RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Virginia urged the state Supreme Court on Friday to uphold a weapons ban at an upcoming gun rally in the capital, insisting it was necessary to prevent a repeat of deadly violence that erupted at a white nationalist rally more than two years ago.
State Attorney General Mark Herring’s petition – and simultaneous legal efforts by gun-rights groups to lift the ban – came amid the arrest of six men whom authorities linked to white supremacist groups. At least three of them were planning to attend the pro-gun rally on Monday in Richmond, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss an active investigation.
The FBI said the men were linked to a violent white supremacist group known as The Base. In encrypted chat rooms, members of The Base have discussed committing acts of violence against blacks and Jews, ways to make improvised explosive devices, their military-style training camps and their desire to create a white “ethno-state,” according to an FBI agent’s affidavit accompanying a criminal complaint against three men who were charged in Maryland.
In his legal brief to the Supreme Court, Herring called Northam’s executive order banning guns from the Capitol grounds “a carefully limited Executive Order” that “does not prevent anyone from speaking, assembling, or petitioning the government.”
“Instead, it temporarily precludes private possession of firearms in a sensitive public place during a specified time to protect public safety,” the brief says.