A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

To ALL Board Members:

While you might think  that this amendment is so fragile that it needs extra protection here in Washington County and elsewhere in so-called Second Amendment Sanctuaries, rest assured that it is robust and stands strong. Legislation that provides for sensible restrictions, such as universal back-ground checks, red-flag laws, and other such will not tamper with the body of the 2nd.  It will not affect those who use guns for the purposes so often cited here in SWVA: hunting and recreation; farmers who use them for various purposes; or those who own guns for personal protection.  These laws are designed to catch those who purchase guns for OTHER reasons, and I urge you to consider those before you pass this resolution. Those reasons  do not bode well for the persons on the opposite end of the fire-arm. Consider the Virginia Beach shooting and the spate of innumerable Walmart-related shootings and school-shootings before you vote. These individuals purchased their guns somehow and could have possibly been stopped or caught beforehand  with some of these types of laws.  Think about this.

Your primary concern is the  well-being of your constituents. I know this. You are good people. Vote for the right thing, not the expedient thing.

Well, now that there is a new Democratic day in Virginia, folks all over the place are panicking and passing “Second Amendment Sanctuary” resolutions. Really. Do your GUNS NEED THAT MUCH PROTECTION? Why not just wrap your whole county in (red) bubble wrap, turn on Fox as loud as you can, and call it a day.  Campbell County, Lee County, y’all already fallen. There’s a petition out for Frederick County to go the same way, and maybe one for Appomattox County. And I’m SURE that the BOS will vote Washington County to declare itself, too.

This is Republican gesturing, nothing more. They are signaling to their conservative base that they will play to them and their fears and cater to any conspiracy-driven notions that might arise. (Hey, guess what? Obama NEVER came fer yer guns, now did he?)  But I misspoke. I inserted the word “conservative”.  By now it should be clear to ALL that the partisan divide is this: Republicans (and by this, I mean you have to be a red-capped Trump-lovin’ gawd-fearin’ CONSERVATIVE…or else!) and Democrats (and by this, I mean you need to start getting with the progressive program, folks!).  The time for thinking or lying to pollsters, “Well, I’m an independent, you know,” is OVER.  No-one is that. I’ve done canvassing for candidates and grassroots organizing. I know better. That is a fiction people tell  themselves so they don’t have to take a side. But most? Are truly Republicans afraid to admit it. But rabidly so. They want their guns, their god, their babies, and their (confederate) flag….in that order.

Sorry, got off-topic a bit. My point is that this rush to protect the SECOND AMENDMENT is symbolic, unnecessary, and flashy.  The counties and possibly later cities that do so aren’t REALLY concerned so much that guns will taken (except perhaps for the truly paranoid) but wish to tell those watching that they are staunchly WITH THE PROGRAM, STANDING WITH THE PREZ, KAG, etc. etc. It’s a form of wrapping themselves in a NRA/MAGA/GOP flag. (Pardon me while I go throw up at this image. Ugh.) It’s SO red that if it had a sickle and hammer, China could use it. Or make it into a MAGA hat. 😉

So the elections have come and gone. I’m feeling…conflicted. On one hand, since I DO live in Virginia, and we flipped the Assembly, I’m happy. As an member of the LGBTQ community and a resident in general, that can only be good for the values I hold near and dear. However, I live in SWVA-Washington County. Not quite the coalfields, but Appalachia, still. While I love where I live in many respects, this election brought me up short. When I went to vote, I was confronted by a veritable wall (and I use that word deliberately) of WOMEN wearing MAGA hats who urged me to go cast my vote for the President.  I mildly, esp. for me, told them I wasn’t aware that he was on the ballot in my precinct and proceeded to vote. Not that it did any good. Republicans swept the ballot, with the exception of Josh Cumbow, who somehow retained his position.  Here’s my take:

We frequently lament that the powers that be think that Virginia stops at Roanoke. Well, with this vote that we just did? It might as well. Unless the folks we are sending to the GA are prepared to work in a mighty bipartisan way-and, yeah, REPUBLICANS are SO known for that ability, we don’t exist. We have NOTHING to offer the rest of Virginia, except a cautionary tale: we are what the state ONCE was like in terms of cultural mores and hopes to put to rest. God, guns, and babies might play well in the pulpit, and it sure turned voters out here to vote for “Trump Republicans”. But has it GAINED us anything, in terms of political, economic, or other benefit? I would argue not. We still can’t attract businesses, b/c who wants to bring employees here to a place that literally has so little to offer, except for gorgeous terrain? Young folks leave as soon as they can,  b/c it is regressive and going backwards rather attempting to find ways to change.  We seem to be militant in our embrace of stagnation and, dare I say, stupidity.

I speak as one who is a transplant. I love this region and have called it home for many years.  I do not want to see it die. But dying it is, far as I can tell. And the folks who live here it are in large part hastening Appalachia’s demise. And that’s a shame.