News from Virginia.
ROANOKE, Va (WDBJ7) From Bedford to Botetourt, Second Amendment Sanctuaries have been popping up across Virginia. The resolutions are largely symbolic, designed to send a message to state government.
But Eric Tirschwell worries the Sanctuaries could do some real world harm.
“These resolutions are nothing more than an attempt to short-circuit the Democratic process,” he said.
Tirschwell is Managing Director of Litigation and National Enforcement Policy at Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group. He says he’s sounding the alarm now because of the rapid spread of the sanctuaries across Virginia and beyond.
“If these folks actually follow through on what at this point is really just a threat to not enforce laws, that’s where I think the real danger will reveal itself,” he said.
Tirschwell argues the resolutions are problematic for a number of reasons, most importantly, he says, because they put lives at risk.
“These resolutions could have, and threaten to have, a chilling effect on people who might otherwise use, or take advantage of gun safety laws to try to prevent harm, like a suicide, a homicide or even a mass shooting,” he said.
However, gun rights organizers say Tirshwell and other critics are missing the message.
2nd Amendment Sanctuary movement continues to grow
In statements to city and county governments across our region, citizens have argued that the resolutions are about making the Governor and House of Delegates pay attention. “Because we don’t have a voice at the state level. We only have a voice at the local level,” said one man at a Pulaski Board of Supervisors meeting.
Supporters also say the movement is chiefly about standing up for Constitutional rights.
“Don’t let Botetourt County be culpable in the death of liberties and freedoms,” said another man to the Botetourt County Board of Supervisors.
Tirschwell takes issue with that, noting laws frequently decried by gun rights activists, like expanded background checks and so-called red flag laws, have been upheld in the courts.
“These officials aren’t quote-unquote defending the Constitution, as they like to say. They’re really threatening to defy it, and to substitute their own personal views of what’s constitutional,” he said.
Tirschwell says, for now, any threat posed by the resolutions is purely theoretical. However, he warns any officials who try to use the resolutions to defy state gun control laws could have a rude wakening.
“I wouldn’t suggest betting on them,” he said.
Everytown also had a hissy fit in a recent press release, saying “the gun lobby is hypocritically encouraging law enforcement to ignore the rule of law in defense of their extreme and dangerous interpretation of the Constitution.”
“Chilling.” “Dangerous.” But to listen to the Virginia AG, also a controller, and his interpretive legions in academia, these county laws have no effect and are irrelevant.
So which is it? Are they chilling and dangerous, or are they completely ineffectual?
They can’t make their mind up because they fear CWII. They know it, and we know it. You can blame it all on them. Any blood spilled will be on their hands. All the controllers had to do to ensure peace and stability was leave people alone.
That … a controller cannot do. Can a Leopard change its spots? Neither are they able to do good, being accustomed to doing evil (Jeremiah 13:23). They know enough to warn of the consequences, but are unable to change their own behavior. But those consequences may not work out the way they had planned.
