Dan Gainor: Virginia gun rights rally incredibly peaceful, defying expectations of hysterical media
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was a rally for gun rights, but the media were filled with gun wrongs.
Gun-rights supporters had organized a big rally in Richmond, Virginia, to protest several gun-control bills being pushed by the Democrat-controlled legislature. Tens of thousands rallied peacefully and the news media treated it like it was the start of the second civil war or at least another violent confrontation like Charlottesville.
Several news outlets pushed the claim that the rally was made up of “white supremacists” or “white nationalists.” Instead, they got a rally that was so peaceful that the protesters even picked up their own trash when they were done.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}VIRGINIA'S CAPITOL FLOODED WITH GUN RIGHTS ACTIVISTS FOR SECOND AMENDMENT RALLY
The Washington Post’s front-page story previewing the event led off by saying the rally was, “in the words of some, to fan the flames of a civil war.” The Post mirrored left-wing outlets like Vox, which hyped “online calls for a civil war,” and the UK Guardian which claimed “Gun owners are talking civil war.”
The press did everything it could to terrify people about the event. NBC and its sister network MSNBC couldn’t contain their anti-gun rhetoric. NBC News’ “Dystopia” Reporter Ben Collins called the event “tomorrow's white nationalist rally in Virginia.” Oddly, he also urged reporters to “verify information” before publishing. He was so widely criticized for it, he finally deleted the post.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NBC Anchor Lester Holt pushed a comparison to the riot that happened in Charlottesville where one counter-protester was killed by a white nationalist. “Police on high alert after the governor declared a state of emergency saying he feared another Charlottesville,” said Holt.
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The network even posted a story about how residents feared the event of “gun rights activists, white nationalists and militia groups” “will turn violent.” And NBC News Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez falsely posted a video that he said included “Chants of ‘we will not comply’ from gun rights protesters in Richmond.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It was protesters reciting the “Pledge of Allegiance.”
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MSNBC Anchor Craig Melvin continued the media lunacy, claiming, “Armed militia, white nationalist groups from all over the country taking part on MLK day.” Fellow Anchor Andrea Mitchell also went for the comparison, cautioning that, “Virginia residents praying today's rally at the state capitol is not a repeat of the horrible 2017 Charlottesville disaster.”
The media and the left did their best to ignore the racial diversity of the well-armed crowd or how only one person was arrested (and that for refusing to remove a face mask.)
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Several attendees actually carried signs with the medical school yearbook photo of Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam in either blackface or wearing a KKK outfit. One such sign summed it up nicely: “Governor Northam, I think I found the white supremacist. Unfortunately, it’s you!”
The sign was a stark reminder of how journalists had given the governor a pass on his own racism because he was pushing a liberal agenda they supported.
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