"Virginia Democrats won an election. Gun owners are talking civil war"

What intimidation was used? What law was broken by the protesters?

Are we advocating that law abiding US citizens should be barred from peacefully assembling in front of their State Capital building? As in prohibiting law abiding US citizens from exercising their 1st Amendment Rights given to them by the US Constitution?

Given the facts stated here please elaborate on which law was broken and justification you have to push for their imprisonment.

 

Good for Virginia and a good first step for 2nd Amendment Rights in the US. Remember this is not a defeat of the bill but rather a shelving of it for a year. This isn't going to ever stop so the pressure must be kept each and every time such a proposal is brought to the table by elected officials. Folks need to be willing to take the time out of their day to fight against this each and every time it pops up. And do so peacefully and with civility as was demonstrated by the Virginia protesters and all of those who came from around the nation to assist with their cause.

This was indeed a very important first "battleground" and sends a very important message going forward. It shows that law abiding gun owners and supporters are way more than just a vocal minority who can be silenced and dismissed. This was a HUGE win and sets the precedent going forward.

Good for Virginia and good for everyone who showed up to support them from around the nation. The entire nation saw what just happened there and I'm glad they were watching.

 

Making someone "weary" is purely subjective, that includes politicians.

Open carry is legal in the state of Virginia for both long guns and handguns without a permit. The right to peacefully assemble is a Constitutional Right covered under the 1st Amendment. You cannot arrest someone from exercising their Constitutional Rights because it makes you "weary" and that includes politicians.

You are correct, nothing at all can be done, zero laws were broken. What this accomplished was sending a very clear message to the Government of Virginia and hopefully to other State and local Governments. If you try to pass laws restricting the 2nd Amendment then tens of thousands of fully armed US citizens will exercise both their 1st and 2nd Amendment Constitutional Rights and assemble in protest outside of your Capital building. And there is legally nothing at all you can do about it.

I applaud Virginians. This was a beautiful display of American Freedom and a crystal clear example of what separates us from "every other 1st world nation".

 

I'm not on board with your compromise because my mindset is different when it comes to Constitutional Rights. These are my Rights given to me by the greatest law of the land, the US Constitution upon which this nation was founded. In order to restrict any of the Rights given to a law abiding citizen that citizen must first have done something wrong. As a law abiding US citizen it is not my duty to prove to lawmakers why I should be allowed to exercise my Constitutional Rights, it is up to lawmakers to prove why I shouldn't be able to do so. And since I've done nothing wrong I have no reason so support any legislation to take away my Constitutional Rights.

Another thing you have to consider, and the underlying message that these Virginian protesters were conveying, is what are you going to do about it? You said the government should pass a law banning open carry. Alright, and then 27,000 folks show up at the steps of the Capital building open carrying firearms, along with the support of the majority of law enforcement officers. Alright, now what?

I'm not trying to be funny, but I've said this before multiple times on this very forum well before Virginia happened and Virginia just confirmed what I figured would happen. You try to pass a Bill that prohibits folks with guns from having those guns or open carrying those guns. Thousands of them show up and peacefully protest and refuse to comply with your law....as was just demonstrated for the most part. Those protesters were openly shouting "We will not comply" and I'm pretty sure they meant it and if this Bill would have passed I guarantee you they would have been right back at the Capital building standing there peacefully protesting with AR-15s on their shoulders like they did when they first caught wind of this in January.

What exactly do you do about that? Call the cops? The cops were mostly on their side, a huge chunk of those protesters WERE the cops. The local Sheriffs told you from the beginning that they aren't going to enforce any gun law you come up with whether it passes the vote or not.

So you, the government, passed a Bill that banned open carry and ended Constitutional carry. 27,000 folks open carrying guns showed up at the Capital again and aren't leaving. The Sheriffs and deputies are standing among them on their side.

What are you, government, going to do about it exactly? Water cannons? They have guns. Riot police? The riot police are on their side, and for the ones who aren't that you can dispatch well...the protesters have guns.

The message that Virginians and Virginian law enforcement was giving the government wasn't that they would become violent if they passed anti-gun laws. That was demonstrated quite clearly during this protest to where it was completely peaceful even though there were tens of thousands of guns. The message was pretty simple, if you pass a law that restricts our Right to bear arms then you are going to have to deal with tens of thousands of armed citizens marching on Richmond and you, government, are going to have to figure out what to do about that.

So you, government, what would be your plan to deal with tens of thousands of Virginians standing in front of your Capital building open carrying firearms after you just passed a law banning them from open carrying firearms? And they aren't leaving?