LEXINGTON, Va. — It was supposed to be a friendly crowd.
Mostly white, male and middle-aged, they had gathered in this college town in the Shenandoah Valley to hear about the National Rifle Association plan to blunt gun control legislation in Richmond, the state capital. About 200 people sat around the packed room; many leaned back in chairs, arms crossed, nodding along. A dozen wore black and yellow NRA hats.
But two months after voters gave Democrats complete control of Virginia state government for the first time since 1994, the mood in this carpeted Hampton Inn conference room was dark at times — even ornery.
“I pay my dues,” one man bellowed. “Where’s the NRA?”
Christopher Kopacki, the NRA deputy managing director, tried to calm the crowd.
“We are going to do everything we can to protect you,” Kopacki said calmly, standing tall at the front of the room with his hands in his pockets. “But you have to understand we have a numbers problem. It’s coming. I’m going to be honest with you.
“This is why elections matter.”
The meeting was in January. And despite the NRA’s best efforts, Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam this month fulfilled some of the deepest fears of the people in that Lexington conference room.