Saturday, the National Rifle association tweeted:

Last night, hundreds of NRA members joined shoulder to shoulder in Roanoke, Virginia to discuss how they will stand and fight against the Northam/Bloomberg gun confiscation plan.

We sat down with a few of these patriots and here was the message they had for Richmond.

WATCH:

Last night, hundreds of NRA members joined shoulder to shoulder in Roanoke, Virginia to discuss how they will stand and fight against the Northam/Bloomberg gun confiscation plan. We sat down with a few of these patriots and here was the message they had for Richmond. #valeg pic.twitter.com/GMrufukada — NRA (@NRA) January 4, 2020

FreeBeacon reports the National Rifle Association said Thursday it will work with gun owners to swamp the first hearing of the Virginia Senate committee considering new gun bans in an effort to beat back the gun-control proposals from Governor Ralph Northam (D.).

NRA spokeswoman Catherine Mortensen told the Washington Free Beacon that the gun-rights group is mobilizing its members to appear at the first meeting of the Virginia Senate’s Courts of Justice on Jan. 13.

The organization hopes that pressure from constituents will make newly elected Democrats, who helped the party capture control of the state legislature, think twice about supporting gun bans pursued by the state’s Democratic governor. Those new Democrats, who were silent on gun bans during the election, hold the key to how far the two-vote Democratic majority in the state Senate and the five-vote majority in the House of Delegates go with new gun laws.

If gun-rights supporters can convince just a handful of Democrats to oppose a new gun-control measure, it will not become law. Mortensen said the Courts of Justice committee is the first stop for those new gun-control proposals, and gun owners in the state need to show their opposition to those bills face-to-face.

in a statement to DailyWire, NRA spokesperson Catherine Mortensen said:

We believe it’s best when lawmakers talk directly to voters. We know that NRA members are active and engaged in grassroots activism. The more people out there and sharing the message, that’s a win.

The 13th is the first meeting of the Senate Courts of Justice committee. That’s the first committee of jurisdiction on all the Northam gun control. We want to make sure that our members and supporters are in Richmond at that committee hearing on that day so that their voices are heard. It’s critical that our members are there early in the session to make the biggest impact in order to stop these gun bills from moving forward.

We’re trying to get our members directly to their lawmakers. We want our members and supporters having those face-to-face meetings with their lawmakers. We know that law-abiding gun owners are active and engaged. And they may be members of several different groups. This gives them additional opportunities to engage in grassroots activism, and that is all positive. If numerous groups are out there and sharing the message, that’s a win.