16 May 29 , 2022from a member who had left them funds in his will, donations
had also risen in response to the proposed gun restrictions.
At the Dec. 18 public hearing, when it was Tom’s turn to
comment, he was emotional; his father, Robert, had died six days
before.
“I had the unique opportunity as a child to be schooled by
those who survived Hitler’s rise to power in Germany prior to
World War II. They taught me the first step was 100 percent gun
registration. And ... the next step was when the socialists came
house-to-house and collected all the guns. ... My father wanted to
be here tonight, but he passed away on Thursday. ... As I sat there
after the deputies had left and I sat in that empty house and
looked at his meager possessions, the medals he earned in two
wars defending his country, his wallet with his concealed-carry
permit ... and his favorite pocket watch ... I held that in my hand,
wondering what I would do next, and I turned it over and saw the
inscription: ‘The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall
not be infringed.’ ”
His voice wavered; there was resounding applause from the
audience. The claim that removing guns enabled Hitler’s
genocide is untrue, but was an idea seeded more than two
decades ago by radical members of the gun rights movement that
has since gained traction, according to historians.
Sharon also spoke that night, shortly after Tom. Her message
was more concise. “Sometimes you have to take a stand. If I have
to be a felon with a gun, I will.”
In the end, the board declined to pass an official resolution —
which legal experts have said are merely symbolic — and instead
tried to find a middle ground by making a supportive statement.
In January 2020, Trump tweeted his support for a VCDL rally
in Richmond. “That’s what happens when you vote for Demo-O
n Dec. 18, 2019, Tom strode to the podium at the Clarke
Board of Supervisors meeting in Berryville. The room’s
plastic blue seats were packed; not everyone could fit inside, so
some stood in the hallway. The majority of people were there to
support a measure to designate Clarke a Second Amendment
sanctuary: They wore round orange stickers reading “Guns save
lives” from the Virginia Citizens Defense League (VCDL), visible
in a video posted on the public Clarke Second Amendment
Sanctuary Facebook group.
Just over a month before, Democrats had taken control of the
Virginia Senate and House in Richmond for the first time in over
two decades. Some candidates had run on proposals to enact
gun-control measures such as banning assault weapons (since
dropped), universal background checks on private gun sales and
limiting hand gun purchases to one a month; the latter measures
went into effect on July 1, 2020. The VCDL is a pro-gun rights
nonprofit that started in Northern Virginia in 1994 and grew
quickly to cover the whole state. Increasingly, it has relied on
fear-based messaging to recruit members. In July 2019, group
president Philip Van Cleave wrote in a letter to the Winchester
Star: “True security is being able to protect yourself in an
emergency.”
After the November election results, the VCDL called on
members to push for Second Amendment sanctuaries and for
local governments to refuse to comply with any gun-control laws.
The VCDL’s revenue ballooned: Federal filings available on
ProPublica show that in 2018 the group’s income was $52,582;
in 2019, it was $1,001,409, with $361,000 attributed to
membership dues. Van Cleave, who responded to questions via
email, said that it was not his intention to use fear as a
recruitment tactic, and that while a portion of the increase wasFrom left: The
cemetery at Stone’s
Chapel near
Berryville; downtown
Berryville, Clarke
County’s county seat.