If you recently voted early, here’s a question for you: When you went to your polling place, was there anyone standing in the doorway with a .357 magnum strapped to them and asking who you planned to vote for? Because that’s exactly what happened in Loudoun County, Virginia, yesterday.
Erika Cotti reports that she was on her way to vote at the local county registrar’s office when a man with a gun approached and engaged in verbal harassment:
“I had my 9-year-old son with me. I felt intimidated. And I had to explain to my 9-year-old why a man with a .357 magnum is standing outside the polling station.
“He’s like, ‘Who are you going to vote for, crooked Hillary?’ And I was like, that’s really none of your business.”
Loudoun County registrar Judy Brown said that the man was outside the office, but he was beyond the 40-foot no-canvassing zone so no action could be taken against him. Law enforcement officials in Loudon County said the man had a legal right to carry the gun as Virginia is an open-carry state.
When Loudoun County Republican Committee Chairman Will Estrada was contacted by the media about the man and how some voters felt threatened, he responded:
“We don’t want to startle anyone. He felt really bad, he pulled his T-shirt over it, and I think everything was fine after that.
“As for packing a gun outside a polling place, it’s a free country. I’m an NRA life member myself. So long as no laws are being broken, I’m not going to tell someone they can’t.”
One thing is certain: Other than active duty law enforcement, no one needs a damn gun to go cast a vote. I also live in an open-carry state, but no one had a firearm strapped to them when I voted. This is clearly a form of voter intimidation and needs to be investigated by the Department of Justice.
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