Sandy MaloneLynchburg, VA – Liberty University President Jerry Falwell Jr. spoke out against pending gun-control legislation and warned Virginia legislators that law enforcement officials and citizens won’t sit still and do nothing if they continued to vote to take away Second Amendment rights.
“Could you imagine if the governor was trying to take away our First Amendment rights? Well, the Second Amendment is just as sacred,” Falwell said.
“I think they’re going to be faced with civil disobedience, not just by citizens but by police officers. And I think it’s what they deserve,” he added,
The Christian university head said he might call for civil disobedience, but he doesn’t think that will be necessary, WSET reported.
“I’m pretty sure I’m going to call for civil disobedience if the Democrats go through with this,” Falwell said. “And the hundred municipalities and jurisdictions who have passed resolutions to protect the Second Amendment… I think the police officers and the populace would not be opposed to just disobeying, just like sanctuary cities in liberal states refuse to obey federal law when it comes to immigration.”
He said citizens would react without prompting from him if Democrats passed all the anti-gun legislation that was pending.
“If they completely throw out the Constitution… I really would not be surprised if they just said ‘sorry, we’re not going to obey these laws,’” Falwell said. “And that’s going to be interesting. I guess it works in California with ‘sanctuary cities’ and they get away with it. If it’s good for them, maybe it’s good for conservatives too.”
Falwell shared these views during an appearance on the Todd Starnes radio show.
“I’ve never seen such a response from my fellow Virginians, negative response, to any proposal ever out of Richmond,” he claimed. “They are up in arms.”
Falwell said civil disobedience helped pass civil rights laws and might help stop the passage of anti-gun laws that threaten the U.S. Constitution.
“I will not be surprised at all if the citizens and police in a good part of Virginia just decided not to enforce whatever this governor and legislature passes,” he said.
On Wednesday, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam declared a temporary emergency that banned all weapons from the Capitol Square in front of the State House where a huge group of gun rights supporters are holding a rally on Monday.
“Law enforcement intelligence analysts have identified credible threats of violence surrounding the event, along with white nationalist rhetoric and plans by out-of-state militia groups to attend,” Northam told reporters on Jan. 15.
The emergency declaration has prohibited all weapons, including guns, from the Capitol Square from 5 p.m. on Friday until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, WCYB reported.
On Jan. 13, Democratic leaders used a special rules committee to vote to ban guns at the state capitol building and called the move necessary to protect public safety, the Loudoun Times reported.
However, only the governor has the power to change the gun policy on the Capitol Square, where gun enthusiasts will rally on Jan. 20.
Democrats tried to blame the gun ban at the State House on the Capitol police.
“I just have to say that this is something that’s been recommended by our Capitol Police,” House Majority Leader Charniele Herring said before the vote. “And I think there are times when we sort of have to trust what our law enforcement officers are telling us.”
But the Capitol police chief wasn’t about to take the blame for the least popular policy change so far this year, the Loudoun Times reported.
Capitol Police Colonel Anthony Pike said that he never advised legislators to ban guns in the State House.
Col. Pike said he just answered the politicians’ questions about how to implement their ban after they voted on it, according to the Loudoun Times.
Republicans were furious when they learned the truth about the role of the Capitol police in making the new policy.
“That was a deliberate misrepresentation,” said Republican Virginia State Delegate Kirk Cox said. “There’s just no way around that.”
The planned emergency ban on weapons will go into effect as more than 100,000 gun-rights supporters are expected to begin arriving in Richmond for the protest on Martin Luther King Day.
Many view the move as more anti-gun shenanigans by the state’s newly-installed Democratic majority who have vowed to institute gun control in the famously pro-gun state that is home to the National Rifle Association (NRA).
“This is just average gun owners and average Virginians coming out to support them,” Oath Keepers Founder Stewart Rhodes told WUSA. “It has nothing to do with white nationalism.”
The Oath Keepers are a fringe-right group that actively works to recruit current and former military and first responders to prepare for the hostile takeover of local governments by the federal government or a foreign government. They openly oppose racism.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring has vowed to aggressively enforce any new gun-control laws passed by the legislature.
“The Attorney General is delusional if he thinks this is just some movement that’s been ginned up by the so-called gun lobby,” Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman-At-Large Corey Stewart said. “This is a groundswell movement if there ever was one.”