Peaceful Second Amendment supporters headed to Richmond, Virginia for the annual gun rights lobby day. The goal was simple: encourage Virginia legislators to protect and uphold Virginians' right to keep and bear arms. As it currently stands, Gov. Ralph Northam (D) has set forth an aggressive anti-gun agenda, which includes banning so-called "assault rifles," universal background checks and implementing extreme risk protection orders, commonly referred to as red flag laws.
Progressive darling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) attempted to compare Monday's peaceful protests to the violent Black Lives Matter riots in Baltimore and New York City. Apparently she failed to see what police had a heavy presence after the death of Eric Garner in NYC and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
"You know, one thing I've really been sitting and thinking with today, there's this gun rights protest that's happening down in Richmond and on MLK Day. And here's the image that has struck with me the most about that. It's that when we go out and march for the dignity and the recognition of the lives of people, like Freddie Gray and Eric Garner, the whole place is surrounded by police in riot gear, without a gun in sight," she explained during an event. "And here are all of these people, flying Confederate flags with semi-automatic weapons and there's almost no police officers at that protest."
"So who or what are our institutions protecting from who?" AOC asked the host. "And that image conveys it all. Conveys it all."
First of all, there is absolutely no comparison between the Richmond gun rights rally and the Black Lives Matter riots in Baltimore and NYC. When Freddie Gray died, Black Lives Matter was started and riots broke out across the country. People were blocking roads, staging "sit-ins" and "die-ins." They failed to listen to police and were extremely disorderly.
When Eric Garner was killed in 2015, rioters caused $9 million in damages to 285 businesses. There were 150 vehicle fires, more than 60 structure fires and 113 officers injured. Why? Because people were looting.
How much damage did people in Richmond cause? Zero. How much looting took place? None. How many people were injured? Zip.
According to Townhall's own Julio Rosas who was on the ground, very few Confederate flags were seen. In fact, American flags were the common thread amongst people of all races. And guess what? Almost every single person in Richmond was a law-abiding patriot. They were there to make their voices heard, not to cause a riot or to stir up an issue with law enforcement.
Maybe you should do some research or take a trip to a pro-gun rally sometime, Alexandria. You'd be very shocked to learn that the gun community is one of the most accepting groups of people out there. They don't care what race, creed, gender you are or what background you come from. All we care about is protecting each individual's right to keep and bear arms.
.@AOC contrasts today’s gun rights march in Richmond with protests against Eric Garner’s killing: "Why were there almost no police officers” despite protesters “flying confederate flags and [carrying] semiautamtic weapons”? pic.twitter.com/JRL9B76EQW
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) January 20, 2020