21 votes

Holding a city hostage is ‘peaceful’ now? I’ve been to peaceful protests before. The gun rally in Richmond was not that

5 comments

  1. [2]
    spit-evil-olive-tips
    Link
    From another Vice article on the topic: If it were truly a "nonviolent" protest, everyone would have showed up armed only with signs and their voices. Instead, 16,000 people showed up armed. No...

    From another Vice article on the topic:

    The state of emergency meant that anyone who wanted to attend the rally, originally billed as an open-carry affair, wouldn’t be able to bring their firearms onto Capitol grounds.

    The ban resulted in a situation where about 6,000 rallygoers complied with the rule and left their guns at home (but many weren’t happy about it), and the other 16,000 brought their guns and just hung out beyond the fenced-off perimeter of the Capitol grounds, according to Richmond Police estimates.

    If it were truly a "nonviolent" protest, everyone would have showed up armed only with signs and their voices. Instead, 16,000 people showed up armed. No actual violence happened, but there is absolutely an implied threat in that action.

    This was "Lobby Day" in Virginia, intended to be a day for everyone to come to the capitol and lobby their legislature. It's hard to imagine 16,000 armed citizens not having a chilling effect on some people who'd otherwise like to go lobby about unrelated issues.

    There's also this:

    Some rally-goers even rolled out a guillotine that was emblazoned with the words, “The penalty for treason is death.”

    Great job with that nonviolent protest, guys.

    16 votes
    1. Death
      Link Parent
      It's pretty clear to me that the intention of this protest was intimidation. And sadly I feel like they've accomplished their mission. Really hope the Virginia legislature doesn't cave under this...

      It's pretty clear to me that the intention of this protest was intimidation. And sadly I feel like they've accomplished their mission. Really hope the Virginia legislature doesn't cave under this pressure, it would set a bad precedent.

      14 votes
  2. patience_limited
    Link
    And yet, somehow, the Democrats newly elected to the Virginia legislature on a platform including gun reforms remained unintimidated.

    And yet, somehow, the Democrats newly elected to the Virginia legislature on a platform including gun reforms remained unintimidated.

    10 votes
  3. [2]
    Diet_Coke
    Link
    I thought this was an interesting take on the recent gun rights rally in Richmond VA. This is my neck of the woods and the attitude around town was certainly anxious, even for people who are...

    I thought this was an interesting take on the recent gun rights rally in Richmond VA. This is my neck of the woods and the attitude around town was certainly anxious, even for people who are politically uninvolved.

    4 votes
    1. Death
      Link Parent
      I was really nervous all throughout the day that this would devolve into another clash like the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville. Thankfully it didn't come to that this time, I can't...

      I was really nervous all throughout the day that this would devolve into another clash like the Unite The Right rally in Charlottesville. Thankfully it didn't come to that this time, I can't imagine what would have happened if 16'000 armed people had clashed with police or counter-protestors.

      3 votes