Gun control opponents peacefully exercised their rights in Virginia

Virginia breathed a sigh of relief on Tuesday, one day after gun control opponents dominated the traditional Lobby Day affair — massing an estimated 22,000 people at the Capitol to protest several proposed gun control measures before the General Assembly.

There's plenty of credit to go around for that, but what matters today is that the event was not a repeat of the ugly violence at a Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally more than two years ago. Vocal opposition to gun control has been simmering across the commonwealth since November, when Democrats won majorities in the House and Senate.

The election came four months after the previous legislature, with Republican majorities in both chambers, adjourned a special session on gun violence only 90 minutes after it convened. At a time when Virginians were calling for tighter controls on firearms access and purchasing, GOP leaders balked.

November's election, in which all 140 seats in the assembly were on the ballot, became a de facto referendum on gun control. Exit polling of swing districts by Doug Schoen, a political strategist and Fox News contributor, concluded that gun safety was the top issue.

"(The election) showed that, by enormous margins, those who decided their vote based on a candidate's position on gun issues voted for Democratic candidates," Schoen wrote in a November column for Forbes.

Recognizing that a Democratic legislature, backed by Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam, would likely follow the will of voters and pass gun control measures, opponents mobilized locally to lobby city councils and county boards to refuse compliance.

According to the Virginia Citizens Defense League, the most vocal commonwealth-based gun rights group, 136 counties, independent cities and towns have adopted some form of a "Second Amendment Sanctuary" resolution, or otherwise affirmed that they support the Constitution.

It can be difficult for anyone — even lawmakers — to navigate a proper course, to reflect the popular will without cultivating unrest, and to make sure that a raw, inflamed situation doesn't get worse.

Northam, for instance, made the right call last week when he issued an executive order prohibiting firearms on the Capitol grounds. He was accused as overstepping his authority and acting like a tyrant, but he said he made that decision at the behest of law enforcement and as a result of specific threats made by those determined to disrupt or co-opt the Lobby Day event.

Legislators, for their part, continued their work in the Capitol, with the Senate voting to allow no-excuse absentee voting to make casting a ballot easier. And an odd day in the annals of Virginia history came and went, our worst fears unrealized and our hopes for public safety affirmed.