Virginia City of Lynchburg Declares Itself a Second Amendment Sanctuary
Jose Nino
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On January 10, 2023, Lynchburg, Virginia’s new City Council approved turning the city into a Second Amendment sanctuary by a vote of 5-2.Â
Per the agenda originally set out for the session, the topic was only to be discussed not voted on.
However, Councilman Jeff Helgeson issued a motion to vote on the topic, and newly elected Councilman Larry Taylor subsequently approved of the motion.Â
All of the council’s five Republican-leaning members pulled the lever in favor of the resolution.Â
“People deserve to be able to defend themselves”, Councilman Martin Misjuns proclaimed. “Four our city to honor that is just tremendously inspiring to me.”
Former Lynchburg Mayor and current Councilwoman Mary Jane Dolan criticized this vote and claimed it was unnecessary because the city still supports the right to bear arms.
“This idea holds no legality, and we have no jurisdiction over this”, Dolan declared. “This is a disservice to our citizens, a distraction and it’s an embarrassment to our city.”
When a locality becomes a Second Amendment Sanctuary, it vows to not use taxpayer dollars to infringe on the right to bear arms.Â
Councilwoman Mary Jane Dolan and Councilman Sterling Wilder were the only members to vote no on this resolution.Â
In 2020, the city council voted on a similar solution but it failed to pick up sufficient support at the time. Virginia is no safe space for the Second Amendment. It is currently ranked in 35th place according to Guns & Ammo magazine’s latest best states for gun owners rankings. Moreover, Virginia has, on the whole, gone bluer in the last decade. While it has a divided government at the moment, this dynamic might not last for long.Â
Gun owners must pick up on this reality and start doubling down on passing nullification at the local and county level across Virginia and other blue states nationwide. If we want to win this fight against tyranny, we will have to fight unconventionally.Â
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