King George, Virginia


20 January 2020


Fellow Members of the King George TEA Party:

I am quite sure you have read the news about today’s Lobby Day in Richmond.  I have received a couple of e-mails from folks that attended, or at least attempted to attend, and will relay them below.  Hats off to Bob and Bob that tried to get there but got caught in the terrible traffic jam.

Governor Northam also sent out his summary… and I have a few comments about that… and then there are some links to articles about the event.

Reports from “the field”:

/*************************************/
/*************************************/
From: Mark
Date: January 20, 2020 at 3:20:02 PM EST
Subject: Gun Rally

On the way home now, here’s the iPhone version of what I saw: 

The people were all extremely polite and well behaved. Mostly adults. 20-30% under 30 yrs old. The cops were great. I think they knew it was a false alarm. I talked to one State Patrol guy who told me there was a couple of minor issues, but that’s all. He said they have more problems at a UVa vs Va Tech football game. 

As we were headed back to the buses, all the gun people were shaking hands with the cops and thanking them for their professionalism. 

There were some dudes all dressed up with chest rigs, slung ARs and loaded down with extra mags marching around. I just shook my head. I know they were just trying to make a point, but I think they missed the point. Oh well. 

When I mentioned the crowd couldn’t keep a chant going, a guy near me said “yeah, we’re not cut out for protests.” A lot of people, like me, took vacation to be there. We’re not like Antifa: We got jobs. 

I think turnout was down for all the scaremongering. I was told by the cops they would limit those ‘inside the fence’ to 10,000 and it never got close to that. A couple of good pictures showed the crowd which was mostly outside the fence because so many were carrying. 

Now, if we can just register enough of those people to vote and turn them out, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Oh yeah, and if Ed Gillespie’s campaign has bothered to look at Al Jolson’s yearbook before the election. 

Mark
/*************************************/
/*************************************/
On Jan 20, 2020, at 6:18 PM, Bob wrote:

Jim,

As good as Marco's report was, mine is a flop.

Bob drove w/ me to Lobby Day.   We left later in the morning because both of us were worried how long we could stand out in cold weather.

We never got to Lobby Day.

Everything was going OK until we got to I-95 and Arthur Ashe Blvd.  We were headed to park at the Diamond.  The right turn lane of I-95 was stopped.   It wasn't moving.  I thought the lane next to it also let you turn onto Arthur Ashe.  As we got closer to the turn I saw just the right lane turned.  Someone was kind to let me in. We jumped past more than half mile of cars sitting on I-95.   

Then we took about 45 minutes to go a few hundred feet.  Arthur Ashe was jam packed both ways.  We could see the top of the Diamond and that all the cars on Arthur Ashe (both directions) seemed headed there.  

Bob tried to call Marcos to get a status of what was happening at the rally site 3 miles away.  We couldn't get through.  Bob and I jointly decided there was too much risk to get closer with the gridlock we were seeing.  So, sad to say, we returned home.

I didn't know this at the time, but this was posted on a gun forum:


  • "When we got to The Diamond parking lot, there was a two hour line waiting to board the bus (and since I never saw a bus, I'm guessing the word "the" might accurately describe it). So, we walked the 3+ miles"


The shuttle was supposed to run every 15 minutes.   Perhaps the bus encountered the same gridlock we saw.

I am very glad the day went well overall.  I do regret not being part of it.

Bob
/*************************************/
/*************************************/

The below is what Governor Northam sent out as his summary.  I have taken the liberty to (calmly) make some comments in bold throughout.


  • For Immediate Release: January 20, 2020
  • Contacts: Office of the Governor: Alena Yarmosky


  • RICHMOND—We are all thankful that today passed without incident (No, you are disappointed that violence didn’t break out in order to justify your “emergency” condition and erect a fence). The teams successfully de-escalated what could have been a volatile situation (No, “the teams” didn’t do anything to de-escalate anything; it was the corpus of thousands of fellow Second Amendment-supporting Virginians that ensured that no volatile situation descended into chaos). This resulted from weeks of planning and extensive cooperation among state, local, and federal partners in Virginia and beyond (No, the majority of weeks of planning was in order to shape your propaganda messaging and extensive cooperation with the media).


  • Virginia’s law enforcement and first responders demonstrated tremendous professionalism (Yep, they sure did.  And they were astounded as to how well the Second Amendment-supporting Virginians treated them for efforts). I’m proud of their work (And who wouldn’t be given the Catch-22 you have put them with regards to the proposed unconstitutional gun laws). I have spoken with Colonel Settle of the State Police, Colonel Pike of the Capitol Police, and Chief Smith of the Richmond Police Department, as well as leaders of the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s office, and thanked them for keeping Virginia safe (Here is a pro tip:  Thank We The People Of Virginia who are ready, willing, and able to keep safe our selves, our families, our property, and our country within seconds when law enforcement is only minutes away).


  • Thousands of people came to Richmond to make their voices heard (Dude, it was 25,000 that attended.  What, did you not look outside???). Today showed that when people disagree, they can do so peacefully (Yes, I am glad that you noticed how We The People Of Virginia have been very peaceful in conveying our message to you about not moving forward with your gun control legislation). The issues before us evoke strong emotions, and progress is often difficult (Yep, usurping the Constitution of the United States of America will get you strong emotions from we patriots but do not, for one minute, consider that "progress”). I will continue to listen to the voices of Virginians, and I will continue to do everything in my power to keep our Commonwealth safe (Nope, you haven’t yet seemed to listen to We The People Of Virginia and that is why 25,000 of us showed up at your door step today).

/*************************************/
/*************************************/

Some overview reports about Lobby Day





Some reports that, by God, Lobby Day was entirely without violence




A report of what happened when someone tried to stir things up



Some reports of local law enforcement commenting on the subject of usurping the Second Amendment




Some reports about the vigorous propaganda effort made to delegitimize the Second Amendment supporters










A report about what Second Amendment supporters are really like




A report that We The People Of Virginia have “top cover” regarding our support for the Second Amendment



As always, I welcome any questions or comments you may have.


James
King George TEA Party
King George, Virginia
james@kinggeorgeteaparty.com
https://www.kinggeorgeteaparty.com