Virginians have been at ground zero to the danger to public safety of milita-based domestic terrorist organizations. We know because a man from Ohio came to Charlottesville and murdered Heather Heyer and injured dozens of others at the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017:

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/man-who-drove-into-charlottesville-protest-killing-heather-heyer-convicted-of-first-degree-murder

Our proximity to the nation’s capital and presence of a disproportionate number of government offices, officials, and workers makes this threat of particular concern to Virginians. Now, President Trump’s pardoning of all violent January 6th insurrectionists provided these groups just the resuscitative they need in order to become a clear-and-present danger. Indeed, among those pardoned were militia members who claimed responsibility for the attack *as it was happening*.

https://www.justsecurity.org/106689/january-6-pardons-statistics/

From “very fine people” to “stand back and stand by” — President Trump has repeatedly dog-whistled to these dangerous, violent, extremist groups. And these groups are poised for a resurgence, as this telling expose demonstrates:

https://www.propublica.org/article/ap3-oath-keepers-militia-mole

Yet, President Trump has now gone even further, actually legitimizing these violent domestic terrorists, saying “we’ll see, I did pardon them” when asked about these extremist militias’ role in domestic affairs:

https://bsky.app/profile/factpostnews.bsky.social/post/3lgbydvesx222

Our Commonwealth cannot sit idly by and allow this danger to metastasize. For this issue, left unaddressed, can seep into the operations and culture of state law enforcement and security apparatus, from local police to National Guard:

https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/united-states/2020-12-15/when-far-right-penetrates-law-enforcement?check_logged_in=1&utm_medium=promo_email&utm_source=lo_flows&utm_campaign=article_link&utm_term=article_email&utm_content=20250122

In memory of Heather Heyer and so many others’ efforts and sacrifice for our freedom and safety, we need a Virginia Defense Against Domestic Terrorism Act that helps to fund, direct, instruct, and provide needed transparency for Virginia law enforcement efforts to protect Commonwealth citizens against this renewed threat to our safety and security.