The January 2020 gun rally in Richmond, Virginia to protest a state gun confiscation bill proved that 25k or more men are willing to show up armed to an event where shooting is expected, as John Mark points out. Many pundits, such as Matthew Bracken, warned people not to attend because this rally would be a fed trap to arrest people, or that a fed would start shooting from the crowd to frame the crowd as a violent mob. Bracken expected feds to start shooting from the buildings into the crowd to incite return fire from the crowd. But no violence occurred.
But you can’t expect to muster this many armed men to just any event. The reason this hasn’t happened before is because Northam was the first governor to suddenly threaten to confiscate guns the people already possess in a gun-culture state. The 2A movement is the strongest political movement on the right. The right has stood down on other issues, even when federal judges have made a mockery of the principle of the consent of the governed.
Will these 25k men be useful in the secession movement? 25k armed men can secure any small area. If dispersed, their ability as snipers can shut down transportation over a large area, or make the area too hazardous for federal agents to willingly be there.
[Update: @FromKula estimates that only 4% of the worldwide US Army is infantry – that’s 20 to 25k.]
Perhaps they will only show up when gun confiscation is threatened.
Rarely will an elected tyrant overreach as far and as suddenly as Northam did. If Northam’s campaign had not been funded by gun-grabber Mike Bloomberg, Northam wouldn’t have been pushed to call for confiscation of guns already owned.
By backing down to gun registration, he’s showing other governors what to do next. He riled Virginians so much that other governors have been warned.
To get a crowd size like this requires a big, sudden overreach. In the future it will be hard to convince a government to do a big, sudden overreach unless violent acts targeting the ruling class have panicked them.
Once an area is convinced to secede, the county officials can muster every man who is willing to serve in the militia to defend the decision of the county supervisors to secede.
We wrote an article about partial state secession from the USA last year. For that article, we made a map of 2016 presidential election results, showing possible territory for a partial state secession from the USA. If this area becomes an independent country, the coast line on the Chesapeake Bay will give access to international water and airspace.
The greater our numbers when mustered, the greater our ability to convince our opponents not to anger us. That’s power. Showing up armed in large numbers when the militia is mustered, as in the Virginia 2A rally, demonstrates our power. We might win secession or other concessions without a civil war if we convince our opponents of the futility of fighting us.
Also, mustering (just for the sake of mustering) is not a waste of time. It demonstrates a willingness of the people to enforce their will. County musters, although much smaller, are powerful. County militias are the legitimate military arm of the people. They are good for networking and forming units.
Don’t wait for secessionism to grow first. It’s never too early to invite your county supervisors to organize the county militia. Send them a link to this model legislation to your county supervisors to encourage them to revive the county militia as required by the Virginia constitution https://virginia113.com/
Tazewell County, Virginia decided to organize its militia in December 2019: https://www.firearmsnews.com/editorial/tazewell-county-militia-response-virginia-gun-laws/370026
see also: https://www.secondamendmentdaily.com/2019/12/virginia-county-board-of-supervisors-forms-an-active-militia/
See also the last half of this recent communication from the OathKeepers: “CALL UP A MUSTER of all able bodied men in each county, at the county seat. Not a gun rights rally – A MUSTER. Bring the men of the county together. Declare Northam to be a DOMESTIC ENEMY of the Constitution, with the evidence being his absurd “state of emergency” declaration and disarmed capitol grounds decree. Declare him to be illegitimate. Declare all he does, all he signs into “law” from this moment on to be ILLEGITIMATE and null and void from inception, without force or effect.” https://oathkeepers.org/2020/01/urgent-need-volunteers-jan-20th-to-protect-patriots-at-richmond-gun-rights-rally/
Here’s an example of a successful muster call that was not from county officials: https://www.wsls.com/news/local/2020/01/18/governor-northam-kicked-a-hornets-nest-militia-muster-call-unites-second-amendment-supporters-in-floyd-county/