Far from a ‘state of emergency’ or neo-Nazi reunion, Monday’s rally re-affirmed this writer’s faith in his fellow citizens.
By Michael Vlahos, The American Conservative, Jan. 21, 2020
Michael Vlahos is a writer and author of the book Fighting Identity: Sacred War and World Change. He has taught war and strategy at Johns Hopkins University and the Naval War College and is a weekly contributor to The John Batchelor Show. Follow him on Twitter @JHUWorldCrisis
Today, the Commonwealth of Virginia, home to four of our very first presidents—framers and founders who shaped the nation we are today—triumphantly reaffirmed its place as a leader-state.
Delegate William Wampler’s office confirmed to me that at least 25-30,000 Second Amendment supporters surrounded the state capitol on Monday. This had to be the largest gun rights rally ever, entirely surpassing the 10,000 people that the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) was anticipating in front of the Capitol, while VCDL lobbied legislators inside the building.
This was “lobby day”—a longstanding tradition—after all.
Meanwhile, media estimates ranged from 22,000, or more. Every street, alley and byway circling the state temple seemed to be packed with gun-owning, and gun-bearing citizens, and those who support them.
The Northam administration strove and schemed to diminish and to denigrate the event from the start. The media heartily complied. Police were ordered to partition the streets and Capitol lawn into a warren of chokepoints and cul-de-sacs, channeling people into segmented, dead-end venues cut off from each other, while access to the lawn before the Capitol building was rationed to create a less-than-impressive camera-eye: A vista of modest protest alone. ….