Author Archives: Peter Galuszka

By Peter Galuszka

 I was tempted to go the large anti gun-control rally but I had other work to do for customers and I didn’t want to get caught in a traffic jam. I have been to a few of these things before – some violent, some not.

There seems to be a certain amount of self congratulation now that the demonstration is over with no violence and one arrest. A few takeaways:

(1) Gov. Ralph Northam and his team deserve credit for taking smart precautions such as requiring no guns and metal detectors even though I didn’t quite see the point with having thousands of guys tricked out in military garb carrying assault style rifles just outside the fences at Capitol Grounds. This is what should have been done in Charlottesville in 2017.

(2) This was the approach taken at Klan rallies I covered in the late 1990s in Cleveland and Clarksburg,W.Va. The police tolerated nothing. I also was at a two-day riot in Moscow on Oct. 3 and 4 1993 where order completely broke down in a coup against Boris Yeltsin. Hundreds were killed including some people standing close to me. I also was almost caught in a machine gun cross fire on a highway. Among the dead were seven journalists.

(3)  This being Bacon’s Rebellion, one has to ask the most important question. How much is this costing the city, state and federal government? Why hasn’t anyone asked this question before? We’re supposed to shell out public dough so a bunch of guys opposing fairly moderate gun regulations can feel good about themselves?

(4) Lastly, there’s the moral aspect to this. I can’t say it any better than Ross Catrow in Good Morning RVA. Here’s what he wrote this morning: Continue reading →

Scene from the aftermath of the Unite the 2017 Right rally in Charlottesville.

By Peter Galuszka

Think” of it as “Unite the Right 2.0.” Thousands of protesters from Virginia and beyond the state will be converging on Richmond, many packing heat, to support “Second Amendment Sanctuaries,” which are cities or counties that refuse any law passed by the Democratically controlled General Assembly to pass any law that in any way infringes on firearm rights.

This brings back memories of the violent 2017 demonstration in Charlottesville over removing Confederate memorials that ended up with the deaths of three people and the injuries of scores of others. Charlottesville overnight morphed into the ugly icon of the Trump who incredibly found equivalency between white supremacists and people who protested against them.

The Virginia Civil Defense League, a pro-gun group, has put together a complex organization for the event with chartered business leaving such as places as Abingdon for the reasonable price of about $30.

In Charlottesville in images that were circulated worldwide tough looking men in camouflaged that give Virginia a black eye as fascist, white power police state. Charlottesville and the state prepared badly for the travesty. There were no body checks, no electronic scanners, no separation between sides. (I have seen such things in other states). In a recent book highly critical of Charlottesville, former Gov. Terry McAuliffe bemoaned the fact that the white supremacists had higher quality and higher power rifles than the Virginia State Police did.

So what will happen Jan. 20? Continue reading →