Court OKs banning weapons at gun rally

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s highest court on Friday upheld a ban on firearms at an upcoming progun rally in the state’s capital, an event that authorities feared could erupt in violence at the hands of armed extremists.

The Virginia Supreme Court decision came a day after gunrights groups sued to overturn the ban that Gov. Ralph Northam issued earlier this week, citing what he called credible threats of “armed militia groups storming our Capitol.”

The lawsuit and court rulings came as the FBI arrested six men whom authorities linked to a white supremacist group known as The Base. At least three of them were planning to attend the progun rally Monday on the grounds of the state Capitol in Richmond, according to an official who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.

Virginia has become ground zero in the gun control debate as a new Democratic majority in the state legislature has promised to pass restrictions, including universal background checks and a redflag law.

Gunrights groups argued Northam’s ban would violate their Second Amendment right to bear arms and their First Amendment freedom of speech. But a Richmond judge upheld the ban on Thursday, citing rulings from the U.S. Supreme

Court and other courts that the Second Amendment is not unlimited.

The state Supreme Court did not say whether it agreed with the lower court’s assessment. In a terse, twopage ruling, the court said it did not have enough information “to discern whether the circuit court abused its discretion” in rejecting the gunrights groups’ request to lift the ban.