Pro-gun caravan descends on Virginia capital without incident
Day called ‘uneventful’ by public safety official
RICHMOND, Va. — The pro-gun caravan that was supposed to send thousands of vehicles pouring into Virginia’s capital Monday turned out to be a sporadic affair as clusters of cars and trucks were slowed by traffic lights.
“We were hoping it would have a continuous flow, like a funeral procession,” gun rights advocate Kevin Hulbert said, standing on a street corner with several supporters holding “Don’t Tread on Me” flags.
Instead, groups of pro-gun vehicles passed intermittently along Broad Street, too few to dominate traffic and separated by the red lights. A day officials had feared could descend into anti-government violence settled into a sideshow of heavily armed protest groups holding competing news conferences outside Capitol Square before throngs of media and even more police.
The Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday is traditionally known as Lobby Day in Richmond, a time for citizens to visit their lawmakers soon after the General Assembly begins its annual session.
In recent years, the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) has dominated the day with a pro-gun agenda — last year bringing some 20,000 activists to the city, including militarylike armed groups from all over the country.
This year’s event was turned into a vehicle caravan, partly in response to restrictions on public gatherings to halt the spread of the coronavirus, but also because gun control groups snapped up public event permits before the VCDL could register.
Officials feared the gun caravan would attract extremists in the wake of the Jan. 6 mob attack on the U.S. Capitol, and given the threats of violence and demonstrations at state capitols across the country. Downtown streets were closed and blocked by dump trucks; metal barricades ringed the boarded-up Virginia Capitol building and hundreds of police officers filled the area. National Guard troops were on standby.
“Uneventful,” state Public Safety Secretary Brian Moran said via text as events wound down.
Outside the Science Museum of Virginia, where the state Senate convened at noon in a room large enough to allow social distancing, the first part of the caravan passed just after midday. The slogan “Guns Save Lives” was plastered on cars and pickup trucks, and some drivers leaned on their horns.
“It’s not last year, but it’s still a statement,” said one man holding a roll of orange VCDL stickers.
At the Virginia Capitol early Monday, media initially far outnumbered protesters. Over the course of the morning, small groups of extravagantly armed people began showing up outside the barricades. Often it was hard to tell what they were advocating.
One group of five men in military garb and carrying assault-style rifles said they were just buddies who like guns — and to kiss one another, as two kept demonstrating for reporters who eagerly snapped photos.
At one point, a colorfully dressed squad of self-styled “boogaloo boys” — extremists who have called for a race war and like to wear tropical shirts — held court with reporters uphill from a cluster of dark-clad men holding Proud Boys banners.
In the most tense moment of the morning, someone yelled out: “Proud Boys go home!” “Say it to my face,” one of the Proud Boys responded and began running into the crowd to find his detractor. He didn’t find him, and peace returned quickly.
Though signs said it was illegal to carry weapons under new city ordinances, protesters ignored them and police made no issue of it.
“We’re not going to comply with unconstitutional city ordinances,” said Mike Dunn, 20, who pointed out that the high-capacity long rifle he was carrying was in violation. Dunn leads a Virginia group he says is affiliated with the boogaloo movement.
He said the group would not provoke violence, but was prepared for it. He said the attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of President Donald Trump this month was wrong, but only because it was carried out for a misguided purpose.
“Making government fear you is definitely the right thing to do all the time,” he said. “The wrong reason is doing it for another tyrant — Trump.”
By early afternoon, with VCDL caravans a few blocks away, a group of about 20 Black Panthers showed up and stood in formation near the Virginia Capitol, many of them armed.
They glared pointedly away from a group of Proud Boys across the street. The Proud Boys have been connected with white supremacist beliefs, but those in Richmond on Monday insisted that they were not racists.
Walking past the Black Panthers, one Proud Boy called out, “Hey, God bless you guys.”
Later, as the Black Panthers marched around a city block, the boogaloo boys raised their fists in what they said was solidarity. The Panthers didn’t respond. But one member, asked about the significance of the day, said: “It’s Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday. That’s what it is.”
Across town, Black Lives Matter supporters held a cookout in honor of King.
Police kept vehicles out of the streets around the Robert E. Lee statue, which has become the focal point of the city’s social justice demonstrations.