Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph Northam To Declare Emergency Banning All Guns From State Capitol Grounds For Upcoming Protests

Virginia Democrat Governor Ralph Northam is expected to declare an emergency banning all weapons, including firearms, from Capitol Square as he faces intense backlash over his far-left gun confiscation agenda.

The temporary move comes as massive protests are planned in Richmond over the next week to push back on his extreme agenda, according to two state officials who spoke with The Associated Press.

The announcement comes after massive numbers of pro-gun activists flooded the Richmond this week to show state Democrats that they were not going to allow their rights to be taken away.

.@NRA members getting ready to Stand and Fight in Virginia! #valeg pic.twitter.com/XGs7glbtER

— NRA (@NRA) January 13, 2020

During a cabinet meeting in November, Northam highlighted numerous extreme gun control policies that Democrats in the state were going to push in 2020, including “universal background checks, banning the sale of [semi-automatic firearms] and high-capacity magazines, restoring the law that limits purchases to one gun a month, and a red flag law that would empower a court to temporarily remove a gun from a person deemed to be a risk to himself or others,” The Washington Post reported.

“We will at least start with those,” Northam said.

When asked about confiscating guns from law-abiding citizens, Northam responded “that’s something I’m working [on] with our secretary of public safety.”

The Washington Free Beacon reported last year that during the most recent elections, Democrat candidates were silent on whether they supported Northam’s extreme gun confiscation plan. The Free Beacon reported:

Gun confiscation and other gun control measures have been part of Northam’s agenda, but took on increased importance after a picture of two men, one in blackface and the other in KKK robes, was uncovered on Northam’s page in a medical school yearbook. In his first major public appearance after the scandal broke, Northam called for a special session of the legislature in order to reconsider his gun control package, following the recent strategy used by prominent liberals of pivoting to gun control after brushes with controversy.

Democrats have a strong incentive, in the form of millions in dark money, to implement new gun control laws. In each of the last three election cycles, Everytown for Gun Safety—backed by billionaire Michael Bloomberg—and other gun control groups have spent large sums of money backing Democrats. Everytown spent $2.5 million to help push Democrats into the majority in Virginia, while the National Rifle Association spent just $300,000 supporting Republicans, according to CNBC.

Gun rights activists have surged across the state in response to Northam’s anti-freedom agenda, as the overwhelming majority of the state’s counties have declared themselves to be sanctuaries for gun rights that will not comply with Northam’s extreme agenda.

“The grassroots resistance to Virginia Democrats’ extreme anti-Second Amendment agenda has exploded as nearly 90% of the counties in the state have declared themselves to be sanctuary cities in response to the Democrats’ anti-freedom agenda,” The Daily Wire reported in November. “More than 100 cities, towns, and counties have passed resolutions in preparation for Democrats taking over the state who had indicated a desire to confiscate semi-automatic firearms from law-abiding citizens.”

Hundreds of first time political activists attended an NRA event at the start of the month as the resistance to Democrats’ extreme policies continue to rapidly grow throughout the state.

Last night, hundreds of NRA members joined shoulder to shoulder in Roanoke, Virginia to discuss how they will stand and fight against the Northam/Bloomberg gun confiscation plan.

We sat down with a few of these patriots and here was the message they had for Richmond. #valeg pic.twitter.com/GMrufukada

— NRA (@NRA) January 4, 2020

This report has been updated to include additional information.