I’m not unsympathetic to Virginians who declare Second Amendment sanctuaries around the state. They’re an in-your-face retort to sanctuary cities for illegal immigrants. If liberals scheme to devise ways to evade laws they don’t like, don’t be surprised if conservatives do, too. But a good thing can go too far. Like when Second Amendment sanctuary counties establish “militias” to circumvent gun-control laws. And when paranoid delusion passes for fact on the Web, such as this certifiably insane Facebook quote attributed to Governor Ralph Northam:
You will give up your guns. If you don’t I’ll have the National Guard cut your power, your phone lines, and your internet. Then, if you still refuse to comply I’ll have you killed.
As the conservative Daily Caller News Foundation reports, there is no evidence that Northam ever said such a thing. Wow! The Daily Caller had to check? Northam has done a lot of things I don’t like, but I am 99.99% certain he’s not a blood-thirsty killer.
The Facebook post, published by a group purportedly called Americans Against the Republican and Democratic Parties, has been removed. The assertion is so reckless that I have to think it is Russian disinformation disseminated for the sole purpose of stirring up unrest. Russians will be Russians, and I don’t know there’s much we can do to keep them off the Internet. But, people, we don’t have to spread their agitprop! Everyone needs to chill out! Packing county supervisor meetings is a commendable exercise in civic rights. Spreading garbage on the Internet gives the Second Amendment sanctuary movement a bad image.
Wait! There’s more!
Billboards like this are popping up around Virginia, according to the Daily Wire.
Maybe Northam will back plans to “confiscate” peoples’ guns, maybe he won’t. But at this point he is making no such claims. While he does want to ban “military-style assault weapons,” Northam has said he wants to include a grandfather clause for individuals who already own such weapons. He will require gun owners to register the weapons, but there is a world of difference between registering guns and confiscating them.
Gun rights people — you do yourself no good by spreading inaccurate alarmist information. There are a lot of people on the fence. We could swing either way on particular pieces of gun-control legislation. If you want our support, a prerequisite is for us to believe what you tell us. Billboards like this don’t help!
— JAB
P.S. This is likely my final post for 2019. Sorry it couldn’t be more uplifting. New Year’s Resolution for everyone: Let’s all try doubly hard to not do crazy stuff in 2020!
