If gun rights activists aren’t careful, they themselves may provide the pretext for increased gun control.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League has long held a “Lobby Day” demonstration on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, with several hundred in attendance each year. But this year, the newly acquired Democratic majority of Virginia’s state government has rattled the state’s legal gun owners.
With a myriad of gun control measures already in the works, 2nd amendment supporters in Virginia are understandably frustrated that they may, once again, face the brunt of legal consequences for the actions of the criminal few. And so, the ranks of the gun rights rally are expected to swell far beyond where it has been in previous years.
A robust and peaceful demonstration for gun rights can be cheered on by all 2nd Amendment supporters. But many are growing concerned with some of the inflammatory rhetoric surrounding efforts to oppose the Democrats in Virginia. Talk of civil war and armed resistance, combined with reports that organized militias and neo-Nazis groups are planning to have a strong presence at tomorrow’s rally, have many increasingly worried that things could get out of hand, and turn violent.
There could be no worse development in the state of American affairs than a gun rights movement scarred by violent outbursts. The amount of effort put into making a case for legal gun ownership, and defending legal gun owners from the slurs of the gun control lobby, would go up in a puff of smoke if the American public began seeing gun owners as violent, aggressive agitators just looking for an excuse to wave their guns around.
Gun rights supporters should make every effort to be peaceful. They should encourage their fellow activists to advocate for wholly peaceful assembly. Talk of civil war and armed resistance should end, and we should encourage others to tamper or silence such ideas.
We are still living in a functioning republic, and we have at our fingertips the means for peaceful redress of our grievances. There will be other elections. Even the most egregious of presently enacted laws can be addressed with future laws and court decisions. We still have a free society where we can speak our minds, advocate for our causes, and seek to enlighten those who don’t understand the value of the right to bear arms.
We should all pray that tomorrow those in Virginia who are rightfully rallying for their rights do not give in to anger or passion and temper the zealotry of their righteous indignation. Any violence, any violence at all, would be a grave defeat for our cause. Don’t give the gun control advocates the excuse they need to restrict our rights.