By Chris Menahan
Folks attending the Second Amendment rally at the Capitol grounds in Richmond, Virginia on Monday will be barred from exercising their Second Amendment rights and corralled into a chain-link “pen” with only one entrance and exit.
From The Washington Post:
Outside the Capitol, authorities used tall chain-link barriers to create a pie-shaped pen for the rally. The area takes up about a third of Capitol Square, a manicured park dotted with monuments to figures ranging from Native Americans and George Washington to a segregationist governor and civil rights leaders. The monuments were protected with additional fencing, as was the Executive Mansion to the east.
The square is usually open on all sides to foot traffic. Under Northam’s emergency order, access is restricted to one spot, at 9th and East Grace Streets. Just inside that entrance, the crowd will be split into 17 lines for screening with metal detectors.
Anyone attempting to bring in weapons will be turned away, but police will not confiscate those items, officials have said. Demonstrators who do not want to part with their guns may remain armed on city streets. Authorities say they will cut off admission to the rally once the crowd hits a certain number, which they have declined to disclose.
[…] Gov. Ralph Northam (D) last week declared a state of emergency and issued a ban on firearms or other weapons on Capitol grounds. The state Supreme Court upheld the ban after a challenge by two gun rights groups. The Federal Aviation Administration has issued temporary flight restrictions for Richmond airspace, making it illegal to fly planes or drones above the city on Monday. Northam has said officials are concerned about threats from weaponized drones.
Sounds like freedom!
“Suddenly, Democrats like walls and putting people in a cage,” Red Nation Rising said on Twitter.
Ford Fischer is doing on-the-ground reporting ahead of the event:
An armored vehicle dubbed “The Rook” was reportedly seen being wheeled in for the event: