Valerie King, Haylee King’s mother, was at Martial Art Concepts in Fallbrook, CA on Saturday, Feb. 29, to present the first scholarship, covering half a year’s worth of classes, and receive an honorary black belt for her daughter.

Haylee King, was killed in 2015 when the Jeep she was riding in blew a tire on Interstate 40 about a half-hour west of Needles. She was 20 years old.

“We for four years tried to figure out what to do,” Valerie King said. “We didn’t know if we wanted to do a college scholarship, but it didn’t resonate with me, and to me it wasn’t gonna carry her name on. This is something that’s gonna change a kid’s life. It changed hers.”

Haylee King started classes at Martial Art Concepts, which teaches hapkido and taekwondo, when she was in fourth grade. Valerie King said she put Haylee King in martial arts classes because she was having problems with bullies.

“We put Haylee in martial arts in fourth grade. She was being bullied; some kid threatened to bring a gun to school and shoot her,” Valerie King said.

At first, Haylee didn’t like the idea of learning martial arts, Valerie King said. But she agreed to try the classes for at least a month.

“Within three days, she was thanking me, telling me how much she loved it,” Valerie said. “A year later, she knocked out her sixth grade, male bully. And ever since she’s been taking this class, she has taken care of many bullies and stopped people from bullying other people.”

Haylee King was in martial arts classes until eighth grade and reached the level of brown belt.

The recipient of the scholarship did not wish to be identified, according to Martial Art Concepts owner Mike Knox, but Valerie King said a new recipient would be designated every six months.

Knox said he was put in contact with Valerie King by the original owner of Martial Art Concepts while preparing to take over the business at the end of 2019. He said he knew of a family that was having trouble affording the cost of sending their child to classes, and he realized Valerie King’s scholarship idea could help that student.

“It was a perfect fit,” he said.

As a token of appreciation, Knox gave Valerie King an honorary black belt for her daughter and a black belt rack bearing the words “Live Like Haylee.”

Valerie King said she hoped martial arts classes would help recipients of the scholarship as much as she said they helped her daughter.

“To me, it was life-changing for her, so (I want to) get a kid to be able to protect other kids being bullied and protect themselves from being bullied,” Valerie King said. “It just hit me one night. I told my husband this is what I want to do, and he said ‘Well, do it.'”

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An amendment to a law that was already on the books makes no mention of key points raised on junk-news sites.

In late November 2019, conspiracy sites started posting an article originally published by Natural News, that falsely reported the state of Virginia will consider legislation outlawing martial arts and firearms instruction.

Under the headline, “PROPOSED VIRGINIA LAW WOULD OUTLAW KRAV MAGA, BRAZILIAN JIU JITSU, KICKBOXING, TAI CHI, FIREARMS INSTRUCTION AND SELF-DEFENSE TRAINING,” the story reads:

The law would instantly transform all martial arts instructors into criminal felons. This includes instructors who teach kickboxing, BJJ, Krav Maga, boxing and even Capoeira.

It would also criminalize all firearms training classes, including concealed carry classes.

It would even criminalize a father teaching his own son how to use a hunting rifle.

None of this is true, and oddly enough, the story in question includes not only a link to the bill but copy-and-pasted bill language, so readers can see for themselves that the proposed legislation does not say what Natural News claimed it said.

Virginia, like nearly all other U.S. states, already had a law on the books restricting unlawful private military-type activity. The current Virginia law renders it a felony if a person:

1. Teaches or demonstrates to any other person the use, application, or making of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, knowing or having reason to know or intending that such training will be employed for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder; or

2. Assembles with one or more persons for the purpose of training with, practicing with, or being instructed in the use of any firearm, explosive or incendiary device, or technique capable of causing injury or death to persons, intending to employ such training for use in, or in furtherance of, a civil disorder.

Senate Bill 64 would amend the current law by also making it illegal to, “[Assemble] with one or more persons with the intent of intimidating any person or group of persons by drilling, parading, or marching with any firearm, any explosive or incendiary device, or any components or combination thereof.” The amendment makes no mention of martial arts or firearms classes.

As the Georgetown Law Institute for Constitutional Law and Protection noted, Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017 was the site of deadly violence resulting from a white supremacist rally at which:

Several white nationalist groups arrived outfitted in helmets and matching uniforms and deployed shields, batons, clubs, and flagpoles as weapons in skirmishes with counter-protestors that the instigating groups coordinated under centralized command structures. Meanwhile, private militia groups—many dressed in camouflage fatigues, tactical vests, helmets, and combat boots, and most bearing assault rifles—stood guard as self-designated protectors of the protestors and counter protestors. The heavily armed presence and coordinated paramilitary activities of all of these groups not only increased the prevalence of violence at the rally, but also made it more dangerous for state and local law enforcement to maintain public safety. Moreover, the attire and behavior of some of the self professed militia led to confusion as to who was authorized to lawfully keep the peace.

Although Natural News chalked this amendment up to the fact that voters in November 2019 handed Virginia’s state government over to a Democratic majority for the first time in a generation, that characterization is misleading.

The bill’s sponsor, Louise Lucas, is a Democrat, but Lucas is not part of the new Democratic legislative majority; she assumed her Virginia Senate seat in 1992. Furthermore, as we earlier noted, almost all states in the U.S., with both Democratic and Republican leadership, have some type of law outlawing certain paramilitary activities or at least restricting unauthorized private militias. Virginia’s law predates its new Democratic state majority.

Finally, the laws don’t make it illegal for martial arts or shooting-range instructors to teach students disciplines like “krav maga, Brazilian jiu jitsu, kickboxing, tai chi” or “firearms instruction.” The laws restrict people from various military-like activities that result in violence and civil disorder. The amendment to the Virginia law, specifically, prohibits marching with weapons or explosives for the purpose of intimidation. We therefore rate this claim “False.”

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