Sic semper tyrannis
"Sic semper tyrannis" is the State motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia. With that in mind, I give you this...
Basically, over 75 counties in Virginia (and counting, out of 95 counties) have declared themselves some form of Second Amendment "sanctuary", presumably meaning their Sheriffs and county law enforcement will not comply with or enforce any potentially unconstitutional restrictions on firearms. When I say constitutional, by the way, I'm not even referring to the US Constitution but rather Virginia's State constitution, which reads, in part:
Notice that Virginia's "shall not be infringed" doesn't provide the semantic "wiggle room" relied upon by those who think the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution defines a "collective" right to arms for the militia alone.
SO... when Virginia lawmakers, and their Governor throw shade at this movement, claiming what the sanctuary folks are doing is "unconstitutional" and with some going so far as to imply that the Governor could use the (federal) militia to enforce a doubly-unconstitutional set of state laws, you have to wonder if they have the slightest clue how that looks. I'm not sure how serious those state lawmakers actually are, or aware they are of the implications of that kind of posturing, but it sure seems like a great way to galvanize the opposition and lose your new majority, especially since that opposition is actually *adhering* to the superior law.
"Democratic Virginia Rep. Donald McEachin suggested cutting off state funds to counties that do not comply with any gun control measures that pass in Richmond."https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/the-law-is-the-law-virginia-democrats-float-prosecution-national-guard-deployment-if-police-dont-enforce-gun-control
“They certainly risk funding, because if the sheriff's department is not going to enforce the law, they're going to lose money. The counties' attorneys offices are not going to have the money to prosecute because their prosecutions are going to go down,” he said.
McEachin also noted that Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam could call the National Guard, if necessary.
“And ultimately, I'm not the governor, but the governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law,” he said. “That's his call, because I don't know how serious these counties are and how severe the violations of law will be. But that's obviously an option he has.”
Basically, over 75 counties in Virginia (and counting, out of 95 counties) have declared themselves some form of Second Amendment "sanctuary", presumably meaning their Sheriffs and county law enforcement will not comply with or enforce any potentially unconstitutional restrictions on firearms. When I say constitutional, by the way, I'm not even referring to the US Constitution but rather Virginia's State constitution, which reads, in part:
"That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power."
Notice that Virginia's "shall not be infringed" doesn't provide the semantic "wiggle room" relied upon by those who think the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution defines a "collective" right to arms for the militia alone.
SO... when Virginia lawmakers, and their Governor throw shade at this movement, claiming what the sanctuary folks are doing is "unconstitutional" and with some going so far as to imply that the Governor could use the (federal) militia to enforce a doubly-unconstitutional set of state laws, you have to wonder if they have the slightest clue how that looks. I'm not sure how serious those state lawmakers actually are, or aware they are of the implications of that kind of posturing, but it sure seems like a great way to galvanize the opposition and lose your new majority, especially since that opposition is actually *adhering* to the superior law.
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