Armed Second Amendment supporters rally outside Virginia Capitol ahead of Inauguration Day Dozens of heavily armed demonstrators gathered at the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond on Tuesday (January 19) for what is known as Lobby Day, an annual event held in support of Second Amendment rights.
Demonstrators at the 2021 rally represented a range of organizations, including the Roanoke County Militia, the New Black Panther Party for Self-Defense - also representing the Fred Hampton Gun Club - the Original Black Panthers of Virginia, a Proud Boys group bearing a flag that said “Proud Boys Nova Virginia,” and a group affiliated with the Boogaloo movement calling themselves “The Last Sons of Liberty.”
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WATCH: U.S. Capitol invasion was planned for weeks
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BY A.C. THOMPSON & FORD FISCHER / ProPublica
NOTE: This story was originally published by ProPublica, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
Members of the ultranationalist street gang known as the Proud Boys were easy to spot at the protests that flared across the United States throughout 2020, often in the middle of a brawl, typically clad in black and yellow outfits.
But in December, as the group’s leaders planned to flood Washington to oppose the certification of the Electoral College vote this week for President-elect Joe Biden, they decided to do something different.
This story was originally published by ProPublica. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to…