After a Huge, Peaceful Gun Rights Rally, Reframing it as Racist and Threatening Was Media Job One

Guns Save Life photo by Andrew Lock.

After a gun rights rally in Richmond came and went last week without the “violence, rioting, and insurrection” predicted by Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D), Talia Lavin could not believe her eyes, and she urged the rest of us not to believe our eyes either. “It seems myopic at best to describe the Monday event as ‘peaceful,'” Lavin wrote in a GQ article about the rally, which attracted thousands of armed Second Amendment supporters energized by Northam’s gun control agenda…

The press nevertheless did its best to make Northam’s nightmare seem plausible. The New York Times mentioned Gun Owners of America, a Virginia-based organization dedicated to defending the Second Amendment, in the same breath as the out-of-state “hate groups” that supposedly planned to turn the rally into a “boogaloo”—”an event that will accelerate the race war they have anticipated for decades.”

The Times also described VCDL President Philip Van Cleave as an “extremist,” based on this Goldwater-esque quote from a letter to the editor he wrote last July: “There’s nothing wrong with being extreme in the preservation of our civil rights. VCDL is proud to be categorized as an extremist organization, and we fully intend to continue being such!” Hence the print headline over the paper’s profile of Van Cleave: “Self-Described Extremist Calls for ‘Peaceful Event.'”

– Jacob Sullum in Panic About Peaceful Protest Reveals Gun Controllers’ Bigotry


  1. avatar Dude says:

    “The rally was a sea of white people”
    “Racist hate group was headed to the rally to kill”

    1. avatar Gadsden Flag says:

      Dude, I think I remember an Asian woman holding up a sign that said, “Do I look like a white supremacist?” Saw a man on the street interview with a black man at the rally. These must be inconvenient truths for the left.

      1. avatar Country Boy says:

        There were plenty of black,staunch 2nd A supporters there as well. Is fake news wanting us to believe there’s black white supremist too?

        Tttttttt…..Silly anti 2nd. dems……………..

        1. avatar SAFEupstateFML says:

          Give it a month or two and exercising constitutional rights will be white privilege and any non whites doing so will be named Tom. Mostly joking but they are starting to scrape the bottom of the logic barrel lately.

        2. avatar Andrew Lias says:

          You’ve obviously never heard of Clayton Bigsby.

        3. avatar RickF says:

          I will not reveal identifying details of this, as I don’t want to get the gentlemen into trouble.

          I attended the Virginia 2nd Amendment Rally with my son and another gentleman and we parked my vehicle in a public pay lot. When leaving, my stub insertion did not trigger a payment request or other response from the gate kiosk. I was starting to worry that I was going to have trouble getting on the road, when a gentleman providing security who happened to be black, came over to the gate, swiped his badge over the gate reader, which open the gate. He looked me in the eye, smiled and said “Have a nice day.” The clear indication was he was happy that we’d come to town in support of freedom, and that this was his way of saying “thank you”.

      2. avatar Phil Wilson says:

        Not inconvenient at all. They just point their cameras in another direction and count on their fellow leftists to do the same. Problem solved.

      3. avatar Dan W says:

        There were a minimum of 20k people there. In all the photos I have seen fewer than a dozen non whites. This includes the photos people specifically took of the 2 or 3 minorities to uselessly point at to try to prove to the left how not racist they are.

        1. avatar Dude says:

          Which makes the white supremacist killer scare all the more ridiculous.

          “Hey guys. Let’s go shoot up a bunch of white guys and police. That’ll show them black folks.”

        2. avatar Dude says:

          The Canadian guy was apparently recently radicalized. I read that he just broke up with his black girlfriend last year. It will be interesting to learn more about these three guys that were ready to take on thousands of armed men at the rally.

  2. avatar former water walker says:

    Insurrection huh Coonman? Funny coming from the cradle of the confederacy. I’m not sure what’s worse…murdering babies already born or leaving people unarmed for the boxcars?!?

  3. avatar Chris T in KY says:

    I don’t understand why gay people have a problem with other law abiding gay people having and openly carrying guns???

    I don’t get??? Please explain why you are uncomfortable with this public display.

    1. avatar jwtaylor says:

      Were you replying to some other post?

      1. avatar Chris T in KY says:

        It appears that the “Din Zimmerman” post has been removed. That is what I was referring to.

        1. avatar jwtaylor says:

          I figured it was something like that. Thanks for the clarification.

        2. avatar Derpdeederp says:

          Whatever jwtaylor nice goatee. 1997 called and wants it’s sense of style back!

      2. avatar Chris T in KY says:

        The trolls like to play with names. It’s how they get their kicks. But It’s not confusing me.

        1. avatar James Campbell says:

          Really, I know this well.

        2. avatar A Joke from Texas says:

          Hey what it is James? You still got your two cars in the garage that’s part of the house on the double lot?

        3. avatar James Campbell says:

          Trolls gonna troll.

  4. avatar Chris T in KY says:

    A great example of the racism in white Liberal Leftist media is National Public Television. Their coverage only displayed white men in full body camera shot holding their AR15s. When they did speak with Black gun owners at the Rally. They only used closeup head shot interviews. You could barely see the butt end of a rifle one of the black gun owners was holding.

    This type of racist photographic reporting is very common in the Liberal journalism world.
    In the past they have used terms like, “it’s sad that blacks feel the need to own guns or form a gun club”.

    The white Liberal is a very racist individual. They supported the KKK marching in black neighborhoods while carrying guns.
    But the never supported the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense carrying guns.

    1. avatar Dirk Ri says:

      Just like the recent photo op fiasco with Greta Thunberg. Publisher cut the African girl in her group (the only black girl) from out of the image, cause, you know, the building behind her was ruining the image.

      The left, the media and their racism knows no bounds.

      1. avatar Chris T in KY says:

        FYI to anyone
        Here is another example of the racist views about black and white gun ownership in this country. I remember very well this movie poster controversy from back in 1992. As I have said before.


        Its ok to have a white actor, Christian Slater, holding a gun in a movie poster. But its not ok to have a black actor, Tupac Shakur, holding a gun in a movie poster. So “we” will censor, edit, air brush out, this gun in a black mans hands.

        Oh. I forgot. Libertarians say a private company can’t censor anything. They say only the government can censor.
        Also audience members have been killed at “white” films as well. Its sad I have to even remind people of this.

        The “Juice” and “Kuffs” Movie poster controversy

  5. avatar Erik in AZ says:


    My, how Virginia has changed since left wing politicians first came on the scene.

    1. avatar 41mag says:

      Yea and the prevailing government was concerned for its citizens well-being, not welfare.

  6. avatar MikeyB says:

    I subscribe to Everytown’s text messages to be informed what the idiots are doing. Yesterday’s text: “Hi, it’s Sarah from Everytown. Join me in pledging support for VA Gun Sense lawmakers facing far-right, white supremacist extremism:”

    Not “Gun Sense lawmakers facing rational, 2A-loving, critically-thinking voters.”

    Awfully large brush there, Shannon & Mike.

    1. avatar Phil Wilson says:

      “…Gun Sense lawmakers…”

      I thought they’d moved on to another focus-group tested term. I’ve seen “gun reform” floated a few times, guess it hasn’t stuck.

  7. avatar NotanativeTexan says:

    Anti-anything is (by nature) polarizing. I know of no one “pro” murder (in any form), but the same “anti-gun” are “pro-choice” (my opinion) – why can’t they be “pro-choice” in terms of carrying a defensive firearm? Funny how some ideas are “acceptable” while others are not.

    If there are 10,000,000 LTC/CCW holders in the US, but not 10M instances of gun-play every day/year it would follow that the majority of people who carry don’t deploy their weapons. I’m probably near 20 other people carrying lethal weapons every day – and I don’t notice nor do they notice me.

    All this Civil War talk is absurd, but the deterioration of rights is scary. I’m not an activist, and my time as a warrior is well past, but man, it’s hard to understand how everyone wants to tell me how to live my life.


      “– why can’t they be “pro-choice” in terms of carrying a defensive firearm?”

      (According to *them*) only the police or military has had the ‘proper’ screening and training to ‘safely’ use one.

      All the more galling, since the Supreme Court has already ruled that the police has *zero* obligation to protect the public if they call them for help. And what does a Progressive love above all else? Someone who is helpless and is forced to rely on *them* for help.

      What a great scam to drive votes for ‘Progressives’, don’t you think?

  8. avatar Dan W says:

    The rally was as white as the media is Jewish.

  9. avatar Timothy Toroian says:

    The only violence he may see is a reenactment of 1775.

  10. avatar Chief Censor says:

    They used the white nationalists and Antifa threat to declare an emergency so they could setup a police state area to suppress the rally from accomplishing anything of substance. Hence why it was a very bad idea to bring out the long guns and body armor after the event was predetermined by the government. Instead of continuing with the initial plan there should have been a huge plot turn.

    The government was masterful in their ability to make those angry men completely ineffective and dismissed as all bark and no bite.

    They even laughed at VCDL’s leadership for saying they are extremists yet follow all the rules like good boys. It’s like saying you are a revolutionary that won’t break any boundaries established by the rulers.

    I figure he meant he was an “extremist” in regards to following the Bill of Rights as written when everyone else knows it only exists when the corporations, banks and politicians want it to.

    1. avatar Southern Cross says:

      Could this be a Civil Cold War?

      Each side waiting for provocation from the other?

      I think waiting is starting to grate on the Progressives.


        I think that’s most likely an accurate summation of the current situation. A dog is on a chain. It’s not smart to torment a dog on a chain. If that chain breaks because someone is getting their rock off tormenting that doggie…

        It’s OK, Leftists. That doggie can’t hurt you, and it’s *fun* jabbing it with that stick…

  11. avatar L. Shamus McQuade says:

    Joseph Goebbels would have been very proud of the Media in spinning the event to the LEFTS advantage. Remember the LEFT are SOCIALISTS, Nazis were SOCIALISTS…In the end SOCIALIST means the STATE has full control over the individual from cradle to grave, wages, price fixing, etc. No free market. Essentially circumventing rights and laws outlines in the Constitution. The framers of the Constitution also wrote in the Federalist Papers to fully explain why they famed the laws and what each one meant. This is one area the LEFT wants to ignore and depend upon the population to be STUPID and uninformed. Being Stupid and uninformed is the new norm for some Americans (sheep) today. In the end the State will rule over the sheep. Gun control is just another form of the States control for a means to an end. The end being a totalitarian state just like the Nazi’s. Remember man has not changed from 1776 only technology, so there will be those who want to control the population. The framers of the constitution knew this all too well from the British rule at that time in history, another totalitarian state.

  12. avatar Jim Bullock says:

    Journalisming — New coinage for agenda-driven bad fiction, supporting a narrative by selecting or inventing “facts” as needed. One does wish the folks doing this had done better in their creative writing courses. Really, it’s not just incorrect n morally questionable, this stuff is boring.

    /Apparatchecks gonn Apparat…

    The Narrative was the job *before* the rally took place. The media pieces weren’t just written before the rally, but before the whole setup. Creating “facts” to fill them was the point.

    1 – The goal was to de legitimize opposition to the gun grabs, n justify grabbing all the things.

    2 – That needs stories of ergregious “gunny folk bad” behavior, and damage done using guns. (When that didn’t happen, the journ-o-lists generate twisted, spun, stories asserting some penumbra of inter-racial racism; and tales of broken people’s discomfort over stuff that didn’t happen. Fake racism n non-threat in the stories *feel* the same to the readers, so makes the point.)

    3 – So, from fences, to name coalling, to threats of military occupation, to masked riot police, to the rest, Governor Blackface’s provocations were to poke people into doing something. (It’s no accident that banning “masks”, was stretched beyond banning identical black bandannas, n Guy Fawkes masks on rioters to include neck gators pulled onto the face on a cold day.

    An accident that they “banned” “masks” when they knew Lobby day would be cold? No. Like the gun “safety” laws, designed to create maximum non-compliance from people who aren’t a problem.

    Note to Gov Pointy White Hat — not all face coverings are political statements of violent intent. Maybe hang out with the Anti-fa-fa-fa less.

    4 – And blocking already aggrived constituents out of their traditional “Lobby day” only serves to wee-wee them up. As much as the Screaming D’s clearly enjoyed stifling n mocking the gunny folks in “hearings” and “town halls” prior to lobby day, it’s also tactical. Those on-mic leaks of name calling n announcing your’re just ignoring them. Possibly honest attitudes. The fact that they were caught on camera and on mic, was purely orchestrated.

    5 – When the gunny folks didn’t take the bait, launch the missives anyway.

    Aaaaand just like the relentless saturation with Little Hoagie drove out tales of the teachers, kids, and others who stepped up in an instant to stop that same mass shooting, the story of who the VA gunny people were supposed to be will be confirmed

  13. avatar possum and the Coons of Doom says:

    Racism. A lucky little planet in a vast universe with the dominant species hating on each other to the point of annihilation.

    1. avatar Southern Cross says:

      Am I racist? Human race most definitely.


      A damn good thing humans are too stupid to notice the marsupials are really in charge… 😉

      1. avatar Southern Cross says:

        Red Kangaroos can disembowel you with their claws if you really annoy them.

  14. avatar Ragnar says:

    An alleged “white supremacist” from Canada is arrested, supposedly on his way to the rally in Richmond, VA. Media: Declares ALL attendees are “white supremacists”

    Several Bernie Sanders campaign staffers are recorded on video promoting militant labor forces destroying property, rounding up Republicans for extermination or re-education and abolishing the U.S. Constitution. Media: They don’t represent Democratic Presidential Candidate Sanders or the Democratic Party.

    1. avatar Dude says:

      Great point. That’s so true.

  15. avatar Smitty Wesson says:

    Hollywood hates God, hates guns and our freedoms but has no problem using gun violence in movies. Why do we support the people that hate us? Makes no sense to me. We all need to understand that this is all a setup. We need to help each other to stand strong. Support our local pro 2nd Amendment businesses. If the automatically hate Trump they hate us too. If a Democrat gets in office or a puppet of Bloomberg they will lose their rights.

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