Can anyone help me out understanding how Lobby Day 2021 went?  Haven't had a lot of free time the last couple of weeks to keep up on the news.

Last year I recall there was the cage area where no guns were allowed.  And that you guys had the prime speaking time at 11am.

This year you got screwed on reserving that time slot but in the end all permits were cancelled.  Was the entire area that was inside and outside of the cage inaccessible this time?  Did the cops/LEO block off entire parts of the city near the area?

The whole capitol green area was fenced off. In addition, the cops put up roadblocks to cause grief to the guys doing the rolling rally. Even so, quite a few showed up, some on the ground, some in vehicles. VCDL got cheated out of their permits, but all permits got cancelled anyway.

Thanks!

Unfortunately, ar15.com is not a great place to get the latest on VCDL news. I'm not quite sure where the best place to go to other than signing up for their newsletter or becoming a member. I haven't been to a member meeting since 2019/early 2020 and I don't know if those are still happening or not. When I do go there, it seems to be informative but as with anything it is difficult to know what is going on until you see the proposed bill entered into the General Assembly.

I find it a bit unfortunate that we have such limited coverage of Virginia's on going crisis especially considering how dangerous things are with the General Assembly and how easily they could pass laws.

With that said, I feel like this year's caravan went great. Keep in mind they have loopholes as far as carrying firearms go. They have a novel idea where they post signs in "permitted events" zones and if you cross that imaginary line, you're now in violation of the no weapons at permitted events even though you're not part of said event. There were quite a lot of people there, despite the media's refusal to cover it in its entirety. I seen people on the sidewalks and in cars driving by. The media is saying that it is now as big as last year's event, but that is true with everyone there. It's not as big but there were steady stream of people coming and going enough to make the lawmakers take notice.

In OPs defense, the only alert that has come out since Monday has been the one focused on the bills from last night. I haven't seen anything summarizing the event.

Their twitter is unlocked (https://twitter.com/VCDL_ORG) and they have a facebook page. Neither really has any wrap-up info. FB has some videos and articles but that's about it.

But, on the other hand, no news articles attacking the event either. No arrests that I know of (regardless of the political orientation of the arrestee). Basically, no fake news as they are probably all focused on the installation of their anointed one and all the "OMG we're under attack" hype was a bunch of BS nothing burger.

Yes you happen to be one of few folks on this forum who is actively posting VCDL and legislation related things. However, that is very rare and usually posted a day or sooner before said event. I'm not trying to say you're wrong or trying to start an argument. Just stating what I'm seeing.

My thought is the only way to get the happenings in VA is with VCDL newsletter but unfortunately you don't know what is being planned until you see it in ink. The unfortunate thing is a lot of what's going on is pure speculation until we see the actual bill that's being heard. Thus far VCDL has done a pretty good job informing people but I feel ar15.com is a poor place to go to hear the latest news. People usually post very extreme things but it's the little stuff that's getting us.

I almost forgot, the very best place to see what's coming in Virginia as a whole is to bookmark the General Assembly website. They have a list of proposed bills and their status. You can use that as a guide and perhaps pass it off to VCDL 's president if you see anything not mentioned in the newsletters.

https://lis.virginia.gov/

^ I recommend bookmarking that and signing up & becoming a VCDL member.

I met a friend downtown and we walked up to broad (we parked near Cap Ale House) and down to 9th, and then down to the Capitol,

the VA Library , bottom floor of the Capital and one building on 9th street were boarded up

fencing was running down 9th street,  and the other side streets had cops and dumptrucks etc blocking the roads,

there were a lot of LEO (Capitol, State, RPD)
there were even more Reporters or so called Journalist,

we were there from 930ish till 1230ish,  

walked up to Broad with another friend that is with VCDL,  met Van Cleave (Super nice guy) and watched one bus and a schload of folks drive by,

back at the bell tower area, everytime a group (and there were not many) walked by with a firearm,  they were followed by 3x's the number of 'reporter/journalist)

it was actually quite amusing to see,
I did tell one news person from (I think) Channel 8 that she should do a report on the reporters following the gun guys around like little chicks behind the momma hen
she was not amused

Yeah, some of those "reporters" were the most effeminate queefs I've ever seen; skinny jeans, designer tennis shoes, ...some with screwy hairdo's. Some were outright haughty looking. If you had a camera and didn't dress like them they tended to scowl at you like you are the enemy (probably not incorrect). And yeah, anybody who walked up with a long gun was swarmed instantly. Comical to watch.
Too bad Richmond is such toilet bowl. Saw people two different times smoking pot first thing in the morning, lots of boarded up buildings, BLM, acab, our streets, painted all over the sidewalks, walls, store fronts, the distinct odor of piss everywhere and then there were some local residents adding to the cultural experience.
At one point I was on a median strip waiting for a caravan with a young couple hanging out behind me. A local white dude with a distinct appearance comes up and leans up against a tree and starts taking pictures of this girls backside. I stopped what I was doing and asked him out loud why he was taking pictures of that girls back side. The couple turn around like WTF and this guy walks
right up to me and says he's taking pictures of the flags they are holding and I could see them on the interenet....uh huh....nice cheap pocket camera you have dilbert.....he did walk off.
In hind sight, a good slap might have expedited things.
Like a friend said, everything progressivism touches turns to shit. Richmond city is definite proof.

Huge thanks to all the Patriots who made the drive to be there or drive through. In spite of the Broad street closure, we definitely make the impression that we are still here and are not laying down.
Oh, and as far as the cops on the street go, got a chance to talk to a few of them who went out of their way several times when they didn't have to. They are officially limited in expressing personal opinions on anything but I got the distinct impression they are on the right side of things, you know, like law, order, Liberty........ that kind of stuff.