West Virginia and Virginia used to be the same state, until the issue of slavery drove residents in the western part of the state to break away and form their own state as the Civil War erupted in 1861. Now, several lawmakers in West Virginia are offering to reunite at least a portion of the states once again by annexing any Second Amendment Sanctuary communities and make them a part of West Virginia if Governor Ralph Northam’s anti-gun agenda is enacted into law.

House Concurrent Resolution 8 was filed this week in the West Virginia legislature, and while it may not lead to 91 more counties in West Virginia, it’s at least poking Virginia’s anti-gun lawmakers for their zealous attempt to infringe on the rights of residents. For that reason alone I hope it passes unanimously.

The bill actually calls for county referendums to be held in Virginia counties before August 1st, 2020. If the General Assembly in Virginia were to approve counties leaving the state (which isn’t going to happen), then the West Virginia legislature would put the question of annexation to a vote of the people via a referendum in November of this year. If the resolution were to pass, the first step would be to inform the counties in Virginia that this option is available to them.

Further Resolved, That the Legislature directs that the Clerk of the House forward copies of this resolution to the Board of Supervisors of each county in the Commonwealth of Virginia who have voted to become sanctuary counties for firearms rights, and to the Council of each independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia who have voted to become sanctuary cities for firearms rights; and, be it

Further Resolved, That the Legislature directs that the Clerk of the House forward copies of this resolution to the Clerk of the House of Delegates and Clerk of the Senate of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia and requests, in a spirit of peace and goodwill, that the General Assembly will allow this measure for the peaceful transfer of peoples and the restoration of harmony to the Virginias; and, further requests, in a continuance of such spirit, that any firearms legislation proposed by that body have an effective date far enough into the future so that this exchange of peoples and territory could be accomplished before the effective date of such legislation.

Again, there is absolutely zero percent chance of the General Assembly bidding a fond farewell to the vast majority of the state. It’s simply not going to happen. I do wonder if any Virginia counties might try to hold a non-binding vote on moving to West Virginia regardless of the legal impossibilities. Virginia Democrats were taken by surprise by the Second Amendment Sanctuary movement. I can only imagine their reaction of dozens of counties began asking the state of West Virginia to take them in and offer them sanctuary as well.

Del. Gary Howell is one of the sponsors of this resolution, and I’m fairly confident that he’ll be my guest on Friday’s Bearing Arms’ Cam & Co. so we can talk a little more about this idea and what made him and some of his colleagues decide to offer to take in Virginia’s pro-2A counties and communities. Be sure to tune in and check it out tomorrow!