No Guns

 

So while people start wandering around wearing weapons like an invading army, the mayor and the city council have declared…

 

“September 9, 2020 at 7:26 p.m. EDT

RICHMOND — The Richmond City Council has voted to ban guns at public events, using powers granted to localities under a state law passed this year by the Virginia General Assembly, with city officials citing concerns about violence breaking out during demonstrations across the country.

Mayor Levar Stoney proposed the measure, which the council approved unanimously in a special meeting Tuesday night.

The law prohibits the carrying of guns at public events such as protests, whether the gatherings are permitted or not, and also will apply to nearby public areas such as sidewalks and roadways.

Guns have been prominent at demonstrations in Richmond this year, starting with an event in January that drew as many as 20,000 gun rights advocates from around the country to the city to protest efforts by the General Assembly to limit access to firearms.

Since the death of George Floyd in the custody of Minneapolis police in May, protesters have taken to the streets of Richmond calling for social justice. After initial violent clashes with police and destruction of property downtown, protests were largely peaceful.

But White supporters of the city’s Confederate statues — most of which have since been removed — began showing up with firearms, and protesters followed suit. While no one was killed during Richmond’s protests, several shootings have been reported.

Richmond residents say ongoing violence has eroded support for demonstrations

In debating the proposed ban, Richmond Police Chief Gerald Smith cited recent events in Kenosha, Wis., in which 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse has been charged with fatally shooting two protesters.

“This piece of legislation is a tool … to increase safety,” Smith told the city council.

But a number of speakers warned the council against approving the ban, saying it violated the Constitution’s Second Amendment protections.

“It is unfathomable that in this summer of crime that we have had in Richmond that we want to discuss taking away citizens’ rights to defend themselves,” a speaker named Michael Dickinson told the council.

In Virginia, and elsewhere, gun supporters prepare to defy new laws

The Democratic-controlled General Assembly passed a slate of laws this year aimed at reducing gun violence, including a limit of one handgun purchase per month and a measure that allows a judge to seize weapons from someone who is deemed a threat. The actions followed a mass shooting last year in which a gunman killed 12 people at a Virginia Beach municipal building.

One of the measures empowered local governments to pass their own limits on firearms at public events. That is the law that the Richmond council used this week.

Stoney had proposed the measure in August, but the council delayed acting out of concern about how the law would be enforced. Smith assured council members that enforcing the law would not be expensive and would make the city’s streets safer.”

 

Now that is fine with me for I don’t want to see an army roaming the streets but there is a problem…

 

“Historians trace Virginia’s first experience with gun control laws back to the First General Assembly of Jamestown on July 30, 1619. During this-five day meeting, Virginia officials voted in a gun control enactment, which regulated the sale of firearms to Native Americans. In fact, each period of American history brought with it its own series of gun control regulations in Virginia. More recently, in the fallout of the Virginia Beach mass shooting in the summer of 2019, Governor Northam’s Democrat controlled General Assembly have attempted to pass substantial new gun control legislation. In February 2020, a proposed assault weapons ban failed in the Virginia Senate. In April 2020, several new gun laws were enacted, including a requirement of background checks for private sales, a red flag law enabling Extreme Risk Protection Orders, a requirement to report lost or stolen guns, and the reinstating of a one-handgun-a-month law.”

 

So whatever the problem with emasculation or inadequacies to carry a weapon for all to see is intimidation. 

 

“In the United States, open carry refers to the practice of “openly carrying a firearm in public”, as distinguished from concealed carry, where firearms cannot be seen by the casual observer. To “carry” in this context indicates that the firearm is kept readily accessible on the person, within a holster or attached to a sling. “Carrying” a firearm directly in the hands, particularly in a firing position or combat stance, is also known as “brandishing” and may constitute a serious crime, but that is not the mode of “carrying” discussed in this article.”

 

Before China invented gunpowder, we just beat up on each other with sticks and stones. After the fireworks, we found to put an object in a tube could be propelled causing damage at a far away place or person.

For years and years and many wars the weapons of destruction have been refined and the availability has grown so every man, woman and child can be packing.

 Having all these weapons must be for self-preservation since hunting for sustenance doesn’t seem as necessary with 7-11 and Food Lion.

Carrying a firearm to a protest with emotions already heightened is asking for a confrontation. When will a stand off become a shot out?

 

The second amendment declares…

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

 

The accepted organizations wearing weapons have been the Armed Forces, the National Guard, the State Police, the community Police, Security Guards and now Neighborhood Militias.

Have no idea how many of us are wandering the streets and the grocery stores and attending office meetings or stopping by the urinal or celebrating weddings or Bar Mitzvahs or just hanging out with neighbors playing hide and seek with deadly weapons.

If it is necessary to draw where is the target? Every shot fired has a consequence.

No firearms at protest but I don’t know how it will be enforced. Will everyone be patted down or a metal detector wand used? Law suites of public rights will abound but the alternative is bodies on the street.

Perhaps we are getting back to the ole Wild West strapping on a gat before going to the daycare to pick up your kid is required for self preservation.