A Second Amendment Sanctuary push is on in Virginia.

Va. counties, cities OK sanctuary resolutions

BUCKINGHAM, Va. — A standing room-only crowd of more than 400 packed the meeting room, filled the lobby and spilled into the parking lot recently in rural Buckingham County, Virginia. They had one thing on their minds: guns.

The vast majority favored a proposal to protect their right to carry firearms: declaring the county a Second Amendment Sanctuary.

Similar scenes have played out across Virginia over the last six weeks. Gun owners are descending on local offices to demand that their government leaders establish sanctuaries for gun rights.

The resolutions, promoted heavily by the gun rights group Virginia Citizens Defense League, vary from county to county, but most declare the intention of local officials to oppose any “unconstitutional restrictions” on the Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. In the last two months, more than 100 counties, cities and towns in Virginia have approved such resolutions.

The current movement began last year in Illinois and quickly spread to numerous states, including California, Colorado, New Mexico and Florida.

In Virginia, home to the National Rifle Association’s headquarters, lawmakers in both parties have traditionally supported gun rights. But in recent years, Democrats have backed tighter restrictions on guns.

The Second Amendment Sanctuary movement began after Democrats promising new gun control laws took over both chambers of the state legislature in the Nov. 5 election.

Gun control proposals gained momentum after a shooter killed 12 people and injured four others at a Virginia Beach municipal building in May. But a special legislative session called by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam after the mass shooting failed to produce any new gun control bills when Republicans shut it down after just 90 minutes.

Gun control advocates are now proposing an array of new restrictions, including universal background checks, assault weapon bans and red flag laws that would allow authorities to temporarily take guns away from people deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

Steve Helber The Associated Press Second Amendment supporters watch as the Buckingham County Board of Supervisors unanimously votes to pass a Second Amendment Sanctuary City resolution at a meeting Dec. 9 in Buckingham, Va. More than two dozen counties in Virginia have voted to declare themselves “Second Amendment Sanctuaries” and are vowing to resist any attempts to tighten restrictions on guns.