunteer militia in Virginia. We already are. We just want to maximize the use of county government as a mechanism of organization and authority.

B. Assist In The Raising Up, Organizing, Training, And Equipping Of Official County Militias.

Once a resolution has been passed to establish an official militia in a county, the next step is to actually organize, train, and equip that militia unit or units in each county, comprised of the able bodied men and women of that county (should be considered a duty for the men, but an option for the women who can also serve). To assist in doing this, Oath Keepers is sending some of our most experienced military and law enforcement trainers, including former U..S. Special Forces trainers and SWAT certified LEO instructors to VA to assist with forming and training these militia units. We will stay on the ground in VA as long as necessary to get this critical work done.

If you are a QUALIFIED and experienced military or law enforcement trainer or veteran with sufficient experience to train others, please do volunteer to assist as a trainer. To volunteer, email us at: oathkeepersok@gmail.com and put “Volunteer military (or LEO) trainer” in subject line. Please provide any documentation of your service and training you may have, such as DD214, training certs, school graduation certs, etc Please also submit a copy of you drivers license, your CCW if you have one, and your full home address and phone number. All volunteer trainers must go through a background check. No exceptions. NOTE: You DO NOT have had to have served s a formal trainer to be qualified to teach. We would consider an experienced infantry NCO, for example, as qualified to teach others what he knows (or whatever your MOS was). If you are competent and know your stuff, step up! Of course, if you were a formal trainer, even better. But we will put you to work if you are well trained.

C. Reach Out To All The Sheriffs And Encourage Them To Form Armed Posses.

We will go to the counties that have declared themselves to be Second Amendment Sanctuary Counties (with the sheriff making similar declarations) and urge them to take the necessary next step of forming an official sheriff posse under the command of the sheriff. Declarations are a wonderful first step. But they need to be followed up by actually organizing a real, no-joke sheriff posse. A great example of what is possible is the 3,000 man posse that Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Sheriff Arpaio having that large posse was a game changer in his Mexican Stand-offs with the Obama Administration. It made it a very messy and risky proposition for Obama to try to play hard ball and use force.

Bottom line is we will reach out to all county governments, sheriff departments, and town governments who have declared themselves to be Second Amendment Sanctuaries to offer our assistance in organizing and training both sheriff Posse and official county militia, as well as in drafting any resolutions, training curriculum or other documents needed.

D. Form Spartan Training Groups In Each County:

Open to all citizens local to the Constitution, regardless of what group they may be in. (excluding anyone who seeks to overthrow the U.S. government or who discriminates along racial lines).

These will NOT be official units, but will instead be akin to what the Founding Fathers called “training bands” of locals who get together to train, cross-train (sharing skills) and to iron out the bugs of working together. The goal is a trained pool of men and women in each county – as large as possible, and as inclusive as possible- that can serve as a turn-key posse or militia for the county. This means the people are ALREADY organizing and training, even if the county sheriff will not yet from a posse, or even if the county government has not yet followed Tazwell County’s example by passing a resolution to form an official militia for the county. Time is of the essence, and the patriots of Virginia must start training and organizing now, other than waiting until after those official units are formed.

Whether you are a three percenter, an Oath Keeper, in a privately organized volunteer militia, some other group, or in no group at all, you will be welcome to train with us. The goal is to train EVERYONE in the county who is loyal to the Constitution. We will train them in six critical skill categories: safe, effective firearms use and small unit tactics (in both a military and law enforcement role); emergency medical; emergency communications; emergency engineering; emergency preparedness and disaster relief; community intelligence (for law enforcement and military roles). Among the goals of such groups will be the establishment of armed neighborhood watches, armed church security, preparing churches to be places of refuge, forming and training up town and county volunteer emergency response teams, and organizing as a turn-key posse in waiting and/or militia in waiting, for the county to use.

Additionally, those Spartan Training Groups can work together to urge the Sheriff to form a posse and use them in it, and they can work to urge and encourage their County government leaders to form an official militia.

3. Outreach To All Levels Of Military And Law Enforcement In Virginia. WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!

We will be directly reaching out to all levels of military and law enforcement in Virginia that the governor may try to use to enforce his unconstitutional tyranny. We will do so through several different outreach methods and missions. Stay tuned for details. However, if you are a military officer or NCO (current, former, or retired), who wants to help us outreach to the Virginia National Guard, or a law enforcement officer (current, former, or retired) who wants to help outreach to VA LEOs, please email us at: oathkeepersok@gmail.com. Put “VA military outreach volunteer” or “VA LEO outreach volunteer” in subject line. We will give details to vetted volunteers.

We are fully committed to doing all we can to assist the patriots of Virginia in sending up for their rights as they encourage the military and law enforcement units of Virginia to refuse unlawful orders and by doing so, buy more time for the Federal Courts to step in and strike down as unconstitutional wherever pretend legislation nonsense the Governor or State legislature may pass.

Please help us all you can in this mission, either boots on the ground, or by donating to support those who CAN go, to serve in person. Every little bit helps.

Our trainers will need travel expenses, as well as food, lodging, and training supplies and equipment. Please help us.

DONATE HERE

For the Republic,

Oath Keepers - About Oath Keepers

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Virginia gun store says firearms, ammunition, and magazines flying off the shelves. Upswing on buying by cash

by Kerry Picket | January 02, 2020 09:34 AM

With Virginia Democrats taking over all branches of state government, a firearms store owner in the state says sales of guns, magazines, and ammunition are up 200%, and more of his customers are paying in cash.

“This is the largest Christmas and November, December that we've had, basically, since Trump has come on board. The only other person that was a better salesman right now is when we had President Obama,” said Jerry Rapp, owner of SpecDive Tactical, in Alexandria, comparing the administrations of President Trump and his White House predecessor, Barack Obama.

“Every time [Obama] turned around he was going to ban something or make something illegal. But even that isn't even close to the amount of sales we're selling right now of magazines, of guns, of every kind of gun from pistol, rifle, shotguns, to AR platforms" and ammunition, Rapp told the Washington Examiner. "We can't keep it in stock.”

Since Democrats took the majorities of both chambers in Virginia’s state legislature after big wins in the November elections, gun control proposals that include bans on “assault-style” weapons, restrictions on magazine capacity, universal background checks, and restrictions to one gun a month purchases have all been brought forth.

Same at the federal level, with House Democrats entering their second year in the majority.

Virginia freshman Democratic Rep. Jennifer Wexton, who was previously a state senator, has proposed legislation in Congress to use credit card data to track gun purchases. The bill faces long odds on Capitol Hill. News about her idea has made it to Virginia firearms customers.

Rapp said his clients are increasingly concerned about privacy issues. Since the November elections, they've been purchasing with cash rather than credit cards.

Rapp, whose business includes gun safety training, says that some of the proposed legislation also affects his course instruction.

"From a gun place, the biggest [proposed legislation] that affects me right now, because we're a training company that sells guns, is if you are a trainer or if you train your son or daughter, that you could become a felon, but as a training place, we do safety," Rapp said. "We do training both from a basic pistol, rifle, shotgun to advanced combat shootings and tactical shootings for the military, law enforcement, three-letter agencies."



THE 2020 VIRGINIA SHOWDOWN

Posted by Matt Bracken | Jan 2, 2020 | Matt Bracken, Uncategorized | 3 |





The 2020 Virginia Showdown
Rolling into 2020, all eyes are on Virginia following Governor Ralph Northam’s declared intention to pass onerous new gun control laws that could mandate the forced confiscation of common semi-automatic firearms which have been legal for Virginians to own for more than a century, ever since their invention. The first date in the coming showdown to be aware of is Monday, January 20th, when the Virginia Assembly opens for the new session, and Northam’s new gun laws will be considered. The Virginia Civil Defense League, a pro-Second Amendment group, is organizing a “Lobby Day” rally to be held at the state capitol to oppose these new gun control laws. It’s estimated that thousands of Virginians will attend the VCDL rally, many arriving in buses from all over the commonwealth.

In response to Northam’s plans, 90% of Virginia’s counties and many of its independent cities have declared themselves to be “second amendment sanctuaries.” After receiving vociferous pushback, Northam has recently stepped away from promising the outright confiscation of currently owned semi-auto weapons, and he is instead now demanding that gun owners register “grandfathered” weapons with the state government. Based on recent experiences in New York, Connecticut and other states that mandated registration, it’s assumed that very few Virginians will comply, instantly turning hundreds of thousands of otherwise law-abiding citizens into paper felons.

What will Northam’s response be to mass defiance of his gun control edicts? Common investigative tools could easily be used to locate non-compliant Virginians and arrest them on felony gun charges. At least some gun confiscation raids would inevitably lead to armed resistance, beginning a cycle of action and reaction that could, over time, grow into a low-intensity guerrilla conflict or a “dirty civil war.”

How plausible is this unwanted outcome? And what forms might a civil war over gun rights take? In certain respects we are in uncharted waters, because there are some new and unique variables in the known and studied civil war and counter-insurgency equations that are far out of line with available historical precedents. Chief among them: in all of history there has never been a civil war where, at the outset of hostilities, the resisting indigenous population was armed to the teeth with rifles capable of making 500 to 1,000 yard aimed precision shots. Never.

On average, approximately 64,000 people live in each of Virginia’s 133 counties and independent cities and towns, average land area 324 square miles. Measured another way, about 7,000 people live in each of Virginia’s 1,218 postal zip codes, average land area 42 square miles. About 250,000 Virginia state hunting license are issued each year, a small fraction of the total number of firearm owners. Now this is just a guess, but I’d bet that there are at least a hundred riflemen in every Virginia zip code capable of walking out their front door in the next five minutes, and making a rested 500 yard aimed precision shot. (For non-shooters, that means these marksmen can hit the man-size target they are aiming at.) And many of these marksmen are hunters and outdoorsmen who know their regional woods and forests like the backs of their hands.

But before any gun confiscation raids take place in Virginia, Northam’s new laws will be challenged in the courts, and, given the extremely dire potential unintended consequences, these legal challenges will quickly rise to the Supreme Court. The odds of the SCOTUS coming down on the side of confiscating millions of firearms that were legal and available for a century-plus until this year is practically nil. If the SCOTUS green-lighted Northam’s gun confiscation plans, nullifying the Second Amendment, they would virtually be declaring war on tens of millions of constitution-believing American citizens, igniting Civil War Two. Given this grim reality, and with the present SCOTUS, it’s almost inconceivable that Virginia laws permitting mass gun confiscation would be declared constitutional. Mandatory registration laws would be a more complicated issue. Creating hundreds of thousands of paper felons from those who refuse to register their firearms could simply lead to a multi-step means of confiscation via investigation, arrest, prosecution and imprisonment.

But even if the Virginia governor was given the go-ahead by the SCOTUS, and even if the present demographic shift in Virginia (based on mass immigration) continues to favor the Democrats in future elections, if any significant percentage of Virginians consider gun confiscation raids to be unconstitutional and worth resisting, make no mistake, there will be armed resistance. Many millions of Americans, including Virginians, consider mandatory gun registration (much less confiscation!) to be a necessary first step on the path to socialist tyranny, boxcars, gulags, and worse. If and when widespread gun confiscation begins, even under the cover of so-called “red flag” laws, or following the refusal of Virginians to comply with gun registration mandates, there will be a civil war.

The geography and topography of much of Virginia means that convoys of police cars and SUVs on gun confiscation missions will be forced to travel through labyrinthine terrain on their way to and from their objectives. After a few bloody (and all-too predictable) gun raid outcomes along the lines of Ruby Ridge or Waco, at least some Virginians will not simply wait for another law enforcement (LE) convoy to arrive unmolested on their street for the next set-piece gun confiscation raid. These LE convoys will be readily identifiable far in advance of their gun raid objectives, and in the event that this constitutional struggle over the Second Amendment turns kinetic, these confiscation convoys will be taken under accurate long-range fire from hidden marksmen on the way to or returning from their objectives.

In addition, there are not enough law enforcement helicopters in Virginia to protect these hypothetical columns of police cars and SUVs heading out to confiscate weapons that were perfectly legal for Virginians to own until now. The day that state LE helicopters are used to support gun raids, these helicopters, their bases and their supporting elements will become targets.

If all 7,500 members of the Virginia National Guard were ordered by Governor Northam to support the 2,100 Virginia State Police on these confiscation raids, they would drag their feet and make enough deliberate noise in their preparations and movements that they will have little or no effect. To put the maximum numbers of hypothetically available gun confiscators into perspective, remember that Virginia has a population of 8.5 million people spread over 43,000 square miles. Also consider that the deployment of Virginia National Guard troops to support state police gun raids is by no means certain. Read The Virginia Debacle, Summarized (And Why You Should Buy More Guns) by Michael Z. Williamson to learn why this is so.

And in my humble opinion, there is no way in hell that President Donald J. Trump will commit political suicide by sending federal forces to Virginia to back up Northam’s unconstitutional gun confiscation schemes, (no matter what the SCOTUS declares), in direct defiance of the passionate will of his base. The Virginia State Police will be on their own to carry out Northam’s orders, with minimal assistance from the Virginia National Guard and local LE. (On the other hand, if Trump is replaced in the White House in 2021 by a Democrat, and the Democrats somehow manage to carry both houses of congress, then all bets are off.)

But just for the sake of discussion, let’s assume that Northam attempted to enforce his gun confiscation and/or mandatory registration laws, and an armed resistance began. How have previous modern insurgencies fared against government forces? Please consider that from the 1980s until today, the full might of the Soviet and later the U.S. military has not been able to subdue a few thousand rag-tag Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, not even when the counter-insurgency troops were operating from secure fire bases located far away from their homes and families. During a civil war in Virginia, the homes and families of the gun confiscators will be scattered among those whose guns they will be tasked with confiscating. Not a pretty picture to contemplate, particularly in an era when doxing can readily be used as a weapon to identify and “out” perceived enemies. And if resistors are afraid to post the information on the internet, just picture leaflets scattered around a neighborhood identifying the gun confiscators. This would happen. Count on it.

It’s rightly assumed that Switzerland has never been invaded by an aggressive hostile neighbor due to its long historical tradition of nearly all Swiss men retaining their military-issue battle rifles in their homes for their entire lives following their brief stints in the military reserves. More rarely considered is the fact that Switzerland has also never suffered a tyrant who harshly ruled against the will of the people or tried to disarm them. (Swiss gun laws are changing now for a variety of reasons, but the point remains.)

Just visit Governor Northam’s Twitter account and you will see that 99% of the comments on any post that he makes are tearing him to shreds with thinly veiled threats. When @GovernorVA posts a Merry Christmas message, he receives an unending torrent of angry insults and warnings in return. Online, nobody is letting Northam forget his history of appearing in blackface next to a pal in KKK robes, or that “Coonman” was his college nickname. And nobody is forgetting his recent statements on post-birth baby killing. Nonetheless, he is currently the duly-elected governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

But an important point to consider is that it doesn’t really matter if 51% or 90% of Virginia gun owners roll over and comply with Northam’s gun confiscation and/or registration laws. If even a few percent dig in their heels and privately say “hell no,” that will be enough to lead to violence. To millions of Americans, gun registration and confiscation are simply steps on the path to tyranny and, in many historical examples, eventual genocide. At least tens of thousands of Virginians will refuse to take those first steps, no matter what the law demands of them.

Following inevitably bloody gun confiscation raids, what will matter is not state-wide polling, but the individual deer hunter or sporting marksman who decides to go out on his own with his Remington or Winchester. He will hear about the latest local gun raid, and he will know the exact choke point surrounded by thick cover through which the convoy of LE police cars and SUVs will need to drive on its egress. At first, armed resistance might take the form of warning shots into engines or tires. The armed resistor will then disappear into the landscape, after caching his rifle and picking up his fishing rod for cover. Unit size: one man.
No comms, no “chatter.”

Next, the gun confiscators will begin to receive incoming pot-shots on their perimeter security elements while they are conducting suburban raids. The shooter will be back in bed before the gun raiders even know what happened. Step by step, action begetting reaction, a low intensity insurgency will grow and spread.

Consider the panic and mayhem unleashed in California a few years ago by just one angry villain conducting his own private war:
Christopher Dorner shootings and manhunt (from Wikipedia)
Christopher Jordan Dorner (1979-2013) was a Los Angeles police officer who, beginning on February 3, 2013, committed a series of shootings in Orange, Los Angeles, and Riverside County, California. The victims were police and civilians, including police families. Dorner killed four people and wounded three others. The rampage ended on February 12, 2013, when Dorner died during a standoff with San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Deputies after a shootout at a cabin in the San Bernardino Mountains. A manifesto reportedly posted by Dorner on Facebook declared “unconventional and asymmetric warfare” upon the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), their families, and their associates, unless the LAPD admitted publicly he was fired in retaliation for reporting excessive force. In two separate incidents during the manhunt, police shot at three civilians unrelated to Dorner, mistaking their pickup trucks for the vehicle being driven by Dorner. One of the civilians was hit by the police gunfire, another was wounded by shattered glass, and a third individual was injured when police rammed his vehicle and opened fire.

A Virginia insurgency might begin with random single actors, then grow into squad-size actions undertaken by friends and relatives sharing a strong pre-existing bond of trust, before growing into a full-blown guerrilla war.

I always come back to what a few hundred “active IRA” in Northern Ireland managed over three decades against the power of the British military, including countless checkpoints, undercover intelligence units, widespread hidden cameras, off-the-leash SAS teams, “false-flag” discrediting operations, military helicopters and so on. In time, IRA-sympathizing Catholics left their back fences and doors unlocked so that IRA men on the run could scramble inside and hop into a bed, while their guns were concealed under the floorboards by the homeowners. Even if the British troops searched house by house up and down the street, they’d find nothing, but they would mightily anger the locals by brutally ransacking their homes. This kind of local support for resistors would evolve on its own during a dirty civil war in Virginia. (And also consider that Northern Ireland has one-eight the land area and one quarter the population of Virginia.)

Outnumbered a hundred to one by the British Army, this relative handful of active IRA tied down entire divisions for thirty years, but eventually the British gave up, signed a peace deal in 1998, and left. (And although it was required by the peace agreement, the IRA never disarmed.) And let’s not forget that a few thousand sandal-clad Taliban armed with rusty iron-sighted weapons, cell phones and walkie-talkies have fought the U.S. military to a standstill—and that is when our troops hold the major advantage of fighting from secure bases, and these troops’ families do not share neighborhoods with their enemies.

I’m simply not aware of any previous civil war where tens of thousands of aggrieved citizens began the struggle armed with rifles capable of making 500 yard and greater precision shots. This is an equation changer. Gun raids will not be possible for long if law enforcement convoys are taken under accurate fire en-route to and from gun confiscation operations, and roadside car-search checkpoint duty becomes a suicide mission. Never forget what happened to the British redcoats on the famous 1775 gun confiscation raids at Concord and Lexington, and perhaps more importantly, remember what happened to them during their retreat to Boston.

Make no mistake: gun confiscation laws, as well as laws making paper felons out of those who refuse to register their now-legal weapons (in order to expedite their future confiscation) will lead to armed resistance.

Next: On To Richmond!

Related Reading:
Virginia Checkpoints: What Could Possibly Go Wrong?
Bracken: What I Saw At The Coup
When the Music Stops: How America’s Cities May Explode in Violence
The CW2 Cube: Mapping the Meta-Terrain of CW2

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IT'S A TRAP... and I'll be there, in Virginia on January 20th? ~ Rex Reviews (Rated R) RT-16:41


TRAP TYPE: A classic Marion Antoinnette style “Let them eat cake” trap.

TRAP SPECS: Bloomberg and European billionaire elites insert Ralph Northam (a fairytale level cartoon villain) as de-facto authoritarian governor of Virginia... a State they know carries the flag “Sic semper tyrannis”. Ralphie intentionally enrages the population with a textbook Unconventional Warfare Operation taunting the populous with insane mid-evil policy suggestions and then threatens to use force against the people if they do not comply with his unlawful demands.

MECHANISM #1: Trap is set when Ralphie and his legislature unlawfully declare carrying weapons on state property to be“illegal”, taunting the people to either overreact, so they can crack down.

MECHANISM #2: Trap effectively intimidates and deters the people from standing-up as they back down to an authoritarian, so that they can continue to be corralled and subjugated in a more orderly fashion.

TRAP COUNTERMEASURES:

With a strong careful hand use an appropriate tool to hold the jaws of the trap open while a friend unsets the spring and then removes the bait. Stand up boldly and say NO to unlawful actions of the criminals taking them, do not be intimidated, do not run, do not hide, most importantly do not set the trap by overreacting. Thoroughly detail and log every attempt of their goons trying to set of the trap. Don’t back down.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TRAP SETTER AND BAITER:

1. Ralphie thinks that “white sheets” and ‘black-face’ costumes are funny.

2. Ralphie links up with radical billionaire globalist, self-professed Saint Michael Bloomberg, who wants to disarm his People and dissolve the sovereignty of the United States

3. Ralphie and his crew are “voted into office” NOT by the People, but by wireless electronic voting machines with major security issues that were widely observed in similar machines years before by the Virginia State Board of Elections.

4. Ralphie is proud of helping sex offenders to get into shelters with less restrictions

5. Ralphie is cool with waiting to discuss the option of killing babies AFTER they’re born

6. Ralphie says its “illegal” to carry weapons on state grounds, before Lobby Day

7. Ralphie threatens to completely and even forcibly disarm and declaw all Virginia citizens - no matter what the cost

8. Bloomberg and Ralphie are shipping in bus-loads of paid agitators and co-agitators to conduct potential false flag operations, or to taunt the crowd into triggering the trap.

RALPHIE’S UNIFORM: The New York times: May 22, 2019: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/22/us...

RALPHIE’S CONTROLLER: “Saint Bloomberg“ on 60 Minutes - April 21, 2017 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/no-wait-...

RALPHIE’S LZ: Virginia voting machines decertified after Election Day Debacle: https://wtvr.com/2015/04/14/virginia-...

RALPHIE’S ALLIES: Ralph Northam has vetoed legislation that would allow officials to temporarily block convicted sex offenders from using emergency shelters. https://www.wavy.com/news/politics/vi...

RAlPHIE’S MAIN TARGETS: potential young mothers, newborns, families and patriots. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/05/trump...

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And so it begins...
West Virginia Lawmakers Invite Virginia Counties Fed Up With Gun Control to Secede

By Pluralist | Jan 15, 2020

In a display of pro-Second Amendment solidarity, a group of West Virginia lawmakers have introduced a resolution inviting Virginia counties frustrated by gun control efforts to switch states.

Delegates in the lower house of the West Virginia Legislature put the proposal forth on Tuesday.

House Concurrent Resolution 8 would allow certain Virginia counties and independent cities to be admitted to West Virginia as constituent counties.

The group of 20 West Virginia Republicans, and one Independent, introducing the resolution said in the proposal that Virginia lawmakers have repudiated “the counsel of that tribune of liberty, Patrick Henry-who stated to the Virginia Ratifying Convention in 1788 that ‘The great object is that every man be armed. Everyone who is able might have a gun.'”

“[T]he government at Richmond now seeks to place intolerable restraints upon the rights guaranteed under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution to the citizens of [Virginia,]” the proposal reads.

If it passes, the Virginia General Assembly would need to approve the resolution as well, and hold an election prior to August 1, 2020 allowing residents in Virginia counties to vote on whether they’d like to join West Virginia.

HCR8’s language makes clear West Virginia lawmakers are motivated both by their state’s historically close ties to their neighbor in the east and the ideological battle currently raging in Virginia over gun laws.

Delegate Gary Howell, one of the West Virginia Republicans who introduced HCR8, told Pluralist that Virginians have been reaching out to him for help protecting their Constitutional rights.


Virginia governor declares state of emergency following militia threats over gun reforms

Intelligence groups report chatter echos Charlottesville rally, governor says.

By Ivan Pereira

January 15, 2020, 1:44 PM

News headlines today: Jan. 15, 2020Catch up on the developing stories making headlines.Zach Gibson/Getty Images, FILE

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam issued a state of emergency on Wednesday that bars any weapons from the Richmond’s Capitol Square from Friday to Tuesday, after he received credible intelligence that hate groups and armed militias are planning violence at next Monday’s Lobby Day against gun control legislation.

Northam, who discussed the threats at a news conference, said the state’s law enforcement analysis found that the chatter on the internet and other venues mirrored similar messages seen around the time of the 2017 Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally, which left three dead and more than 30 injured.

The governor declined to give exact details about the threats and the persons making them, but said that these groups, who were coming from outside of the state, talked about storming the Virginia Capitol.

"They are not coming to peacefully protest, they are coming to intimidate and to cause harm," he said of the outside groups.

Gun rights protesters hold signs prior to the start of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary committee at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Jan. 13, 2020.
Gun rights protesters hold signs prior to the start of a meeting of the Senate Judiciary committee at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Jan. 13, 2020.Steve Helber/AP, FILE

The announced weapons ban will include sticks, bats, chains, projectiles, and firearms, similar to the prohibitions issued on airlines and in courthouses, Northam said. State, Capitol and Richmond police officers will coordinate the safety in the square and set up checkpoints to make sure everyone adheres to the weapons ban.

"It makes no sense to ban every other weaponbut allow firearms when intelligence shows a threat of an armed militia groups storming our capital," Northam said.

Gun rights advocates from around the country plan on attending the state's Lobby Day on Monday to speak out against new gun control legislation that is moving forward under the newly Democratic-controlled Virginia House of Delegates and state Senate. Some of the bills include universal background checks on guns, an assault rifles ban and a "red flag" law that would give judges the authority to order an individual to temporarily turn in their weapon if they are deemed a threat.

Seventeen states including New York and Florida, as well as Washington, D.C., have previously passed red flag laws.

The Virginia Citizens Defense League, VCDL, a group that describes itself as a "non-profit, non-partisan, grassroots organization dedicated to advancing the fundamental human right of all Virginians to keep and bear arms," plans on holding a rally. Northam said he respects the rights of Virginians to protest and speak their mind about the gun control bills, but emphasized that he will not condone any threat of violence.

He called on the VCDL and other gun rights groups to stick to peaceful protests.

"I call on them to disavow anyone who wishes to use Monday’s rally to advance a violent agenda," Northam said. "Hate, intimidation and violence have no place here."

Representatives for the VCDL didn’t immediately return messages for comment.


First arrest begin...
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1217853151145025536
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Shimon Prokupecz @ShimonPro

· 34m

FBI arrests three from neo-Nazi group planning to attend Virginia pro-gun rally. A law enforcement official said the men are members of the white supremacist group known as The Base. Investigators believe they were been planning to attend a pro-gun rally in Virginia Monday.

8:56 AM · Jan 16, 2020·Twitter Web App

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FBI nabs three alleged neo-Nazis with machine gun ahead of Virginia gun rally

Reuters•January 16, 2020

• 

FBI nabs three alleged neo-Nazis with machine gun ahead of Virginia gun rally

Former Canadian military reservist Patrik Jordan Mathews poses in an undated picture provided by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

(Reuters) - The FBI has arrested three suspected members of a neo-Nazi group who had a machine gun and hopes of sparking a U.S. race war at a planned gun-rights rally in Virginia that is expected to draw thousands of people, officials said on Thursday.

Among those arrested were a former cavalry scout in the U.S. Army and a Canadian citizen who was illegally in the United States and was a combat engineer in the Canadian Army Reserve.

The arrests came the day after Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared a state of emergency banning any weapons around the grounds of the state capitol in Richmond, saying investigators had seen groups making threats of violence.

The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security have been sharply criticized for not focusing enough on the threat of far-right extremism following a spate of attacks on synagogues and a 2017 white-supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Heads of both of those agencies have said in recent months that they were taking the threat more seriously.

Several thousand gun rights supporters are planning a large rally in Richmond, Virginia's capital, on Monday in response to the newly Democratic-controlled state legislature's push to stiffen gun laws.

Virginia, where Democrats took control of the legislature by promising stronger gun laws, has become the latest focal point for the contentious American debate around the right to bear arms. Many gun-rights groups contend the U.S. Constitution guarantees their ability to possess any firearm. Those opposed say gun laws would help lessen the number of people killed by guns each year.

According to a criminal complaint filed before the U.S. District Court for Maryland, the men arrested were Brian Mark Lemley Jr., who previously was in the U.S. Army; Patrik Jordan Mathews, a former Canadian military reservist; and William Garfield Bilbrough.

They are accused of interstate commerce of weapons, harboring illegal aliens, an alien in possession of a firearm and ammunition, and aiding and abetting. The FBI also said in the court filing that the men had attempted to manufacture DMT, a chemical resembling the structure of psilocybin in psychedelic mushrooms and an illegal drug under federal law.

While federal authorities can bring criminal terrorism charges against those suspected of working on behalf of foreign extremist groups like al Qaeda, they lack those tools when pursuing those affiliated with domestic extremist groups, whose views are protected by the free-speech clause of the U.S. Constitution.

The FBI said in the court filing that the three are members of the neo-Nazi group The Base. The FBI said in the court document that it had monitored encrypted chats among the group's members, in which they discussed creating a white ethno-state and carrying out acts of violence against minorities.
The men were in possession what appeared to be a fully automatic rifle, according to an FBI agent who watched the men fire the weapon at a gun range.

Shortly after firing the weapon on Jan. 2 at a Maryland gun range, Lemley told Mathews, "Oh, oops, it looks like I accidentally made a machine gun," according to the court document. The men were seen in possession of other guns, but the details were not included in the filing.
Lemley and Mathews lived together in Delaware, while Bilbrough resided in Maryland. Mathews illegally crossed over the border into the United States in August, according to the court document.

(Reporting by Brad Brooks in Austin, Texas, Mark Hosenball and Andy Sullivan in Washington and Gabriella Borter in New York; Editing by Scott Malone and Jonathan Oatis)

We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20. This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.

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Fears of Charlottesville repeat as three neo-nazis - including Canadian reservist - arrested ahead of Virginia gun rights rally

Chris Riotta
The Independent16 January 2020

National Socialist Movement members demonstrate against the LGBTQ event Motor City Pride: REUTERS

The FBI has arrested three alleged members of a neo-nazi hate group who were reportedly anticipating a possible race war and planning to bring firearms to a major guns rights demonstration next week in Virginia.

The three men — one of whom previously served as a trained combat engineer and explosives expert in the Canadian Army before his links to white supremacy emerged — were arrested in Maryland on Thursday morning.

Patrik Jordan Mathews, the 27-year-old former Canadian reservist and a main recruiter for the neo-nazi group, had reportedly entered the United States illegally ahead of the Virginia Citizens Defence League annual Lobby Day demonstrations set for Monday.

Brian M Lemley Jr, a 33-year-old former cavalry soldier in the US Army, was also one of the three men arrested by officials this week, along with 19-year-old William G Bilbrough. All three suspected members of the hate group known as "The Base" were expected to appear in federal court on Thursday afternoon.

The annual Lobby Day demonstrations have gained national attention by both proponents of the Second Amendment and gun control activists after Virginia’s General Assembly advanced four sweeping gun control bills, setting the stage for a potentially contentious showdown between both sides of the ideological divide.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has since declared a state of emergency and temporarily banned firearms from Capitol grounds, where the demonstrations are set to take place.

Philip Van Cleave, president of the Virginia Civil Rights Defence League, told The Independent in an interview the group’s lawyers are looking into whether the governor had the legal authority to temporarily ban firearms in a state known for its lax open carry laws.

“First of all, we don’t think it’s legal”, Mr Van Cleave said about the temporary ban. “We don’t think he has the power to do what he’s doing.”

The guns rights group has estimated as many as 100,000 demonstrators could flock to the city on Martin Luther King day for the demonstrations, and has scheduled charter buses throughout the state for its members hoping to attend the event.

In announcing the state of emergency, Mr Northam said in a statement there was credible evidence that “militia groups and hate groups, some from out of state, plan to come to the Capitol to disrupt our democratic process with acts of violence”.

“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20”, the governor wrote on Twitter.

Ralph Northam ✔ @GovernorVA

We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20. This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.

1,054
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He added: “This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.”
The arrest of the three suspected neo-Nazis planning to attend Lobby Day was in part the result of an extensive investigation the FBI was conducting into The Base, according to the New York Times.




Flashback:
Virginia police depts. get used military equipment

By Rachel DePompa | May 22, 2014 at 2:49 AM EDT - Updated July 2 at 10:20 AM

CAROLINE, VA (WWBT) - Virginia police are quietly stocking up on millions of dollars in leftover military equipment.


Agencies around the Commonwealth have been doing this for the better part of two decades.

For instance, we found the predecessor to the military's modern day Mine Resistant Armored Vehicle also known as a MRAP. It's often used to transport soldiers and protect them from bombs. It's 24 feet across and weighs 25,000 pounds and you might see it on the streets of Caroline County.


"It didn't cost our taxpayers anything," said Caroline County Sheriff Tony Lippa.

How's that possible? They got it through what's called the military's 1033 program.

It's first come, first served. The military gives away its unwanted or out of commission items to local police....



Virginia 20th Militia Rally (9:37)


https://youtu.be/GhHM9sFMy1Y

BREAKING: Virginia Declares State of Emergency (4:35)



https://youtu.be/g6HpCmOoIng

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What We Learned from the Bloomberg Effect in Virginia

Ammoland Inc. Posted on December 25, 2019 by Rob Morse

Ralph Northam Governor of Virginia and Michael Bloomberg

U.S.A. -(Ammoland.com)- There is a lot we can learn from the recent elections in Virginia. Democrats now hold the majority in both houses of the legislature, the offices of Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of state.
To touch the obvious highpoints-

• Money talks. When your local representative is elected to office because billionaire Michael Bloomberg bought his victory, then the representative doesn’t speak for you. He speaks for Bloomberg.
• Politicians who take large campaign contributions can propose disastrous laws so long as the contributions continue. Bloomberg’s political contributions becomes essential while the local results of legislation becomes superfluous.
• News outlets accept money to run campaign advertisements. Beyond their personal biases, the media’s commercial incentives further distort their ability to report honestly on an election.
• Big-government politicians in both parties want more government so that political payoffs continue. These politicians have no use for limited government and free citizens.

All elections have consequences. Unusual elections have unusual consequences. Even before they took office, the Virginia Democrats advanced Bloomberg’s agenda.

• Virginia Democrats proposed to outlaw zoning for new single-family homes and thus to punish the people who live outside the dense urban centers that make up the core Democrat constituency. Living in your own home is now racist.
• Virginia Democrats proposed to disarm honest citizens in and near the state capital. Democrats don’t trust the people who elected them.
• Virginia Democrats proposed to disarm adults under 21 years of age. That means you could be a young police officer and carry a gun when you’re on duty, you could also be old enough to be married and have children, but you wouldn’t be old enough to buy a gun to protect your family when you’re off duty. Only a true believer thinks that makes sense.
• Democrats proposed to outlaw firearms in common use for the last hundred years. In the name of “freedom and democracy”, they want to outlaw the tools that gave us our freedom and democracy. Honest gun owners across the state said they would not comply. Police officers and Sheriff’s deputies also said they would not comply.
• Virginia Democrats proposed to illegally use the National Guard to go door to door and forcibly confiscate firearms from honest gun owners. That is how you start a civil war.

If gun control laws in other states are a guide, then these gun prohibition laws would not apply to the legislators themselves. If I’m wrong and the laws apply equally to our rulers, then Bloomberg’s money can buy a full time security detail for every Democrat legislature and their family.

You, on the other hand, are on your own.

The publicly stated rationale is that these power-grabs are for “the public good” and to reduce “gun violence”. If this bigotry against gun owners runs true to form, then in the name of public safety we’ll ask the police to disarm honest citizens who are less danger to the public than the police. In the name of public safety, we’ll establish more “gun free zones” where criminals hunt for disarmed victims. The mainstream media will publish the gun-prohibition talking-points but ignore that crime has fallen while gun ownership has soared.

There is some good news as well. Today, we have the alternative media and it is harder than ever to fool all the people all the time. Unfortunately, you still have to get off the couch to vote once you’re informed about the issues.

Today, we have the alternative media and it is harder than ever to fool all the people all the time.

Talking points are easy and progress is hard. Actions to reduce urban violence would be to reverse Democrat regulation and let industry make more jobs. We’d stop the government programs that destroy our families. We’d end the disastrous drug-prohibition laws that turn our Democrat-controlled cities into war zones as immigrant drug gangs fight for turf. That won’t happen because this contest is about political power rather than being about violence or prosperity.

Prohibition is a foolish and dangerous quest. I’d respect billionaire Bloomberg if he tackled our ruinous drug prohibition scheme, but instead, Bloomberg chose to assaults our individual right of self defense. Drug lords would probably attack Bloomberg if he tried to make drugs legal. I think Bloomberg judged that honest gun owners in the US were safer scapegoats for failed Democrat policies. I hope a wise judge will stop Bloomberg’s foolishness before too many of us are hurt or killed.
On the plus side for liberty, billionaire Bloomberg created a hundred thousand activists who might change the next elections in Virginia. Looking across the state, there were over 90 meetings to establish second-amendment sanctuaries in December. 112 local governments voted to ignore unconstitutional infringements on the right to bear arms.

2A Sanctuaries in Virginia

We’ve seen the second-amendment sanctuary movement spread into other states. Why don’t you go to your county board and start a sanctuary county where you live?

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Almost a decade old but still has relevance today...

Land of The Free - "American Resistance Movement" 1st day of the 2nd American Revolution (14:58)

https://youtu.be/WkPVGB6uQ0k

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First Salvo: Here Are the Three Anti-Gun Bills Virginia Democrats Are Voting on Today

Matt Vespa @mvespa1 Posted: Jan 16, 2020 6:05 AM

Well, after nearly a decade of ineptitude, the Virginia Republican Party has given us back-to-back Democratic governors. Oh, and the state legislature flipped in the 2019 elections.

For the first time in two decades, the Democrats control all in the Old Dominion. They’re liberal. They’re anti-gun. They want to turn Virginia into Maryland. These folks wasted no time getting universal background checks, a ban on so-called assault weapons, one-gun-a-month law, magazine limits, and increasing the age to purchase guns on the docket. Something is going to pass. That’s the bad news. The good news is with enough pressure; Virginia’s Second Amendment supporters and gun owners can hopefully scare lawmakers from some of the more radical measures.

The assault weapons ban died in committee in the Virginia State Senate, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be logrolled into something else. Regardless, one-gun-a-month seems like the one that is likely to be signed into law again. It was repealed under former Republican Gov. Bob McDonnell. The National Rifle Association’s lobbying arm has already noted that some of these proposed bills, like banning private sales that don’t pay fees and are done without prior authorization from government authority is totally unenforceable and will have zero impact on fighting crime (via NRA-ILA):

Senate Bill 35, introduced by Senator Scott Surovell, would destroy Virginia’s firearm preemption laws by allowing localities to create new “gun-free zones” in and around public buildings, parks, and permitted events such as farmer’s markets. Criminals would ignore these restrictions, leaving law-abiding citizens unable to defend themselves and their loved ones.

Senate Bill 69, introduced by Senator Mamie Locke, commonly referred to as “one-gun-a-month,” would arbitrarily ration an individual’s right to lawfully purchase a handgun to once within 30 days.

Senate Bill 70, introduced by Senator Louise Lucas, would ban sales between private individuals without first paying fees and obtaining government permission. Firearm sales between friends, neighbors, or fellow hunters, would not be exempted. This proposal would have no impact on crime and is completely unenforceable.

Frankly, it wouldn’t shock me if all these bills passed. They probably will since Democrats are the majority. Elections matter. They have consequences and a decade of shoddy candidate recruitment has landed us here. Republicans use to have a supermajority in the House of Delegates. Those were the days. Now, we’re dealing with multiple attempts by Democrats to shred our Constitutional rights regarding gun ownership, with some openly discussing using the National Guard to confiscate guns. We’re in dark times for sure.

GOA & VCDL Suing Virginia Governor Update (2:28)

https://youtu.be/SRZYbAq2xCk


Virginia Dems Try to Grab Guns (3:14)

https://youtu.be/84KIFTcJRWc

​

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Judge upholds weapons ban at gun rally in Virginia

by Elizabeth Tyree, AP
Thursday, January 16th 2020







The Virginia state Capitol building is surrounded by fencing, Thursday, Jan. 16, 2020 in Richmond, Va., in preparation for Monday's rally by gun rights advocates. Gun-rights groups are asking a judge to block the Virginia governor's ban on firearms at a massive pro-gun rally scheduled for next week. Gov. Ralph Northam on Wednesday, Jan. 15, announced a state of emergency and banned all weapons from the rally at the Capitol. (Dean Hoffmeyer/Richmond Times-Dispatch via AP){/p}


UPDATE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
A judge has upheld Governor Northam's ban on all types of weapons at a pro-gun rally planned for next week.
Gov. Ralph Northam had announced the ban on Wednesday as he declared a state of emergency over threats of “armed militia groups storming our Capitol.” The judge’s order Thursday came hours after the FBI announced the arrest of three alleged white supremacists in Maryland.

David Browne, an attorney for the gun-rights groups, argued that prohibiting rallygoers from carrying guns would violate their Second Amendment right to bear arms and their First Amendment right to free speech. Browne said carrying guns is a form of symbolic speech.

Virginia’s solicitor general, Toby Heytens argued that the governor was well within his authority to declare the state of emergency and ban weapons after law enforcement identified “credible evidence” that armed out-of-state groups planned to come to Virginia with the possible intention of participating in a “violent insurrection.”
Heytens said the alleged white supremacists arrested Thursday had discussed traveling to Richmond “to engage in a race war.”


Ralph Northam
✔ @GovernorVA

This is the right decision. I took this action to protect Virginians from credible threats of violence. These threats are real—as evidenced by reports of neo-Nazis arrested after discussing plans to head to Richmond with firearms. Read my full statement:https://www.governor.virginia.gov/newsroom/all-releases/2020/january/headline-850951-en.html … https://twitter.com/MarkHerringVA/status/1217924562681237504 …



Richmond Circuit Court Upholds Executive Order Forty-Nine

The Richmond Circuit Court today upheld Governor Ralph Northam’s decision, outlined in Executive Order Forty-Nine, to temporarily ban firearms on Capitol grounds from 5:00 PM on Friday, January 17,...
governor.virginia.gov

Mark Herring
✔ @MarkHerringVA


*BREAKING* A judge has DENIED a request to block Gov. Northam's Executive Order.

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Lawsuit Against Weapons Ban by WSET on Scribd




In the lawsuit, they claim the executive order violates citizens' First Amendment rights.

A hearing for the challenging lawsuit was scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in Richmond Circuit Court.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League is part of the Lobby Day Rally on January 20 and called the weapon ban illegal. On Facebook, the group has asked for peace ahead of the rally.


VCDL Page - Virginia Citizens Defense League, Inc.
7 hours ago
I'm sure that everyone has now heard that Governor Northam has declared a state of emergency and banned the carrying & possession of weapons on Capitol Square in Richmond from 5:00 pm Friday, January 17 to 5:00 pm on Tuesday, January 21.
VCDL believes that this gun ban is illegal. Our legal team is looking at our options and we will keep you advised as soon as we have a definitive plan. As it stands now, you can carry on 9th Street, or other nearby streets, as long as you ...
See More

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"We cannot stress enough that this is a peaceful day to assemble and address our Legislature about protecting our right to keep and bear arms. Lobby Day is NOT about statues, flags, racism, sexism, or anything other than protecting the right to keep and bear arms for ALL law-abiding citizens," they wrote.

Northam's planned announcement comes days after Democratic leaders used a special rules committee to ban guns inside the Capitol and a legislative office building.

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IMPORTANT REQUEST: We need 10,000 patriots to fill the Capitol grounds for Monday's rally!

Unfortunately, the Virginia Supreme Court just said they did not have enough information on the stay denied by the lower court to issue their own stay, so the Governor's illegal gun-ban on Capitol grounds is going to stand for this event.

Here is what we need to do on Monday to make the rally a success:

DETAILS:

1. VCDL needs at least 10,000 members/gun owners to commit to "taking one for the team'" by entering the Capitol grounds unarmed around 10 am and being in place for the rally by 10:45 am. Those who were lobbying will already be unarmed, so we urge them to be part of the 10,000 inside the fencing. NOTE: knives with folding metal blades less than 3-inches long are ARE permitted both in the General Assembly AND on the Capitol grounds.
2. For every one gun owner on the Capitol grounds, we need another two to five people outside the Capitol grounds's fence on 9th Street. Those doing so can be legally armed.

If you can commit to being one of our needed 10,000 unarmed members inside the fence, please help us by asking several of your family and friends to be your designated armed escort to the gates and to stand outside the fenced area to watch over us.

WHY:

We are separating our responsibilities, in this otherwise untenable and unconstitutional situation foisted on gun owners by Northam. Gun owners standing, both inside and outside of the fence, ensure that the Capitol grounds and the surrounding area is filled to capacity to hear our speakers and it will make a great visual for the cameras!

For those who are going to be on the Capitol grounds, the less items you bring along, the quicker and more efficient the screening.

VCDL will have loudspeakers so that those outside the fence will be able to hear. The event will also be broadcast live on WRVA radio, 1140 AM /96.1 FM.

IMPORTANT:

We ask everyone to follow the temporary Capitol grounds rules. There is NO need for an act of civil disobedience to achieve standing for a court fight. We already have standing.

We still will have our day in court to fully debate the governor's unconstitutional overreach in just a few short weeks.

Thank you very much for your support and understanding. The Governor and his cronies would like nothing better than to see the Capitol grounds empty, with the speakers talking only to themselves. We simply cannot let that happen.

PLEASE CHOOSE ONE:

• Arrive temporarily UNARMED and go INSIDE the fenced area on the Capitol groundsor
• Stand with us, LEGALLY ARMED if you so choose, just OUTSIDE the fence and watch over your brothers and sisters inside the fence

Either way, we'll see you there!

FINAL NOTE:

Monday is going to be a day of lobbying, with a peaceful rally. All law-abiding citizens are invited. The Capitol, State, and Richmond police forces will be providing strong security. We thank them in advance for helping make sue that the event is a safe and fun event.

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EndGameWW3 @EndGameWW3
Saying weaponized drones could be in use in Virginia during gun rally on Monday. https://twitter.com/CBSEveningNews/status/1218317564125896705 …
CBS Evening News
✔ @CBSEveningNews
Ahead of a pro-gun rally next week, authorities arrested 3 more men who had trained at a camp for a white supremacist group known as “The Base.”
It’s a “neo-Nazi group that believe in white ethnicity and power,” the FBI says.
Here's @jeffpeguescbs https://cbsn.ws/30w2IlL

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3:48 PM - Jan 17, 2020
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Luke Rudkowski
@Lukewearechange
The hell is this? this "just rolled into Virginia" !?


7:15 PM · Jan 16, 2020·Twitter Web Client
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Posted 1/14/20 a VA Film Agency 2hours away from Richmond, 1 hour from Langley was looking for Crisis Actors (Terrorists, IED Victims, Hostages and Rescue Teams) The film agency changed the description with a NOTE yesterday to say it was not part of the Richmond situation, then finally pulled the quoted posting below late yesterday.

Call Out for CRISIS ACTORS in Virginia..As GOV Declares State of Emergency

View: https://youtu.be/2PeYUBJXpAw

Virginia has an open casting call right now for "crisis actors"...at the same time a massive pro gun rally is to take place.

AMISSVILLE. VA – SEEKING ACTORS FOR ONGOING "LIVE" ROLE PLAYING PROJECT – CURRENT – PAID

LINK: https://www.film.virginia.org/hotline...

Amissville – Seeking actors for ongoing live roleplaying project – Current – Paid
“Hostile Environment Awareness Training (HEAT)”
Location: Amissville, VA (near Warrenton/Culpeper)
Rate: $250/day ($200 plus $50 for travel). Additional travel/lodging not provided.

Description: HEAT courses are designed to prepare NGO staff for operating in challenging international environments through in-person simulations. Actors take on varying roles (terrorist, IED victim, hostage, rescue team) throughout each workshop. The work can be intense (both physically and mentally) but also very rewarding.

For more information and to apply, please complete the casting call submission form now at the following link:

Casting Call: HEAT - Airtable

Any submissions directly to this e-mail address (rather than through the form) will be disregarded. Thank you for your interest in this project!

Shaun Irving

ONE DAY AGO- VIRGINIA GOV DECLARES STATE OF EMERGENCY AHEAD OF GUNS RIGHTS RALLY, citing "credible" threats of violence https://www.google.com/search?q=virgi...

UPDATE!!!! an HOUR AGO: FBI ARRESTS # NEO-NAZIS BEFORE GUN RALLY https://www.google.com/search?q=virgi...

**************MUST SEE VIDEO VIRGINIA GOVERNOR DECLARING STATE OF EMERGENCY*****

View: https://youtu.be/ynDloxA8Whg




Virginia Keeps Heating Up...and It's Bad (7:14)






Defeat Thermal Imaging and Survive Modern Warfare (3:12)

Antifa to be busing in protesters.


Hmmm....

Why would Vice report Antifa was marching with Pro 2A supporters when it is apparent Antifa is not?

Antifa says they're coming for other reasons...

In Response to VICE News: “Why This Antifa Group Is Siding With Thousands of Pro-Gun Conservatives In Virginia” – Antifa Seven Hills
We never indicated we were attending as a group, nor did we make any call to action for folks to engage in the way that is being purported. We have monitored this situation closely for weeks and found it to be increasingly dangerous. We spoke to the fact that several leftist gun groups are coming as they’ve stated so publicly. We only spoke to opportunities...