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Pro-gun activists threaten to kill Virginia state lawmaker over bill they misunderstood
Source: The Guardian
Pro-gun activists threaten to kill state lawmaker over bill they misunderstood
Virginia legislator Lee Carter wrote a bill to allow teachers to strike. Pro-gun activists wrongly concluded it threatens their rights
Lois Beckett
@loisbeckett
Fri 17 Jan 2020 19.26 GMT
Last modified on Sat 18 Jan 2020 01.15 GMT
Virginia’s only socialist state legislator said he has been the target of multiple death threats over a bill that pro-gun activists misinterpreted as a potential threat to their rights.
The legislation introduced by Lee Carter, a 32-year-old Bernie Sanders-endorsed socialist, would allow public school teachers to strike without being fired, and has in fact nothing to do with guns. But some gun rights activists wrongly interpreted it as an attempt to fire law enforcement officials who might refuse to comply with gun control laws introduced by Virginia’s new Democratic legislative majority.
The result, Carter said, has been a torrent of threats and abuse on social media, from promises to vote him out of office, to claims that “this is tyranny and you know what we do to tyrants,” to explicit threats of murder, like, “I’m going to make sure you don’t live through this legislative session” or “I’m going to kill this guy, y’all make sure you don’t forget my name.”
Carter, says he has been so concerned about the death threats that he has started openly carrying a handgun to protect himself.
On Monday, when tens of thousands of gun rights activists will converge on the state capitol in Richmond for what is expected to be a volatile demonstration against the new gun control bills introduced by Virginia Democrats, Carter said that he plans to be in hiding, at an undisclosed location, concerned that he might be a target of violence even in his own home.
-snip-
Virginia legislator Lee Carter wrote a bill to allow teachers to strike. Pro-gun activists wrongly concluded it threatens their rights
Lois Beckett
@loisbeckett
Fri 17 Jan 2020 19.26 GMT
Last modified on Sat 18 Jan 2020 01.15 GMT
Virginia’s only socialist state legislator said he has been the target of multiple death threats over a bill that pro-gun activists misinterpreted as a potential threat to their rights.
The legislation introduced by Lee Carter, a 32-year-old Bernie Sanders-endorsed socialist, would allow public school teachers to strike without being fired, and has in fact nothing to do with guns. But some gun rights activists wrongly interpreted it as an attempt to fire law enforcement officials who might refuse to comply with gun control laws introduced by Virginia’s new Democratic legislative majority.
The result, Carter said, has been a torrent of threats and abuse on social media, from promises to vote him out of office, to claims that “this is tyranny and you know what we do to tyrants,” to explicit threats of murder, like, “I’m going to make sure you don’t live through this legislative session” or “I’m going to kill this guy, y’all make sure you don’t forget my name.”
Carter, says he has been so concerned about the death threats that he has started openly carrying a handgun to protect himself.
On Monday, when tens of thousands of gun rights activists will converge on the state capitol in Richmond for what is expected to be a volatile demonstration against the new gun control bills introduced by Virginia Democrats, Carter said that he plans to be in hiding, at an undisclosed location, concerned that he might be a target of violence even in his own home.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jan/17/virginia-lee-carter-school-strike-bill-guns
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