• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Stand for Your Rights Rally

The Wolfhound

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
728
Location
Henrico, Virginia, USA
VCDL has announced that this will be happening at the Virginia State Capitol this weekend. Weather sounds good for the event. Many other states are doing similar things too.
https://vcdl.org/event-2890996

Politicians wish to ignore us and take away our guarantied rights. Number count!
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
The mind is willing, but my body won't tolerate so much standing for a long period of time and all of the up and down hill walking that entails.


So I will celebrate at the Shoney's OC breakfast as reported.
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
Hundreds rallied at the Bell Tower to hear PVC pres of the VCDL speak.

https://tinyurl.com/ycc3l7ln

Groups hold events on gun control debate

"Phillip Van Cleave, President of The Virginia Citizens Defense League, organized the rally in effort counter the push for gun control following the Parkland massacre in February."

""There is a little danger in being free because you don't have police everywhere. We're not a police state. I'll take that freedom. As long as I have a right to protect myself, I'm fine," said Van Cleave." [h=3][/h]
 

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
Hundreds rallied at the Bell Tower to hear PVC pres of the VCDL speak.

https://tinyurl.com/ycc3l7ln

Groups hold events on gun control debate

"Phillip Van Cleave, President of The Virginia Citizens Defense League, organized the rally in effort counter the push for gun control following the Parkland massacre in February."

""There is a little danger in being free because you don't have police everywhere. We're not a police state. I'll take that freedom. As long as I have a right to protect myself, I'm fine," said Van Cleave."

Philip organized it????? That's not how it was advertised.

I wish this mostly balanced piece had noted this rally was one of dozens held simultaneously at many (most?) state capitols. (And that the piece hadn't ended with a "...we should mention" and a totally irrelevant piece of information on another school walkout.
 

Grapeshot

Legendary Warrior
Joined
May 21, 2006
Messages
35,317
Location
Valhalla
--snipped--
I wish this mostly balanced piece had noted this rally was one of dozens held simultaneously at many (most?) state capitols.
"The National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans sponsored the 45 planned rallies across the U.S. in support of the right to bear arms, according to the paper."
https://tinyurl.com/ydancn4e
 

Tess

Founder's Club Member
Joined
Jun 15, 2006
Messages
3,837
Location
Bryan, TX
Thoughts after the rally

I attended the rally yesterday. It was good to see people out there for a single purpose. I do wish the turnout had been higher; it seems sad to me that gun owners cannot manage to mobilize to two ends -- to make certain every freedom-loving person in the state knows about these events, and to demonstrate even to non-gun-owners that our liberties in one area are no more important than our liberties in another, and we should be fighting for every single one of them.

I was disappointed to hear from John Bloom, Chairman of the Virginia Constitution Party, that when he asked to be included in the speakers' list, he was told it was going to be non-political, and then both Corey Stewart and EW Jackson were invited. I have no great love for the Constitution Party, but fair is fair. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing from politicians, and I don't believe they bring the strong message. I think others do.

Those who are not used to microphones didn't have a voice. We were seated just behind the first walkway - maybe 30-40 feet from the speakers' stand -- and could hear only the practiced speakers. Most of the speakers were just murmurs, despite all my efforts to ensure the volume was up as high as could be. Yet these are the people we don't hear from every day and whose stories often carry more weight.

There was some intolerance for those of us who are not Trump cheerleaders. When Corey Stewart voiced his fantasy of a "hugely popular president who will easily win reelection" and I scoffed, some bystanders looked at me with disgust and moved away. When EW Jackson insisted we need to "put prayer back in school" (it is there; ask anyone who hasn't studied for that test) and I yelled "NO", one would've thought I'd just pissed on the Vatican wall. And neither of those messages is gun-related; they're pure politics.

Ideally, I'd like to see families and groups of friends, openly armed or not, but with their messages, picnicking on the Capitol grounds once a month or so (and I wish I lived close enough to Richmond to organize these things). I think the *real* power is in showing our normalcy, not in listening to one another speak.

See my next post about picnic in Northern Virginia.
 

The Wolfhound

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 3, 2009
Messages
728
Location
Henrico, Virginia, USA
Could not have had better weather

I would have loved to have seen more folks turn out. For the reporter to believe that Phillip organized it, he would have to be not paying the least attention to the event he was covering. (Not being sexist here, the Videographer/reporter I saw was male). It was clear that VCDL participated and facilitated the event but others organized it. I too, was disappointed in Corey and E.W. politically proselytizing. That was not why I came. There are not enough of us. We must expand our reach and our numbers to combat the ignorance that our adversaries use against us. Why in the news report was it necessary to blunt our message by including the Anti-gun rally and the School walk-out plans? I notice also that the video was shot after the first hour (when we had the best crowd) during the break, but the anti rally was during the actual event with their best (though poor) crowd. It was good to see old friends and make new ones, though.
 
Top