On Sunday NBC News reporter Ben Collins let everyone know he will cover the January 20, Virginia Second Amendment rally, and he described it as a “white nationalist rally.”
Collins tweeted:
Collins’ claims are very similar to claims and intimations made by the Washington Post, Michael Bloomberg-funded Moms Demand Action, and Gov. Ralph Northam (D).
The Post previewed the rally by focusing on various self-declared militia members who are coming in from other states to attend the rally, carefully noting that the militia members who pledged to never return to Charlottesville while armed made no such pledge regarding Richmond, the location of Monday’s rally.
Moms Demand Action issued a release describing Second Amendment Sanctuary resolutions as “lawless” and describing supporters of such resolutions as “gun extremists.”
Northam claimed “violent rhetoric” has been tied to the rally, although he did not give details about the rhetoric. He did, however, use the claim of “violent rhetoric’ to justify issuing a “state of emergency” and subsequent gun ban on Virginia Capitol grounds.
The rally is part of Lobby Day, which the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL) has sponsored every year since 2oo3. VCDL’s Philip Van Cleave told CNN his group has been coming to the state Capitol every January since 2003 without incident.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.