A collection of 100 or so area gun lovers gathered on the lawn of the Albemarle County Office Building last Wednesday afternoon to register their opposition to a proposed ordinance that would ban firearms on county-owned property, like parks and City Hall.
At a meeting after the rally, the county ultimately decided to hold off on passing a new measure for the time being. Charlottesville approved an identical ordinance last year.
Some rally attendees held signs—slogans included: “criminals ⁄ gun control,” “a handgun is the ultimate feminine protection,” and “the city of Albemarle needs a lesson on the USA.” (Albemarle is a county, not a city.)
The rally began on the edge of the office building’s large lawn, in a designated area. In a stirring display of civil disobedience, one speaker dramatically tore down one of the county’s signs, so the rally could move to the shade.
Steve Harvey, a Republican who says he plans to run for Board of Supervisors in the next election cycle, claimed that the ordinance to restrict the carry of weapons in public places was addressing a problem that didn’t exist.
“If you go to an engineer, and say, ‘This bridge has been standing for 250 years. Should we radically alter this bridge?’ No!” Harvey said.
In 2020, gun violence killed 20,000 Americans, according to The Washington Post.
Harvey also said the ordinance was “political,” and insinuated that it was being proposed in response to the 2017 Unite the Right rally, but that it would instead target law-abiding gun owners. “This ordinance is against you—not the people that marched over there and made a horrible mess. It’s against the good people that didn’t do that.”
Philip Van Cleave, president of gun-rights advocacy group the Virginia Citizens Defense League, talked about a recent lawsuit filed against the government of Winchester, and threatened to file a suit in Albemarle. “Who knows where we might go next?” he said. “This seems like a nice area right here.”
(You may recognize Van Cleave’s name—in 2018 he appeared on Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Who is America?” show, and was duped into participating in a PSA training 3-year-olds how to use guns.)
Philip Andrew Hamilton, who is running as a Republican in Charlottesville’s bluer-than-blue House of Delegates district, also spoke. In addition to voicing his opposition to the county ordinance, he criticized the city for the recent removal of racist Confederate statues, a practice he described as “Marxist.”
“They’re going to call a Board of Supervisors meeting tonight, but it’s not open to the public,” Hamilton said. “You have to register through Zoom.”
The Albemarle Board of Supervisors has been holding public meetings on Zoom for more than a year, and anyone is allowed to register and comment.
Many community members tuned in to the meeting to do just that, including Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Jim Hingeley.
“It’s been characterized as gun control—it is not an ordinance that has gun control as its purpose,” Hingeley said. “The purpose of this is for the county to manage government operations. Private property owners have that right. For example, sporting events do not allow firearms. …The government should have the same right.”
“This is not a Second Amendment issue at all,” Hingeley added. “This ordinance in no way violates the Second Amendment.”
Mike Fox, an Albemarle resident and the Virginia legislative lead for gun control advocacy group Moms Demand Action, spoke in favor of the ordinance. “For the sake of our lawmakers, tourists, families, and our law enforcement, we should not be forced to wait to act until tragedy strikes.”
The county will continue to discuss the ordinance in the weeks ahead.