Senator’s Aide Pulls Gun in Self-Defense During Online 2A Debate

The Virginia gubernatorial candidate Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, and her team were departing a campaign event in Virginia Beach before they were involved in a “road rage” incident. While in the middle of an online debate sponsored by the Virginia Citizens Defense League, Chase’s unmarked campaign van was followed by a car attempting to halt their route.

One of Chase’s aides, Shayne Snavely, recounts the car pulling up beside their van as they stopped. That is when the passenger got out of the car heading towards the van with a hand in his pocket. From the online debate, the Washington Post states a metal clicking sound can be heard through the audio.

“And yeah, he got a gun to his face,” Snavely said of his AR-15 pistol scaring away the passenger. “If he’d made two more steps, he’d [have] probably got shot.”

Chase would get back to the debate.

“We are exercising our 2nd Amendment rights right now [in] our car,” said Chase. 

It is ironic how this situation occurred during a debate related to the 2nd Amendment. Snavely only brandished the pistol. This is not to say that every situation involving brandishing will scare away suspects, but it was enough for these cowards to flee. And who knows what the passenger could’ve been concealing in his pockets? That chance cannot be taken especially when an individual is protecting someone in a higher position, seeing as well that Chase has faced many death threats. The only thing considerably wrong here is that Snavely’s weapon was not chambered, referring back to the metal clicking sound.

Whether or not people speculate this was staged during the debate, it reiterates how it is better to have a gun and not need it than not have one and need it. It also poses the question of what would have or could have happened without the presence of a defensive weapon.