NRA-ILA Rally in Richmond Today 7/9

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  • Stoveman

    TV Personality
    Patriot Picket
    Sep 2, 2013
    27,985
    Cuba on the Chesapeake
    I heard the MDA folks were mostly a bused in rent-a-mob....


    Would not surprise me, it was an amalgamation of Demanding Mommies, Everytown and the Brady Bunchers.



    After their screechfest at the underground entrance to the Capitol shown in the pics above the harpies assembled on the Capitol steps and someone said that Gov Blackface Northam was with them.

    After Maj Tourre spoke PVC was looking at his phone and then came to the mic and said that he was getting word on some movement but didn't have the details. About the same time the harpies left the steps en masse.

    Seeing the news reports later it was a few minutes after the news broke online about the session ending. Fortunate that we were uphill from the nags otherwise their tears would have drowned us all.
     

    Deep Lurker

    Ultimate Member
    Patriot Picket
    Mar 22, 2019
    2,356
    A very good day for Virginia Liberty comes to a close.

    I want to express here in the NRA-ILA Rally thread — on behalf of the Patriot Picket members who traveled to Richmond today, and I hope on behalf of many of the MDS Minutemen from both MD and VA who also traveled to the VA Statehouse today to demonstrate to preserve and restore our gun rights — sincere gratitude to John Commerford of the NRA-ILA and his staff for the considerable work they put into making the outcome so favorable there to 2A freedom.

    In private John is relaxed, funny and disarmingly friendly in conversation; in public he is also whip-smart, articulate, serious and fiercely dedicated to the protection of the Second Amendment in both VA and MD.

    I have no doubt John’s considerable planning and preparation for this important day in Richmond made a big difference.

    Since the 2019 MDGA session we have been able to see both sides of John at work, and we especially thank John for the sincerely enthusiastic welcome he gave to the Patriot Picket representatives who attended the Belle Haven NRA-ILA meeting.

    Below John shares some additional insights and a laugh with Jeff Hulbert of the Patriot Picket shortly before he opened the Belle Haven meeting last week:
     

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    Deep Lurker

    Ultimate Member
    Patriot Picket
    Mar 22, 2019
    2,356
    We also want to thank the local Delegate Robert Bloxom, Jr. (R) who also made time not only to attend the Belle Haven meeting to describe the political situation in Richmond but to also meet with the Patriot Picket to share additional political insights that helped our understanding of what to expect today.

    Same goes for Del. Bloxom: he is sincere, easy-going and smart, and it is the great fortune of the residents of the Eastern Shore of Virginia to have such a staunch Second Amendment defender as their representative in Accomack County.

    Bloomberg’s money has been spent in truckloads to try to take Del. Bloxom out, and to replace him with a corrupt anti-gun owner Bloomberg Party machine Democrat.

    In fact, of the top ten seats in VA most desired by Democrats to flip to them, Del. Bloxom is third on the list.

    He will tell you himself that money is nice, but VOTES are what he most needs at re-election time.

    So if you want Del. Bloxom to be in Richmond defending the Second Amendment, every VA-District 100 Republican is needed at the polls, and needed to also get their friends and family to the polls!

    Thank you Delegate Bloxom!
     

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    babalou

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 12, 2013
    16,016
    Glenelg
    Jeff

    Thanks for posting... good to see Jeff doing well. Hopefully his health is holding steady. We miss him around here.

    He was at the beach last week getting ready for round 16 I believe starting Wednesday. I texted with him.
     

    fidelity

    piled higher and deeper
    MDS Supporter
    Aug 15, 2012
    22,400
    Frederick County
    Witness the power of the NRA (not taking away from the VCDL and other groups that descended on Richmond) ... and be sure to check out the dollar amounts each side spends ... straight reporting with no spin ...

    The NRA is in turmoil. But in Virginia gun debate this week, the group flexed muscles
    By Gregory S. Schneider and Laura Vozzella (Washington Post)

    The morning that Virginia’s legislature convened a special session on gun control, the National Rifle Association set up shop in prime real estate: the conference room belonging to Republican House Speaker Kirk Cox.

    The NRA’s supply of 200 T-shirts and 250 hats quickly ran out as an army of gun-rights activists stopped by. NRA officials provided directions to legislators’ offices along with some advice: Be courteous. Don’t react if protesters shout at you. Guns are allowed on the House side, not the Senate.

    As it turned out, GOP leaders shut down Tuesday’s legislative session after 90 minutes without voting on any gun control bills. It was a display of political muscle for the NRA, a brand that has appeared crippled in recent months.

    ... this week’s events in Richmond showed that the organization continues to wield significant influence at the grass roots level. Its legions of members — the group does not release figures but said it has “hundreds of thousands” in Virginia — are reliable voters who show up even during off-year elections.

    Backed by those foot soldiers, NRA officials enjoy access to top politicians. Virginia GOP leaders spent weeks before the special session in frequent communication with NRA experts, who provided guidance and research on how gun-control measures had fared in other states, according to several people familiar with the interactions.

    While Democrats were stunned by the way the GOP leadership shut down the special legislative session, the NRA knew about the move ahead of some rank-and-file Republicans.

    Democrats often accuse the NRA of “buying” access but the organization is not a big spender in Virginia. Since 2015, the NRA has given a total of $130,000 to Virginia political campaigns. Over the same period, Everytown For Gun Safety — the gun control group founded by former New York mayor Michael Bloomberg — has given $4.7 million, according to the nonpartisan Virginia Public Access Project.

    The NRA has contributed only $15,000 so far this election year to a handful of Republican political action committees — and that is with all 140 seats in the legislature on the November ballot and control of the General Assembly at stake. By contrast, Virginia Beer Wholesalers have kicked in more than $116,000 to various candidates of both parties in 2019, according to VPAP.

    Bloomberg, which typically bankrolls TV ads that come late in the campaign, has yet to give any money this year, but both sides expect the group to spend big in Virginia.

    The NRA made no effort to bus members to Richmond this week for the legislative session, which was called by Gov. Ralph Northam (D) in the wake of the May 31 mass shooting in Virginia Beach in which 12 people were killed at a municipal building.

    ...

    “They’re powerful because they can provide votes,” said Harry L. Wilson, a Roanoke College political scientist with expertise in gun control. “Money’s a good thing . . . but that’s never been what’s determined the NRA’s power. It’s always been their ability to turn out votes.”

    The day after the session, Wilson said, the NRA was already pressing its case — emailing members that “the fight has just begun.”

    The organization has five paid field directors in Virginia, and all were in Richmond Tuesday, dressed in suits and ties, in keeping with the professional image the NRA tries to project.

    “We are glad that our state team communicates directly with the leadership on both sides of the aisle in both House and Senate, and even with the Northam administration,” NRA spokesperson Catherine Mortensen said via email. “We provide research and comments on a variety of legislative issues to all Virginia legislators to help educate them on our issues.”

    Northam’s secretary of public safety, Brian Moran, said it is true that the NRA communicates with the governor’s office. “They come to committees and oppose all of our bills,” he said. “But for this special session, I’m not aware of any communication with their group . . . All I heard from them was adamant opposition.”

    Moran hosted public meetings all around the state in the weeks before the session, working with activist groups to help build support for gun control.

    The governor’s office also consulted with outside groups to assemble eight legislative proposals — including bans on automatic weapons and silencers; a return to Virginia’s one-handgun-a-month limit on purchases; a “red-flag law”; and giving localities the power to enact their own gun restrictions.

    Among the groups that worked with Northam and other Democrats to create bills were Moms Demand Action, Everytown, Giffords, Brady and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, Moran said. The gun control groups also sent squadrons of staffers to Richmond on Tuesday to help organize outdoor rallies and protests.

    Most of those groups are Democratic donors. Everytown has the deepest pockets, giving $1.4 million to Northam in his 2017 governor’s race — his fourth biggest donor behind the Democratic Governors Association’s super PAC, the Virginia League of Conservation Voters and Planned Parenthood, according to VPAP.

    Lori Haas, the Virginia director of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, has worked particularly closely with the administration, appearing at events with Moran and Northam. She also appeared in Virginia Beach with Democratic candidate Missy Cotter Smasal, who staged a town hall with members of Moms Demand Action on the same night that her opponent — Republican incumbent Sen. Bill DeSteph — attended a session with the NRA.

    ...

    In fact, many lawmakers, aides and lobbyists had thought there was a good chance Republicans would come to the session willing to make a deal on at least one measure — a red-flag law. The NRA has said it supports such laws in concept, and the measures have been endorsed by the Trump administration.

    Del. Richard C. “Rip” Sullivan Jr. (D-Fairfax), who sponsored the bill, said he had worked with the NRA and another gun rights group, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, to try to address concerns.

    ...

    Democrats believe gun control is a good issue for them, particularly in crucial suburban districts where they hope to carve away a few more Republican seats to alter the balance of power in the legislature.

    Republicans go into the fall hanging onto control with the thinnest of margins: 20-19 in the Senate and 51-48 in the House, with one vacancy in each chamber.

    Suburban Republicans are walking a fine line on the gun issue. In Virginia Beach, after attending the NRA meeting, DeSteph’s office called a reporter repeatedly to note that he had also met with Moms Demand Action.

    Similarly, a spokesman for Cox (Colonial Heights) insisted that the NRA’s use of the speaker’s conference room during the special session did not signify a close working relationship, saying it is a public space available to any group with interests before the legislature. His spokesman declined to provide examples of other groups that have used it.

    ...

    Many of the hundreds of gun-rights supporters who flocked to Richmond Tuesday viewed the outcome as a victory — and a sign that the NRA’s organizational troubles have not set back their cause.

    “It’s time to take the NRA in a new direction — new blood,” Charles Nesby, 68, a firearms instructor from Arlington, said of the organization’s top leadership. He said he has a “lifetime endowment” membership to the NRA.

    ...

    “The internal struggle is no different than any other corporation that has internal struggles, and they will resolve themselves,” he said. “But at the grass roots level, we are all still on the same page.”
     

    Biggfoot44

    Ultimate Member
    Aug 2, 2009
    32,877
    Hey , I am an outspoken NRA Apologist . ( Biting my tongue the whole way )

    But to give credit , the VCDL ( with their own warts ) is the lead 2A force in Va .
     

    rascal

    Ultimate Member
    Feb 15, 2013
    1,253
    But to give credit , the VCDL ( with their own warts ) is the lead 2A force in Va .

    The VCDL has done a lot of work but no way are they the "lead 2A force" in Virginia. VCDL is a tiny fraction of the boots on the ground and financial commitment, and long and near term work in among the legislators and the citizens contacting them.

    I'm in DC but I am active in my IWLA in Virginia for years now and there is no question the NRA had been organizing more and more to resist ever since all the the statewide (Governor, Lt Gov, AG, Senators) went full on Democrat. it is the NRA that the red state legislators in purple districts are hearing from.

    Virginia is a huge battleground on 2A. Bloomberg and other gun control groups have spent more there per capita than any state.

    You do realize those GOP legislators who are in purple districts have needed and are going to need massive funding and organizing assistance to defend their seats or ALL is lost, right?

    How much has the VCDL given in campaign funds to those GOP incumbents in districts where they are going to have a very hard fight?

    this exercise by Northam was never going to pass this year, but was COORDINATED with Bloomberg to use against state district legislators who will be seriously challenged to put them on the record opposing "child safety measures" and opposing "keeping guns from crazy people."
     

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