{"id":121742,"date":"2020-01-16T13:40:02","date_gmt":"2020-01-16T18:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gunsamerica.com\/digest\/?p=121742"},"modified":"2020-01-16T13:40:02","modified_gmt":"2023-09-06T10:48:39","slug":"democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"How a Democratic Governor and the Mainstream Media Tried to Delegitimize a Civil Rights Rally Before It Even Started"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"How
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has tried to slander gun rights advocates from the beginning. (Photo: Gov. Northam Facebook)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By now you\u2019ve heard that Virginia\u2019s Democratic Governor Ralph Northam has declared<\/a> a \u201cstate of emergency\u201d and banned the possession of firearms in downtown Richmond where a massive gun rights rally is set to take place on January 20th<\/sup>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northam has been threatening the move for days, and it culminates what has been the worst slander against lawful gun owners in recent memory. Gov. Northam and his allies in the media have conflated white supremacists with legitimate peaceful protesters, and Northam\u2019s executive order confirms that slander in the minds of the public: gun owners are dangerous, and their presence in the capital necessitates a state of emergency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northam probably knows more about white supremacy than I do, given his history<\/a>, but this is starting to get ridiculous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Governor<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Virginia\u2019s intelligence officials may have picked up evidence that extremists are planning violence on January 20th<\/sup>, but you wouldn\u2019t know it from Northam\u2019s order<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He beings by alluding to the far-right white supremacist\nrally that took place in Charlottesville in August of 2017. This has become a\ntheme in the media coverage of this event and in the governor\u2019s statements. If\nyou weren\u2019t paying attention, you\u2019d think the upcoming rally was about guns and <\/em>white supremacism. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the next paragraph, he gives Virginians his justification\nfor declaring a state of emergency. He says, \u201cCredible intelligence gathered by\nVirginia\u2019s law enforcement agencies indicates that tens of thousands of\nadvocates plan to converge on Capitol Square for events culminating on January\n20, 2020.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No offense to Virginia\u2019s law enforcement agencies, but a groundhog with an internet connection could have figured that one out. You don\u2019t need \u201ccredible evidence\u201d to determine that a massive rally is about to take place in Richmond. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northam continues: \u201cAvailable information suggests that a\nsubstantial number of these demonstrators are expected to come from outside the\nCommonwealth, may be armed, and have as their purpose not peaceful assembly but\nviolence, rioting, and insurrection.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notice he switches from \u201ccredible intelligence\u201d to \u201cavailable information\u201d when describing the threat from out-of-state \u201cdemonstrators.\u201d Also, notice the vagueness of the term \u201csubstantial number.\u201d How many is that? 10? 100? 10,000? Is the Galactic Empire descending on Richmond, Gov. Northam?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO: Virginia Gun Owners Prepare for Heated Legislative Session<\/a> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Virginia Citizens Defense League is confused as well. The gun-rights group responsible for organizing the rally noted in an email to supporters that \u201cneither the Governor nor any of his law enforcement has informed VCDL of any of these alleged threats.\u201d Whatever threats the governor\u2019s team has discovered, they haven\u2019t bothered to tell the organization in the best position to keep the rally peaceful. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m old enough to remember when Democrats complained for two\nsolid weeks about how President Trump\u2019s drone strike on Qasem Soleimani was ill-advised\nbecause the White House couldn\u2019t publicly name a specific, \u201cimminent\u201d attack.\nMaybe it\u2019s just me, but I think the standard of evidence required for\nvaporizing a terrorist should be lower than the evidence required from delegitimizing\na civil rights protest. The same Democrats who cried for proof of specific threats\nto kill a bona fide terrorist are happy to intimidate gun owners on what\nappears to be far less evidence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, that\u2019s it. Those two sentences are Northam\u2019s justification\nfor his executive order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s entirely possible that Virginia\u2019s finest have, in fact, discovered a plot to sow violence and \u201cinsurrection\u201d on Monday. But does anyone think those individuals will pack up their swastikas and their Lugers and go home just because Northam banned lawful gun owners from carrying firearms? This is a microcosm of the entire gun rights debate over the last 50 years, and Northam\u2019s massive gun-free zone could very well endanger those who seek to demonstrate peacefully. Honestly, you could cut this irony with a knife.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Northam, in short, has made it clear that the right to peaceful protest is sacred to every group except Second Amendment supporters. Women\u2019s rights leaders associated with open anti-Semites<\/a> were allowed to descend on the nation\u2019s capital during the Women\u2019s March without so much as a peep from mainstream politicians or state governors. But when gun owners rise up peacefully to make their displeasure heard, their efforts are cast as racist and violent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Media<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The governor\u2019s campaign against what promises to be the\nlargest pro-gun gathering in Virginia\u2019s history began last week, when several\nmainstream media outlets ran reports claiming to have uncovered a Charlottesville-like\nplot in the making. But while their headlines were inflammatory, their evidence\nwas what kids these days call \u201cweak sauce.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One article, for example, cited by Moms Demand Action<\/a>, declares \u201cVirginia Democrats won an election. Gun owners are talking civil war<\/a>.\u201d The author begins by comparing the gun rights rally to the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville and includes a section titled, \u201cWhite supremacists are recruiting.\u201d Here\u2019s how that section begins (notice all the rabid white supremacists she mentions):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginia\u2019s gun rights battle is already being covered widely in conservative media outlets. Donald Trump and the rightwing Arizona congressman Paul Gosar shared articles about it on Twitter. The Fox News host Tucker Carlson talked to a guest on his show about fears that local law enforcement in Virginia would be sent in to confiscate citizens\u2019 guns. Carlson blamed the left<\/a> for \u201ctrying to pick a fight, like a real fight, with rural Virginia.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The author\u2019s so-called evidence for sounding the alarm about\nwhite supremacist recruitment comes entirely from third party experts who claim\nto have been monitoring \u201cconversations\u201d online. But she never actually quotes\nany of these white supremacists or links to their inflammatory comments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SEE ALSO: National Guard Responds to Prospect of Enforcing Gun Control in Virginia<\/a> <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

She also mentions a militia group known as Oath Keepers. Much of the media fervor surrounding the upcoming rally stems from statements made by Oath Keepers leadership about visiting the rally. But even the Southern Poverty Law Center<\/a> doesn\u2019t go so far as to call them a white supremacist group, and white supremacists themselves have criticized<\/a> Oath Keepers because they aren\u2019t<\/em> racist. In addition, the Oath Keepers organization has never, to my knowledge, been blamed for any acts of violence. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither the media nor Gov. Northam has been able to name any actual white supremacist threats to the January 20th<\/sup> rally or prove that Nazis, et al, are planning to descend on Richmond in large numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This raises the question, Why the state of emergency?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Virginians<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I spent my formative years in Virginia, and I\u2019ve proudly\nwatched how gun owners have responded to the constitutional threats coming from\nthe Democratic legislature. This campaign to paint the gun rights rally as\nanother Charlottesville slanders all those hard-working, law-abiding gun owners\nwho want to protect their constitutional right to keep and bear arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends of mine in Virginia have defended the governor and argued that threats of violence should never be taken lightly when thousands of people are crammed into a few square blocks. I get that, and I\u2019ve advocated against<\/a> openly carried firearms at large public rallies. If someone does start shooting, it\u2019s almost impossible for law enforcement to tell the good guys from the bad.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting that the rally is still taking place.\nThe governor hasn\u2019t gone so far as to ban peaceful protest, and his rhetoric\ndoesn\u2019t appear to have discouraged attendees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gov. Northam and the media have engaged in a blatant campaign to delegitimize Monday\u2019s rally. Rather than focus on the massive grassroots uprising against restrictive gun bans, the media has obsessed about \u201canother Charlottesville\u201d and \u201cout of state militia groups.\u201d Their coverage and the governor\u2019s overblown \u201cstate of emergency\u201d allow the rally to be dismissed as nothing more than the unhinged complaints of white supremacists and crazies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s insulting, it\u2019s slanderous, and it needs to be proven\nwrong. I hope the rally goes off without a hitch, tens of thousands of people\nattend, and the country sees what can happen when elitist politicians threaten the\nconstitutional rights of law-abiding citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re planning to visit Richmond on Monday, check out\nthe email below from the VCDL, especially this portion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IF YOU SEE A BAD ACTOR flag down a police officer and point it out.  If someone tries to provoke you, smile and walk away.<\/strong>  There is probably someone secretly recording the interaction, with the intent of capturing some kind of inappropriate reaction on your part.  Don’t take the bait. It’s not worth the bad press.<\/strong>  Again, you might want to notify law enforcement of such bad actors.

The eyes of the nation and the world are on Virginia and VCDL right now and we must show them that gun owners are not the problem.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

***Buy and Sell on GunsAmerica!<\/a>*** <\/h2>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Northam has been threatening to declare a state of emergency for days, and it culminates what has been the worst slander against lawful gun owners in recent memory. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":121744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_specdata_upc":"","_specdata_placement":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[244,7,234,593,240],"tags":[132,586,122],"featured":[],"hunt365":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-121742","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-2nd-amendment-r2kba","8":"category-gunsamerica-authors","9":"category-columns","10":"category-jordan-michaels","11":"category-this-week","12":"tag-buzz","13":"tag-column","14":"tag-r2kba"},"yoast_head":"\nHow a Democratic Governor and the Mainstream Media Tried to Delegitimize a Civil Rights Rally Before It Even Started<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Northam has been threatening a state of emergency for days, and it culminates what has been the worst slander against lawful gun owners in recent memory.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How a Democratic Governor and the Mainstream Media Tried to Delegitimize a Civil Rights Rally Before It Even Started\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Northam has been threatening to declare a state of emergency for days, and it culminates what has been the worst slander against lawful gun owners in recent memory.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gun Reviews and News | GunsAmerica.com\/Digest\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-01-16T18:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-09-06T10:48:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/gunsamerica.com\/digest\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/ralph-northam-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jordan Michaels\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gunsamerica\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jordan Michaels\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jordan Michaels\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a21614cb8c2dd3512bbbaa26c54521ad\"},\"headline\":\"How a Democratic Governor and the Mainstream Media Tried to Delegitimize a Civil Rights Rally Before It Even Started\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-01-16T18:40:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-09-06T10:48:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":1551,\"commentCount\":22,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/democratic-governor-mainstream-media-delegitimize-civil-rights-protest\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/gunsamerica.com\\\/digest\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2020\\\/01\\\/ralph-northam-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Buzz\",\"Column\",\"R2KBA\"],\"articleSection\":[\"2nd Amendment - 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