The state of Virginia has outlawed license plates featuring the Confederate flag, but some drivers do not plan on following the rules.
In a letter from the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, Kevin Collier of Suffolk, a commander of the Stonewall Camp of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, was told he had until Oct. 4 to switch his Confederate flag license plate with one that was allowed, sans flag.
“Next thing you know, they’re going to say you can’t wear blue on Monday…or you can’t wear yellow on Thursday. Where’s it going to end?” Collier said, according to WAVY.
Letters were sent to 1,600 people who have Confederate flag plates from the Sons of Confederate Veterans group—and only 187 have returned the old plates.
Some people sent a note back to the DMV, writing “no thank you.”
Democratic Gov. Terry McAuliffe instituted the ban on plates featuring the Confederate flag after Charleston, South Carolina, church shooter Dylann Roof was found to be featured in a picture posing with the flag.
It is now a misdemeanor to drive with Confederate flag plates in the state.
Collier did not adhere to the deadline of Oct. 4 to return his plates, and does not plan to because his great-great-great grandfather fought with the Confederacy.
“I can’t fight on the battlefield like they did, but I can fight however I can in modern times and I’m not giving them plates up,” Collier said.
Maryland recently joined Virginia and Texas in no longer allowing the Confederate flag on license plates.
”I look forward to the day when these plates are no longer on the road," Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh said after the court decision, according to NPR. ”This flag is a painful symbol that divides us, conjuring images of hate and subjugation. It has no place in any contemporary government use."
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