At the risk of turning this into a Virginia-focused blog, here comes another worrisome piece of legislation that may have a good chance of passing in the now anti-gun state. A new bill would make it illegal to intimidate "any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm".

The new bill, proposed by Virginia State Senator L. Louise Lucas is Senate Bill 64. If passed it would make "unlawful paramilitary activity" punishable as a felony. The bill defines the following as "unlawful paramilitary activity":

Teaches or demonstrates to any other person the use, application, or making of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, knowing or having reason to know or intending that such training will be employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder; or

Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive, or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, intending to employ such training for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder; or

Assembles with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof.

If read carefully, this does not make firearms training a felony though it may seem so on the surface by that first paragraph. The real concern is the 3rd paragraph above. An article at The Truth About Guns explains:

"...most of that seems pointless as it would already seem to be covered by Virginia’s conspiracy law. I think number 3, however, is the real point here."

Exactly. Who defines what "intimidating" means in this context? If applied liberally, it could mean just about anything, including the regular open carrying of a firearm. So, if you are headed to the range and decide to "march" your way into the front door you could be committing a felony in Virginia. Of course, that sounds ridiculous. It certainly is, but common-sense is already in short supply in the east coast's latest California twin state.

If you couple this with the coming "Red Flag" laws, it all adds up to more infringement of your natural right of self defense through firearm ownership.

It is becoming more and more obvious that our lawmakers do not care about keeping their oath to uphold the Constitution, whether it be the violation of the 2nd amendment, the 1st amendment, or both combined.