RICHMOND, Va. (CN) — Days after Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an effort to stop the confirmation of President-elect Joe Biden’s win, gun-rights groups are heading to Virginia’s capital for an annual rally that shares faces and themes with the Washington mob.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League’s Lobby Day is set for Monday, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, in Richmond. It’s gone on peacefully for nearly two decades but last year’s rally was shaken up by the arrest of three men who planned to use the firearm-friendly event as an opportunity to start a race war.
Peace was maintained under heightened security as thousands of heavily armed attendees flew American, Gadsden and Trump flags while members of groups like the Proud Boys and the anti-government “boogaloo” movement, who have praised President Donald Trump’s worst tendencies, milled about.
Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who was spotted among the 2020 Lobby Day attendees, was arrested ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot on destruction of property charges following the burning of Black Lives Matter flags at a Washington church, but charges for extended magazine possession were added after he admitted to bringing the devices, illegal in the District of Columbia, as part of a private sale. Tarrio has been released from custody but the FBI has since said his arrest was an effort to prevent an outbreak of violence.
Several Virginians were arrested in the wake of last week’s riot in Washington, and at least one of them was identified among attendees of last year’s Lobby Day.
Douglas Sweet and Cindy Fitchett, both residents of coastal Virginia towns, were arrested and charged with unlawful entry for their role in the Capitol siege. Sweet can be seen attending the 2020 Lobby Day in private photos and video reviewed by Courthouse News. He also participated in pro-Confederate monument rallies in Richmond as recently as 2018, according to an interview with Richmond outlet Style Weekly.
Robert Keith Packer was also arrested this week. A resident of Hampton, Virginia, another coastal town east of Richmond, he was photographed wearing a “Camp Auschwitz” sweatshirt as he strolled through the U.S Capitol. He was reportedly taken into custody by U.S. Marshals on Wednesday but his charging documents remain under seal. It is unclear whether Packer has attended past Lobby Day events.
In addition, two Rocky Mount, Virginia, police officers, Thomas Robertson and Jacob Fracker, were charged Wednesday with unlawful entry and disorderly conduct after they admitted to entering the Capitol during the riot and taking photos of themselves.
Local ABC affiliate WSET-TV spoke with the officers, who said “they would never participate in any activity that put law enforcement officers in danger,” even after attending the riot that left one Capitol Police officer dead.
The FBI warned the attack in Washington was not an isolated event and similar insurrections are planned for state capitals around the country. Adding to the tension, CBS News reported an FBI bulletin warned “agencies moving in to arrest suspects in the Capitol attack ‘to use caution and consider the use of SWAT when affecting the arrest.’”
Virginia Governor Ralph Northam, a Democrat, said at a press conference Thursday that the state is working to balance the right to free speech with the heightened security risk.
While he sent 2,000 members of the Virginia National Guard along with members of the state police force to help protect Biden’s inauguration next week, he said additional troops will be on standby to help as needed.
“If you’re planning to come here or Washington with ill intent in your heart, you need to turn around and go home,” he said. “Virginia will be ready.”