The True Aim of the Gun Sanctuary Movement
The gun lobby is seeking protection not from government overreach, but from democracy itself.
Outside NRA headquarters.
Photographer: Michael A. McCoy for The Washington Post via Getty Images
At first glance, the Second Amendment sanctuary movement currently burrowing into rural Virginia looks like a ballistic twist on the immigrant sanctuary cities movement. Both movements defy the law, one to protect undocumented immigrants from legally sanctioned deportation, the other to protect unlicensed firearms from legally sanctioned regulation.
But there is a significant difference, more political than legal. One sanctuary movement aims to protect a vulnerable population from personal harm. The other movement seeks to protect a group’s capacity to do harm — no matter how loud the outcry from a population vulnerable to gun violence.