The Virginia Citizens Defense League, the gun rights group organizing a large protest in Richmond next week, is considering legal action to block what it believes is an unlawful emergency declaration by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) to ban firearms from the protest site, according to Bearing Arms.
On Wednesday, Northam declared a state of emergency that banned people from carrying guns on state Capitol grounds, claiming the measure was necessary to guarantee safety when thousands of pro-Second Amendment demonstrators gather next week — and likely a significant number of counterprotesters.
In order to declare such an emergency, Northam appealed to a 2012 law that grants him authority to ban guns “to the extent necessary to ensure public safety in any place or facility designated or used by the Governor, any political subdivision of the Commonwealth, or any other governmental entity as an emergency shelter or for the purpose of sheltering persons.”
Northam’s application of the law means he is attempting to classify the area around the Capitol as a shelter, an interpretation even one of the law’s co-authors finds perplexing. – READ MORE