POSITIVE THINGS FROM THE RALLY:
The turnout was good. I haven't seen crowd estimates but WWBT/NBC12 in Richmond repeatedly calls the crowd "massive".
It doesn't look like Antifa showed up. See "Richmond police reporting no arrests", above. Maybe they were scared - most of the crowd was outside the Governor's "disarmament zone" and guns were everywhere.
The crowd seemed orderly and generally happy and in good spirits. That's a big plus. I quite liked this lady's sign (the following pictures are from the Richmond Times-Dispatch's live reporting):
[UPDATE 20 January 2020 15:52] Miguel finds another great example. [/UPDATE]
Shades of the Tea Party: people clean up stickers that had fallen onto the road.
NEGATIVE THINGS FROM THE RALLY:
So like I said, probably as good as we could have hoped for. The local Richmond news seems to be generally favorable, but this is all live reporting. The narrative will be folded, spindled, and mutilated as the media spin the messaging over the next few days. So the news right now is the best that it will ever be, and will start to deteriorate immediately. I guess we'll see how it ends up.
Of course, the Special Ops Team from the Derp Brigade was there in force:
You're not helping the cause, gentlemen. Or these guys: they pre-composed the shot for the loony lefty propaganda drive. Kind of an own goal, right there. Yeah, yeah, BUT MUH SECOND AMENDMENT! Whatever, knuckleheads. You're hurting the cause.
This guy has the right idea - the biased media simply won't give this picture wide distribution.
I really like the way he used his head on this. Derpy getup to attract media attention with a poison message that will keep him from being used as counter propaganda. Full marks to the young man.
Lots of pictures and decent video at both WWBT and the Times-Dispatch. We'll see how this gets spun to the wider country over the next few days. No way to tell whether it'll be the nice family or the DERP Rangers.
Some idiots from a communist group called "Revcom" tried to start a fight by calling the people there a bunch racist fascists. No one on the pro gun side bought it.
ReplyDeleteDivemedic, people showed restraint and good humor. Looking at the videos of the crowd, there weren't any (that I saw) where people seemed tense. Mostly it looked like they were having a good time.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if this is going to get shoveled down the memory hole.
yep, you'll likely never hear another peep about it. nbc anchor called it a white nationalist rally, i read he was called on the carpet and the boss was not happy. cnn said something about neo-nazis but another reporter cut that off. msnbc reporter on the scene was saying he heard "we will not comply chant" and said it was a racist motto, but he left his mike open and everybody watching said it was the pledge of allegiance and ate his lunch. but, since no violence, no racists etc then forgotten tomorrow and the dems will pass their agenda without a blink.
ReplyDeleteWe'll see how this gets spun to the wider country over the next few days.
ReplyDeleteYou've heard the last of this, BP. It doesn't fit the narrative of the commie/libtards and there's way too much footage out there to lie about it.
Just like you won't hear a peep about Chicago:
January To Date
Shot & Killed: 18
Shot & Wounded: 82
Total Shot: 100
Total Homicides: 25
You know the answer... DERP Rangers... sigh One arrest, female, possible Antifa. warned TWICE to remove her mask and refused.
ReplyDeleteSo... People showed up lawfully open carrying and... nothing happened. Nothing at all. The Derp Brigade, the Gun-LARPers, the Rambo/Rambette-wanna-bees, open carrying.
ReplyDeleteNot a gun went off.
Not a person shot.
No one stabbed.
No machetes went all Africa on people.
No milkshakes full of cement were thrown.
No Moldylocks throwing punches.
Nothing.
And all the marchers left the place cleaner than before (especially when compared to the Women Marchers, ANTIFA, BLM, etc.) No burned cars, no looted stores (in fact, money was spent, lots of money from what I heard,) no huge piles of trash, no huge piles of pipes or boards with signs attached lying about.
Almost like... it was a peaceable assembly of people.
Gee, how did this hurt the 2A and Gun Rights?
Hey Borepatch;
ReplyDeleteThe results were far better than I expected. I fully expected that the 2A movement would get played like the right side of the aisle got played at Charlotteville and the crap the cops and the government did was covered up. Hopefully it was a wakeup call to the movement and to remember, we have to vote on every election in the hope of maintaining legitimacy. Especially all the local elections, many of the people outside of the cities sat out the election because they were not excited, but the democrats were and they turned out their base which mostly lives around D.C and Richmond and they swung the state Blue. If it ever goes Purple or even red is doubtful.
Just assuming a quarter of the estimated 22000 attendees were carrying rifles and/or side arms, that’s 5500 armed citizens occupying the state capitol (temporarily, politely, and cleaning up as they left). A regiment no less… The VA army national guard is approx 7500….
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced it was such a bad idea.
Congrats to the LARPers for not shooting yourselves in the feet.
ReplyDeleteAnd no injuries nor body count. This time.
And what was accomplished, for what was risked?
riverrider FTW:
"forgotten tomorrow and the dems will pass their agenda without a blink. "
Thanks for proving my point all along.
Nothing accomplished, another month wasted.
But hey, public circle jerk was a "success"!
Huzzah.
And congratulations to you, Arsehop, in proving once again that a sharp tongue does not trump a dull mind. Shut up, already; you said the thing was a Donk psyop that would be a disaster and you were wrong. Again. The kids have a word for guys like you, Aesop. They call you “cucks”. As in Cuckservative. Look it up. Those men at the demonstration did more for the lawful gun owner than you’ll ever do, so take your ropey mouth and get stuffed.
ReplyDeleteGentlemen, a number of points:
- that so-called DERP Brigade was an important message to the lefties and the public, and one that needs to heard and seen, contrary to self proclaimed experts like the one above. The message was that if Leftie wants change America - he will need to have the consent of ALL the American people, not just a temporary majority of political fart suckers in govt. Contrary to morons like Aesop, the law belongs to the people, not the press, not the police, and not to the politicians.
- the game has changed, and maybe you didn’t notice, but our leaders certainly have. False flags, psyops, and using the media to polish political turd is now a very, very dangerous game. Everyone has a cell phone, everyone has a blog or a social media account... and everyone has a gun. All of those are now aimed back at the politicos, and if they want to abuse their power or the people they are supposed to represent... the public will make its own opinion, not the media. And - if necessary, act upon it.
Up here in Canada we have morons like Aesop speaking for the gun owners. And, we have the idiotic gun laws to show for it. But they are courteous and respectful of Lefty! If we lose our guns, our self proclaimed spokespeople will lose honourably and no one in the mass media will call them names! Real brave, you guys!
Congrats to all the patriots that took part in that demonstration, Especially the men who showed up with arms, ready to act against traitorous and corrupt govt if necessary.
Look, it's really simple: in today's America, smartphone coverage determines the winner.
ReplyDeleteThe anti-gun crowd has the support of the MSM. The MSM propagandizes for anything it supports and against anything it opposes. The "I only pay attention to headlines" crowd believes the MSM's "headlines" (aka "talking points") as posted to web sites and blogs. Very few of the "eyes perpetually on their Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / etc feed" crowd care about much beyond their circle of "friends" who also are uninterested in what lies beyond their smartphone screens.
Yesterday's completely peaceful exercise was quickly hushed by the MSM because it didn't provide the "proof" the MSM needs to support its anti-2A dialogue. Live feeds from this peaceful rally were blocked by Facebook as a "violation of community standards". As of late yesterday afternoon, much of the coverage - even the negative stuff on "the usual suspects" pages - had vanished. The lack of riots and lawlessness, which was actually the big news from the rally, was ignored and memory-holed.
The "walking while smartphone-ing" anti-2A crowd didn't hear or see a thing.
We need more peaceful pro-2A exercises if we're going to begin to "move the needle". We need to show that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem, and that a handgun does not jump out of a holster and shoot someone on its own. That a handgun is a tool, and is no more dangerous than a hammer or a knife. And that it's possible to "keep and bear" that tool in public without anyone being hurt.
One peaceful protest won't do it. The MSM didn't properly cover yesterday's protest, nor will ever cover a pro-2A protest properly. We need 2 or more of these completely peaceful pro-2A protests per month all around the country. We need to make it obvious to the MSM that law-abiding gun owners are not the problem - nor have they or their guns ever been the problem.
And that even means that the Derp crowd may eventually be seen as just a bunch of dopey-dressed mostly-harmless folks, the same kind of folks who wear dopey costumes to football games or spend lots of money to look like Star Wars Storm Troopers during Halloween.
We need the peaceful pro-2A crowd to be the loudest voice.
It's amazing how much common sense breaks out when you have several thousand armed men surrounding the police. Somehow, the police managed to not cause a riot inside the cordon.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lesson to be learned here.
To ask about success you have to first ask who the audience was.
ReplyDeletePresumably it was mostly VA legislators who are willing/able to go either way on restrictive laws. Time will tell.
But as a template for how to do something like this the right way, pun intended, it looks to have been a success, and one that could be emulated elsewhere.
It has been widely reported that Antifa has organizers who move from town to town doing their thing. Why not the isomer of this? The good humor, the clean up afterwards, the failure to engage idiots....all were well done.
TW
I admire the good manners shown by the participants in yesterday's gathering in Richmond. No matter how you might have been dressed, no matter if you were carrying, you made a very valuable point: pro-2A citizens apparently are more numerous than anti-2A types, and more willing to step out of their everyday lives to make their voices heard without really saying a word.
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to see the conversations and posts the next few days. When folks who were at the rally get home and settle in, they will start posting the pictures they took with their cell phones, begin relating their interactions with other participants, and we will probably see and hear things that the helmet-haired talking-heads missed while trying to make their deadlines.
America, real America, looked up yesterday from their fly-over lives and quietly but politely told the Red Coasters to leave us the fuck alone.
There's probably some who didn't attend the rally due to MB's "don't be a buffaloooooo" drum beat and Aesop's bitter snarking.
ReplyDeleteBut, it looks like a good number weren't affected by their opinions, and had the courage and conviction to go.
We'll done, Virginia and VCDL.
As we all are aware, just another round in the long game fight.
Many news outlets are reporting one arrest for failure to remove a face covering bandana after repeated warnings. Not an insignificant thing--it's apparently a felony. Mikaela E. Beschler is the arrested person.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.richmond.com/news/local/update-richmond-woman-charged-with-wearing-mask-in-public-following/article_af43b67e-def2-5ee1-92db-709d0965655f.amp.html
ReplyDeleteI attended this event. I chose to approach it with great caution and went unarmed and as "grey" as possible. Mocking the men and women who chose differently is short-sighted and arrogantly judgemental. The notion that an armed society is a polite society became a statement of fact. It appeared to me that the reasons for the event, and the hearts and minds of the overwhelming majority of those in attendance, were very serious. Please stop with the mocking and name calling. It's pretentious and divisive. Virginia if filled to the gills with men and women who have carried arms in combat, and many of them aren't in the same physical condition they were as at 18. I can guarantee that won't make them less lethal when the time for action comes. I was very impressed with the discipline and self-control of those who came to take a serious stand against tyranny. It isn't just about guns, but without them, evil will rule.
ReplyDeleteTwo simple questions:
ReplyDeleteHow many VA anti-gun bills did the rally stop?
How many legislators will change their minds because of it?
I'll wait...
Delete some more comments while you wait.
DeleteOK, Mr. Aesop...drugs are bad, smoking causes cancer, speed kills...knowledge doesn't always lead to change. If you can't recognize the work being done behind the scenes, at the local level, as clearly demonstrated in Virginia, maybe you're getting your news from biased sources, or maybe you're just showing tough love, in a Parris Island DI sort of way. It's taken years to reach the decay we are seeing in this country, and it will be an uphill battle to get something decent back, if we can. I don't think there is a chance to change the minds of the compromised traitors in Virginia, and most of the people know that. Look closer at the message that is being sent. Faith in the system is gone. Smacking the hornet's nest when half the colony is gone is not the same as when they're all home. Virginia hornets are all in the nest, now.
ReplyDeleteI'm a Texan, so I only have a dog in this fight in a metaphorical sense.
ReplyDeleteIt probably won't stop the Virginia Dems from doing what the VD will do. It probably won't change Suzie Subaru's mind either. It would be nice if we could manage that, but maybe that's too much to expect, too soon.
On the other hand, we can make much of the peaceful and orderly behavior of those inside the fences and outside them as well, up to and including the March of the Derp Brigade. We should take advantage of fact that the crowd was demonstrably not all white or all male. We can likewise highlight that even the folks who came dressed for a fight turned out not to be the scary racist militias the media would like everyone to fear. We can point out how much of an over-reaction the state of emergency declaration was. We may not be able to change the mind of anyone who supports the Demanding Mommies, but the same is not true of the fence sitters. We might not even know who all the fence-sitters within the sounds of our respective voices are.
It's true that we can rely on the media to bury this. If we're relying on them to put real facts in front of undecided eyeballs, we've already failed. It's up to us to make sure that the moderates and the undecided folks, including folks in Gun Culture 1.0 (shooting sports) and Gun Culture 2.0 (ccw/chl), understand what happened there, and at the very least get them to question the prevailing narrative. Once they're open to the notion that a fellow with a rifle slung isn't a firefight waiting to happen, we can help them see that this assemblage of Gun Culture 3.0 is on their side, and always was.
Two questions right back at ya, Aesop:
ReplyDelete- how many anti gun bills have you averted by rolling over and cucking to Lefty?
- how many legislators changed their minds because of it?
We’ll wait.
Two simple questions:
ReplyDeleteHow many VA anti-gun bills did the rally stop?
How many legislators will change their minds because of it?
I'll wait...
I think your missing the point. This was meant to influence local VA politics, not do whatever you think they ought to have done. Virginia legislators, particularly those in NoVa with encroaching liberal suburbs, need a reason to vote against those gun bills as much as possible. If you aren't willing to engage at the peaceful political level, you have no excuse for going hot later on.
This was a good effort, and helped the pro-2A folks get together and start some of that networking they will need later, no matter how it goes.
One can fight the fight on more than one front, and at more than one level. I read your complaints about the waste of time and resources, but this isn't a zero sum game. As one FedEx driver I spoke to said, there've been a lot of deliveries in rural VA counties of heavy boxes from ammo dealers in the past few months.