Virginia Democrats flipped the House and Senate earlier this month in a blue wave, but rural parts of the state are gearing up to take a stand against gun control legislation, according to The Washington Post.
"We need to send a signal to Richmond about Northern Virginia," Clay Scott, 25, of Amelia county in Virginia, which is just west of Richmond, told the Post. "We don't want their influence to affect us down here. We're very different people."
With Democratic-held legislature in the state, those in rural areas are joining the national movement to be Second Amendment sanctuaries, with the support of the National Rifle Association and Virginia Citizens Defense League, according to the report.
"The notion that law enforcement would not follow the law is appalling," gun control activist Lori Haas of the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence, told the Post. "I suspect that many of these counties and their elected officials are posturing in front of certain voters."
Democratic Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has promised to push gun control in the new Virginia legislature, including universal background checks, red flag laws, and limits on the types and numbers of guns, per the report.
This was "essentially on the ballot in November," according to Northam's Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran to the Post, "and the people have spoken through their votes."
Even law enforcement is backing the resistance to gun control, calling it a conflict of state vs. federal law.
"My oath of office is to uphold the Constitution of the United States," Amelia County Sheriff Ricky Walker told the Post, saying he will refuse to enforce state laws he considers unconstitutional.
"That's what I hang my hat on."