Rural-urban tussle over gun rights in Virginia

The Washington Post reports today over a looming conflict between rural county sheriffs and newly elected state legislators, who are expected to implement gun control laws when they take office as the first majority Democratic state legislature in several decades.  Gregory Schneider reports from Amelia Courthouse, population 1,099, the county seat of Amelia County, population 12,690, and part of exurban Richmond.  There, Sheriff Ricky Walker supports declaring the county a second amendment sanctuary, saying his job is to uphold the U.S. Constitution and that he would not follow a judge's order to seize a gun pursuant to a law he viewed as unconstitutional.  “That’s what I hang my hat on,” Walker said.

Here's the lede for Schneider's story:

Families, church groups, hunt clubs and neighbors began arriving two hours early, with hundreds spilling out of the little courthouse and down the hill to the street in the chilly night air. 

They were here to demand that the Board of Supervisors declare Amelia County a “Second Amendment sanctuary” where officials will refuse to enforce any new restrictions on gun ownership. 

A resistance movement is boiling up in Virginia, where Democrats rode a platform on gun control to historic victories in state elections earlier this month. The uprising is fueled by a deep cultural gulf between rural red areas that had long wielded power in Virginia and the urban and suburban communities that now dominate. Guns are the focus. Behind that, there is a sense that a way of life is being cast aside.

So far, these counties have all approved resolutions that dare the state government to come for their guns: Charlotte, Campbell, Carroll, Appomattox, Patrick, Dinwiddie, Pittsylvania, Lee and Giles.

As Schneider points out, these Virginia actions mirror a trend in other states, a trend which started in the West, where 25 of 33 counties declared themselves second amendment sanctuaries.  In Illinois, a similar percentage of counties have done so.