Posted on 09/14/2017 7:41:39 AM PDT by Perseverando
A small, Tennessee-based group is planning to rally on Monument Avenue on Saturday around the statue of Robert E. Lee.
Authorities are planning to cordon off a “weapons-free assembly zone” around the statue of Robert E. Lee on Monument Avenue in an effort to head off any potential violence at a rally to support preserving Confederate monuments planned for Saturday.
“We do not want what happened in Charlottesville to happen in Richmond,” said Richmond Police Chief Alfred Durham in a letter distributed to residents this week.
While authorities acknowledge they’re preparing for the worst, so far they’ve downplayed the parallels between the rally planned for this weekend and the one that took place last month in Charlottesville, which was heavily promoted for months by several national white nationalist groups.
The Richmond rally, in contrast, is being planned by a small, largely unknown Confederate heritage group based out of Tennessee, and so far, only about 50 people have signaled they plan to attend.
Durham described plans to ban items such as sticks, bats and knives at a community meeting held by Councilwoman Kim Gray last week, according to several people who were there.
Durham declined to comment Wednesday on the police department’s plans for the protest, saying officials would answer questions at a community meeting scheduled to take place Thursday. In his letter, he asked residents to avoid the area if possible and report any suspicious activities to police.
It’s uncertain whether the ban would extend to guns — a potentially thorny legal issue in a state where the open carry of firearms is legal.
“I can’t say what types of weapons because the law is unclear,” Gray said, “but it has been a topic of discussion — what particular items can and can’t be banned from these types of rallies.”
On Tuesday a free speech expert told a state panel assembled by McAuliffe that a weapons ban “could be done in a way that would be legal, would be constitutional.”
Rodney Smolla, the dean of Widener University Delaware Law School and a former law school dean at the University of Richmond and Washington and Lee University, said localities or the state could theoretically ban guns through the permitting process for events expected to draw large crowds, but an across-the-board prohibition on guns at political rallies may be a difficult sell from a constitutional standpoint, particularly in open carry states.
McAuliffe has ordered a temporary freeze on permitted events at the Lee statue and reiterated this week that the planned pro-Confederacy demonstrators “will not be allowed” to rally there. “We’re going to enforce our executive order, of course,” McAuliffe said. “Maybe they’ll march down the entire Monument Avenue. Walk down the sidewalks. They’re entitled to do that.”
Gray said she expected police to set up the weapons-free zone in the streets around the statue but that, in keeping with McAuliffe’s order, the grassy area around the statue itself that’s owned by the state would be fenced off.
It’s uncertain how many people will actually attend the rally, which is being planned by a small neo-Confederate group based in Tennessee called CSA II: The New Confederate States of America, a for-profit business whose primary focus appears to be selling Confederate-themed T-shirts and other paraphernalia.
The group is largely unknown and the state’s most well established Confederate heritage group, the Virginia Chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, has advised its members not to participate in the event.
“We’re trying to figure out who they are,” Frank Earnest Sr., a spokesman for the SCV, said. “Nobody’s ever heard of them. … We really wish people would just let things die down right now and that these people would stop using our symbols.”
Unless, of course, they are approved of by liberals.
I can’t wait for someone to start busting caps into these turds.
It shall be unlawful for any person over sixteen years of age while wearing any mask, hood or other device whereby a substantial portion of the face is hidden or covered so as to conceal the identity of the wearer, to be or appear in any public place, or upon any private property in this Commonwealth without first having obtained from the owner or tenant thereof consent to do so in writing. However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes; (ii) engaged in professions, trades, employment or other activities and wearing protective masks which are deemed necessary for the physical safety of the wearer or other persons; (iii) engaged in any bona fide theatrical production or masquerade ball; or (iv) wearing a mask, hood or other device for bona fide medical reasons upon the advice of a licensed physician or osteopath and carrying on his person an affidavit from the physician or osteopath specifying the medical necessity for wearing the device and the date on which the wearing of the device will no longer be necessary and providing a brief description of the device. The violation of any provisions of this section shall constitute a Class 6 felony.
“that the planned pro-Confederacy demonstrators “will not be allowed” to rally there. “
So you have the right to peaceably assemble...except at the Robert E. Lee statue.
And you have the right to openly carry your firearm in public, except when the police ban it on a whim.
Ever notice how many of our “rights” are revoked on a whim these days?
Ahhh...true
How nice of them to put targets on their hearts. Makes the sniper’s job easier.
Probably a Craig’s list false flag operation.
It’s a beautiful statue and stands alone as a work of art.
Come on! Isn't that what progressives want! They would love another opportunity to smear us on the right and demand more gun control and more of a police state.
Every time there's a prominent shooting the MSM scrambles to try and tie the shooter to the right.
You’d think the Governor was Terry McAuliffe.
Just for a couple of months.
No masks?
...However, the provisions of this section shall not apply to persons (i) wearing traditional holiday costumes..
So, antifa will show up in communist red santa suits with big face covering fake beards
Bans against me but not for thee.
NOTE: TURNS OUT THE "28TH CONFEDERATE" WAS PROBABLY A SHELL GROUP. A PURPORTED "SPOKEMAN" FOR THE GROUP STATED, ACCORDING TO THE LOCAL MEDIA AND THE KNOXVILLE POLICE DEPT, THAT THE 28TH CONFEDERATE WAS DISBANDED AND THEIR WEBSITE FOR DELETED. ACCORDING TO THEIR PURPORTED SPOKEMAN, THEY HAD NEVER ACTUALLY PLANNED TO GO TO KNOXVILLE TO PROTEST IN THE FIRST PLACE!!! BEWARE, BEWARE, BEWARE SOMEONE IS PULLING THE WOOL OVER OUR EYES. THIS GROUP IS, MORE THAN LIKELY, FLYING UNDER A FALSE FLAG.
However, Democratic Mayors and Governors are earning media and constituent brownie points as well as spending lots of taxpayer money to fight a paper tiger that doesn't exist to start with. Not to mention getting the populace accustomed to having guns banned for our own "safety".
Why is there never MaDeucecwhen you need one?
Not to mention that Virginia has full pre-emption. It is against state law for Richmond to ban firearms, since open carry is not prohibited by commonwealth law.
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