January 15, 2020

"Fearing a repeat of the deadly violence that engulfed Charlottesville more than two years ago, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared a temporary emergency Wednesday banning all weapons, including guns, from Capitol Square ahead of a massive rally planned next week over gun rights."

NBC12 reports.

That phrase — "Fearing a repeat of the deadly violence that engulfed Charlottesville more than two years ago" — caused me to have a thought so cynical that I will refrain from writing it down.

(If you're trying to remember the details of Northam's blackface problem, go here.)

ADDED: Vice reports it this way:
The governor said at a press conference Wednesday that authorities believe “armed militia groups plan to storm the Capitol” during the January 20 rally. He also said that law enforcement had intercepted threats and “extremist rhetoric” similar to what was observed prior to the violent Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in August 2017. “We will not allow that mayhem and violence to happen here,” he said....

Northam acknowledged that the organizers had been planning the rally for some time. “I believe them when they say this is a peaceful event — that’s what democracy is,” said Northam. “Unfortunately, they have unleashed something much larger, something they may not be able to control.”

59 comments:

Inga said...

The deadly violence of a car being driven by a white supremacist neo nazi attending a Unite the Right rally, that ran down people in the street and killed Heather Heyer. May she Rest In Peace and may her murderer live out his miserable life behind bars. Maybe that’s what Northam meant. I hope the families of the two men who were killed in the helicopter crash are doing well after losing their loved ones because of unnecessary turmoil.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Yeah, because gun rights rallies always turn violent...never. What a ridiculous attempt at gaslighting.

Ann Althouse said...

If he was fearing violence committed by a car, he might have banned cars. And how is a "Unite the Right" rally the same as a gun rights rally?

It may be that he feared violence because there were some threats or some particular information about plans for gun violence at a gun rights rally, but that is inconsistent with identifying the fear with the Charlottesville situation. Why refer to that, when this is nothing like that?

In NORTHAM's mind, there's some connection, if the news report has it right, but what is the connection? There's a line of thinking there, and I have my theory on what the connection is.

Anyway, if guns are banned and there is no violence, then Northam can claim his ban worked, so there's a trick to a ban like this. But, again, why connect gun rights demonstrators to the people who engaged in violent behavior in Charlottesville? Pretty disrespectful to guy rights.

Known Unknown said...

"Pretty disrespectful to guy rights."

HEAR HEAR!

- A guy

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

And if folks did bring their guns to a “massive rally” there would be exactly jackshit that Northam could, or Virginia law enforcement would, do about it.

Ann Althouse said...

@Known Unknown

I was about to fix that, but since you caught me...

narciso said...

Or you can have the police not stand down, so the whole thing became a melee out of dark knight rises.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

So if armed rally folks jam the public spaces outside Capitol Square it’s all cool, right? The absurdity of gun control made manifest yet again.

YoungHegelian said...

And the revisionist history of what happened at Charlottesville continues apace.

To make the story short, when you hear of demonstrations in the US become riots, assume 1) bad policing, 2) incompetent local government directing those police, or both.

Charlottesville was both.

tim maguire said...

The cynical (and correct) idea is that there is no connection and Northrum knows it but he pretends there is to stick it to the gun rights people. The news media dishonestly goes along with it for the same reason.

rehajm said...

The legislature is ramping up to ban private gun ranges. It will be interesting to see if what’s going on in Virginia impacts national voting or if voters outside VA will shrug or actually support it.

Vance said...

Inga misspelled the name of the violent protestor killed in Charlottesville. It was “Horst Wessel”.

gilbar said...

In NORTHAM's mind, there's some connection, if the news report has it right, but what is the connection?

my $0.02 worth is like this:
Unite the Right rally => people that did't vote for Northham
gun rights rally => people that didn't vote for Northham

since (according to Northham) ALL people that didn't vote for Northham are EVIL...
This MEANS, that (just like the Unite the Right people) the gun rights people are EVIL!

The good news is:
Meanwhile, West Virginia invites Virginia gun sanctuary jurisdictions to secede from Virginia and join West Virginia.

West Virginia Delegates use the resolution to pledge that the gun rights now under assault by Virginia Democrats will be protected for those counties that choose to become part of the state of West Virginia:

HCR 8 states:

Whereas, Article VI, Section 11 of The Constitution of the State of West Virginia explicitly permits additional territory to be admitted into, and become part of this state, with the consent of the Legislature and of a majority of the qualified voters of the state; and

Whereas, In a spirit of conciliation, the Legislature of West Virginia hereby extends an invitation to our fellow Virginians who wish to do so, to join us in our noble experiment of 156 years of separation from the government at Richmond; and, we extend an invitation to any constituent county or city of the Commonwealth of Virginia to be admitted to the body politic of the State of West Virginia, under the conditions set forth in our state Constitution, specifically, with the consent of a majority of the voters of such county or city voting upon such proposition; and we hereby covenant that their many grievances shall be addressed, and, we further covenant with them that their firearms rights shall be protected to the fullest extent possible under our Federal and State Constitution.


what could possibly go wrong with this? no one's saying: leave the union
they're saying: separate from your bogus state!!!
I think places like
southern Illinois, and northern california should look into becoming part of west virginia, as well! Maybe upstate new york too!

James Pawlak said...

ONE persons was killed by an auto and not by gun fire. As far as I know no one was even injured by gun fire at that "event".

I suggest that it is time for Virginians to follow Virginian Thomas Jefferson's advise" "LET THEM TAKE ARMS!".

Automatic_Wing said...

I suppose this is going to another one of things where the cops stand aside and let Antifa do their thing,

Qwinn said...

What Automatic_Wing said. That was the first cynical thing that occurred to me. Plenty of precedent for it.

Lucien said...

There they go again with the mind reading: the media don’t know what, if anything, Governor Northam fears, they just side with him because he’s a Democrat. It could be written “Claiming, without evidence, to fear . .”
And were there going to be counter-demonstrators, a la Charlottesville?

Narr said...

"Engulfed." I don't think that word means what they think it means.

Narr
But it garners attention

Wince said...

The salience of Charlottesville was the extent to which it established a repeating pattern.

No such trend has emerged, even nationally.

For some time I've said Charlottesville is in the rearview mirror, more a vestige of the Obama years than a portent of Trump's.

Narayanan said...

Aren't 2A supporters good at unarmed combat? Isn't that required for someone to be called RedneckBilly

Michael K said...

Whereas, Article VI, Section 11 of The Constitution of the State of West Virginia explicitly permits additional territory to be admitted into, and become part of this state, with the consent of the Legislature and of a majority of the qualified voters of the state; and

Interesting,. Maybe Northam and his California style gerrymandering could end up with just the DC counties as his state. He could move the capitol to Alexandria. That would also solve the problems of the Confederate statues.

Drago said...

Admiral Inga: "The deadly violence of a car being driven by a white supremacist neo nazi attending a Unite the Right rally, that ran down people in the street and killed Heather Heyer. May she Rest In Peace and may her murderer live out his miserable life behind bars. Maybe that’s what Northam meant. I hope the families of the two men who were killed in the helicopter crash are doing well after losing their loved ones because of unnecessary turmoil."

These 4 sentences represent 4 MORE sentences than Inga has ever written regarding all islamic terrorism incidents over the previous 5 years.

Also 4 sentences MORE than Inga has written regarding all MS13 machete murders in the US over the last 5 years.

Because of course.

n.n said...

A libertarian, right-wing? Probably. A National Socialist, Nazi, left-wing? Probably not. A diversitist, rabid, color supremacist? Not in evidence. An abortion zone set up to entrap and intimidate for the sake of a national spectacle and to deny civil rights? Yes. An abortion zone that aborted one of its own? Unfortunately. #HateLovesAbortion

Ban high-capacity [anti-]fascists. That said, I dub thee Governor "Two-face"... "Blackface" Northam. Let us bray.

n.n said...

the Obama years

Speaking of Obamacares, the stimulus effect of redistributive change was short-lived, the quid pro Joes are being called, and people are facing the stark reality of progressive prices, that were once obfuscated under a layer of privacy. I wonder what will happen once the warlock judges return to their chambers, the witch hunters return to their pots, and the market is restored to mitigate single/central side-effects.

Obama's quid pro Bo to Iran as a segue to Islamic State and social justice adventures in the greater Middle East is also under scrutiny. A positive development.

Drago said...

This also represents about the hundredth time Inga has mentioned Heather Heyer's name.

When challenged repeatedly to simply write the names of the 2 NYC school girls butchered by the dems/LLR's "spark of divinity" MS13 machete murderers, Inga refused.

In the same way the dems at the SOTU address refused to give any comfort to the murdered girls families because of course they didn't.

Kate Steinle doesn't matter either. Neither do the thousands of other Americans murdered, raped, violently assaulted etc by illegals.

They simply don't count and their names will never cross the lips of any dem/LLR.

Drago said...

Remember how fast the lefty/LLR-lefty media disappeared the Bernie-bro Hodgkinson story?

It's like it never happened at all.....except when the lefties/LLR-lefties wish death upon Steve Scalise and say he had it coming.

mccullough said...

They should wear Blackface and klan outfits to the rally. In honor of Northam

mccullough said...

Seng-Hui Cho killed 32 people at Virginia Tech in 2007.

So Northam should ban any South Korean immigrants from the rally.

mccullough said...

MS-13 are the only ones who the Virginia Dems will let carry guns. Because they are Dreamers.

Ryan said...

It is possible he is trying to actually incite gun violence.

Ryan said...

Or he wants the neo-nazi's to show up so he can lump everyone together.

Yancey Ward said...

At some point, if the Virginia Democrats don't back off, some of them are going to get their asses assassinated. They are playing a dangerous game here- you don't try to pass laws like this with such vehement resistance being displayed by other elected officials- it is stupid, and it is counterproductive in the long run- they are just going to lose the next round of elections in a landslide and the laws will be reversed.

Bob Loblaw said...

One nut job killed another in Charlottesville with a car. I don't see how it applies to anything in Virginia. This is a 2a protest, not anything to do with the same 200 or so people that show up to places in white sheets to troll Democrats and the media.

Seeing Red said...

They paid attention to what went on in New Zealand.

Seeing Red said...

Does VA allow recalls?

Ty said...

Wait, is it "gun rights" or "second amendment right"? Depends who you ask I suppose.

Big Mike said...

MS-13 are the only ones who the Virginia Dems will let carry guns. Because they are Dreamers.

@mccullough, point of information. MS-13 prefers to hack people slowly to death using machetes.

@Yancey, only Democrats are talking about the potential for assassination; responsible gun owners are not. I suspect that Democrats are trying to pretend that they are being courageous in the face of gun-toting Deplorables. The reason they think they can get away with this politically is that the Governor, Lieutenant Governor, AG, and the whole House of Delegates will not be up for re-election until 2021, and the State Senate not until two years after that. Plus so many federal workers in populous Fairfax and Loudoun counties are hard core Democrats. Mike Bloomberg, rabid anti-gunner, has made it clear that he calls the shots. (Analogy intended.) He paid for the legal challenge to the Republican-drawn districts that resulted in last minute changes to voting districts ordered by a couple tame judges — a new map that resulted in Republican incumbents facing off against each other in some districts, while leaving other districts with no viable Republican candidates. Strange, that. Also Bloomberg and his cronies pumped $13M into taking over the House of Delegates and State Senate last November, and he wants a return on his investment.

@Seeing Red, no.

wendybar said...

The fear being the little masked Bernie Sanders Antifa Crowd that beat people with bike locks and smash windows and riot through the streets beating up anybody who has different opinions then they do. The little masked Antifa didn't have a permit in Charlottesville, while the other group did. (they were actually protesting the taking down of Confederate statues....Little masked Antifas were attacking them for that stance...the car that hit that girl was taking off because the little masked Antifas were chasing him trying to break his windows.)

Big Mike said...

I want to add that I don’t own an AR or AK, so my objection to the legislation is not a case of special pleading. But the AR-15 with adjustable stock and chambered in .223 is a good choice for a long gun for a woman to use for home defense, as long as she uses soft tip rounds to prevent over-penetration. And I believe that a woman has a right to self defense.

FleetUSA said...

Of course, Northam and the Dims (even national Dims) want a repeat of "Charlottesville". They would probably welcome Antifa to show up as well.

Rusty said...

Does that mean that the police will be unarmed as well?
You are going to find out, governor, that you can pass all the laws you want. That doesn't mean they will be obeyed. The people,(with the guns) will decide whether the law is reasonable.

Tina Trent said...

They had to invent Charlottesville so they could have a Charlottesville so they could call us all klansmen.

It's that simple. Also vile.

Never mind the rapes and murders at Occupy protests, the beatings and bricks thrown, aggravated assaults and multiple murders of police by BLM, the murder of civilians and mass rioting and looting and arson and destruction of millions of dollars of property by Occupy and Food Not Bombs and especially BLM, the assaults and murders incited by Al Sharpton and NAN, the bombings and killings and attempted mass murder committed by older generations of leftists such as the assassinations of police by the BLA, and Obama and Michelle's very close friends, the Weathermen, and the May 19th animals....

The lying left needed Charlottesville, so they invented Charlottesville.

RMc said...

"Desperately hoping for a repeat of the deadly violence that engulfed Charlottesville more than two years ago, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam declared that he hopes Trump gets blamed for anything bad that happens."

Browndog said...

Charlottesville was engineered by former governor Terry McCauliff. After he lost the court case to ban the protest the night before he made sure the protesters got beaten and chaos in the streets when he declared an emergency 2 hours before the protest, used state police to funnel protesters directly into the waiting antifa mob when he closed the park an hour before the start of the rally.

It was amazing to watch in real time.

h said...

The truth is, the order will NOT ban all guns from the rally space. Police will be armed. The essence of gun control is to ensure that only those who have power over the police and military will have guns or protection by armed forces. In terms of original intent, it is hard to imagine that the writers of the Constitution who had just fought a successful rebellion against an entrenched government would have intended the 2nd amendment to ensure that such rebellions would never be successful in the future. But here we are.

Browndog said...

In NORTHAM's mind, there's some connection

The connection is the Terry McCauliff blueprint.

Declare an emergency long before there is one so you can use the state police that are under your direct control to violate the rights of the citizens.

Steve from Wyo said...


The rally organizers could send a message by setting up and manning a large number of tables with stacks of recall petitions.

hiawatha biscayne said...

Gov. Coonman and the Dems got their Reichstag fire at Charlottesville, so now they're working it for all it's worth. If they're really interested in stopping "gun violence," why not go into the high-crime areas in Richmond and elsewhere and disarm the criminals? As a sort of trial run.

Bruce Hayden said...

“I want to add that I don’t own an AR or AK, so my objection to the legislation is not a case of special pleading. But the AR-15 with adjustable stock and chambered in .223 is a good choice for a long gun for a woman to use for home defense, as long as she uses soft tip rounds to prevent over-penetration. And I believe that a woman has a right to self defense.”

I have never understood wanting an AK variant firearm. Maybe if you used 3rd world technology to build one from scratch. You can even find better guns that shoot 7.62×39mm ammunition than AK-47s. Ok, you can maybe find some guns that shoot .223 Remington or 5.56x45mm NATO better than an AR-15 can. Except that AR-15s can range in price and quality from maybe $400 up through several thousand dollars. And it is easy to switch AR-15s to shoot different calibers, though if you want to feed ammunition vertically through the magazine well, you essentially need to keep the ammunition as short as 5.56/.223. Over the last decade or so, other calibers have become popular, such as .300 Blackout, that looks more like straight walled pistol rounds than typical bottle nosed rifle rounds. Mostly though, people utilize the AR-15s bigger brother, the older AR-10, for heavier calibers. Unfortunately, AR-10 lower receivers never standardized, because the military never adopted the firearm officially (one of the really nice features of the AR-15 is that the upper and lower were standardized by our military 60 years ago, which is one reason that they are so modular - everything has to bolt to these two parts, which are connected by two partially removable takedown pins).

If you have a modicum of mechanical aptitude, building your own AR-15 can be great fun. 20-30 years ago, I was building my own computers. Very much the same sort of thing. Very much the same sort of feeling afterwards. You can show it off, and after everyone ows and aws, you can save your money in order to build your next one. Unless you are like a good friend of mine, who doesn’t need to save up, and has built 4 this year. My next build will likely be a .300 Blackout pistol build with maybe a 7” or so barrel (pistol builds in 5.56/.223 are problematic because the powder doesn’t burn fast enough, so you get a fireball from the unburned powder). (If you use a barrel shorter than 16”, ATF rules require either you to go through their permitting process for an SBR, or use a stabilizing brace that replaces the standard butt stock). Next one after that is likely to be a .458 SOCOM pistol build as a bear gun in MT. You get the idea. You can also have guns built for you, if you have more money than time - I saw photos of one recently built for one of the Trump boys, with a crusader cross and helmet around the front of the mag well, and with a “Lock Her Up” magazine, showing a picture of Her Highness behind bars, that are essentially the painted stiffening honeycomb of the magazine. No doubt, that photo, of an AR owned by one of Trump’s sons with that magazine sold a lot of magazines. I expect that there will probably be some of them in Richmond at the protests.

First time that you build an AR type gun, it seems a bit formidable. You get a stack of tiny parts, and some lager ones, and have to assemble them into something usable. But there are plenty of very good videos that take you through, Section by Section, and amazingly, you magically get something that works. And in a month or two, you find yourself partially disassembling the gun, to tweak one thing or another. Rinse and repeat. Great fun.

bagoh20 said...

Is it true that Gov. Northam will be judging a blackface contest at the rally? At least that's something he's qualified to make a decision about.

If I was a terrorist from either side, this sounds like a great place to take a gun - no competition, sitting ducks.

Gun control is like a seat belt made of lasagna noodles.

Lars Porsena said...

"Stand your ground. Don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war let it begin here." Captain John Paarker, to his Minute Men on Lexington Green, April 19, 1775. The early months of 1775 were a period of great anxiety in Massachusetts.

bagoh20 said...

So what if someone drives a car or truck through the crowd?

Since violence at these rallies always seems to benefit the left, we can expect that some people are hoping for it and possibly planning it for that political end.

You have to notice that when the left does it, as at the GOP congressmen's ball game, it never gets quite the same hysterical coverage, and endless reuse as a political bludgeon.

HoodlumDoodlum said...

Ann Althouse said... But, again, why connect gun rights demonstrators to the people who engaged in violent behavior in Charlottesville?

The question answers itself; at any rate nice centrist people don't like ugly demonstrations linked to violent racism, so naturally anyone the Left and Media declare on the wrong side of an issue just shouldn't be allowed to demonstrate. For the sake of both safety and "the conversation," naturally.

Bruce Hayden said...

I think that this is going to be interesting. Legally, and Constitutionally, Northam shouldn’t have a leg to stand on. The demonstration should be protected by both the 1st and 2nd Amdts, the VA Constitution, and VA statutes. Carrying firearms openly is symbolic. Carrying esp “assault weapons” in a public demonstration against gun control is hugely symbolic.

If it were just the pro Constitutionalists protesting, then the Governor wouldn't have a practical leg to stand on. But I think that it is likely that leftist groups, like the fascist Anti First Amendment (Antifa) thugs will likely be there to goad the Constitutionalists into overreacting. This time, the normal violent antics of the soyboy incel Antifa thugs would likely not work, because their opposition will likely be bigger, and better versed in fighting. But firearms are the great equalizers, and some Antifa appear to be arming themselves (often with what appear to be pretty cheap weaponry). In any case, the problem is likely going to be what happens when Antifa, in fear of being beat up, try to respond with firearms. By all rights, the guy who shoots first should be fair game under self defense statutes. But what happens if a dozen Constitutionalists respond with deadly force? What Northam should do is to use his state police, and maybe National Guard, to keep the two groups separated. Which is precisely what he probably won’t do (as shown by his predecessor’s actions instigating the violence in Charlottesville). I think that he may believe that instigating violence, esp if it involves gunfire, will further his cause. We shall see, but I am not very hopeful.

And yes, for the left here, it is likely to be a bit scary. Directions are to wear their plate armor, if the protesters know how to wear it properly. Gas masks too, to hide their faces from government facial recognition. All carrying “assault weapons” on slings, and looking like they know how to use them (looking very military, because a lot of them probably are former military). We have seen dozens dressed like this before at protests, but this time it is likely to be hundreds, maybe even thousands.

Rick said...

“Unfortunately, they have unleashed something much larger, something they may not be able to control.”

Since your action does this an order of magnitude greater it seems unlikely this is your concern.

mikee said...

NOTE: The estimable governor of Virginia has arranged that only one entrance/exit is made available around the entire capitol for the protests on Monday, indicating he and his minions in the police will create a violent event among the captive thousands of protesters, insuring panic and, hopefully, deaths will occur as the crowd tries to escape. His vile behavior should be repudiated by one and all.

Elliott A said...

Virginia statute does not permit the governor to declare an emergency for the purpose of abridging the second amendment of the state and federal constitutions.

Jim at said...

Inga joyfully dancing on Heather Heyer's grave. How entirely predictable.

Cato said...

OK then. If Governor Coonman wants to avoid another Charlottesville, he needs to ban automobiles and helicopters, right?