July 9th - Virginia GA Convenes to talk Gun Control

So sad to see the cancer that has been growing like a wildfire in my Beautiful state. It is hard to fight back against this growing cancer that slowly takes over each city one at a time. Northam became the leader of cancerous tumor that plagues Virginia.
Northam and his followers will not rest until every law abiding citizen has NO WAY to protect themselves.
The NRA has put up a good fight and continues to fight him every day, but Northam and followers have become too dominant in the State. . Other states should pay attention to Northam and his anti gun movement. Each state will begin the downfall like a domino effect. They plan to kill one state at a time and they will succeed. At least in Virginia for starters. But Virginians are known for Fighting and the table may just turn for Him and his followers. God Bless the NRA for being the Stronghold, the Fortress and the Sheild against Northam and his followers.

The recent murders of Virginia Beach citizens that were in a "Gun Free Zone" and gunned down like sitting ducks in a shooting gallery was a music to Northams ears. Right when his own Voters were ready to lynch him over some college Frat stunt, the tragedy happened. And Northam saw a opportunity to get back into the good grace of his flock. He was the first to run to the Podium and preach for more "Sitting Duck Zones" more laws to strip away every man and woman's right to protect themselves and enjoy every part of our Heritage.

The party alignments in the Virginia legislature are no different now than they were at the beginning of the year, when all of Gov. Northam's antigun initiatives died in committee. Therefore, nothing substantive will come out of this special session.

What this is all about, instead, is creating antigun talking points in advance of this fall's legislative elections. I believe the Democrats are miscalculating by drawing attention to the gun issue. It's true that Virginia has become a purple or even blue state in national politics, but the majority of Virginia voters are still not antigun. (The state has one of the highest per capita rates of legal machine gun ownership in the country.)

AlexanderA said:

The party alignments in the Virginia legislature are no different now than they were at the beginning of the year, when all of Gov. Northam's antigun initiatives died in committee. Therefore, nothing substantive will come out of this special session.

What this is all about, instead, is creating antigun talking points in advance of this fall's legislative elections. I believe the Democrats are miscalculating by drawing attention to the gun issue. It's true that Virginia has become a purple or even blue state in national politics, but the majority of Virginia voters are still not antigun. (The state has one of the highest per capita rates of legal machine gun ownership in the country.)

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Virginia was once a solid Red state. It is not purple, it is solid Blue. And Blue means a loss. You really underestimate Northham and his followers. Lol, many underestimated him in his run for office. How well did that turn out?

M5-Shogun said:

What we need to do is redistrict the state to take the balance of power away from NoVA, but that will take years.

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Absolutely not. What you are talking about is partisan gerrymandering, which is an antidemocratic evil in and of itself. We need to convince people not to take irrational and unworkable stances on guns, regardless of their views on other issues. Northern Virginia has outsized power because that's where the people live.

Jeb Stuart said:

Virginia was once a solid Red state. It is not purple, it is solid Blue. And Blue means a loss. You really underestimate Northam and his followers. Lol, many underestimated him in his run for office. How well did that turn out?

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The Republicans in Virginia are partly to blame for this, by insisting on nominating extremists like Cuccinelli and Stewart.

AlexanderA said:

Absolutely not. What you are talking about is partisan gerrymandering, which is an antidemocratic evil in and of itself. We need to convince people not to take irrational and unworkable stances on guns, regardless of their views on other issues. Northern Virginia has outsized power because that's where the people live.

The Republicans in Virginia are partly to blame for this, by insisting on nominating extremists like Cuccinelli and Stewart.

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Lol, I will give you points on that one. When the election between the freaking insane Cuccinelli and Mr. Disgusting Terry McAuliff took place, you could just feel Virginia going down the sewer.

AlexanderA said:

What you are talking about is partisan gerrymandering, which is an antidemocratic evil in and of itself

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Now how do we stop the libs from doing that very same thing?

https://www.wbur.org/onpoint/2019/07/08/virginia-gun-control-legislature-special-session-northam

On Point NPR discussion on how to restrict the freedom of the law abiding.

Agree on the second point, not so much on the first.

In a state of 8.5 million people, the birthplace of so many of the country's founding fathers, presidents and statesmen ... the best we could come up with was ... Cucinelli and Stewart?!? Has the Republic gene pool become that much depleted? Yes, there was a collective groan about Stewart ... and its a great example of how party politics can become hijacked by extreme wings.

Disagree on the partisan gerrymandering - it will be the only thing that will keep the city concentrations from completely dominating state politics. It's not just NoVa - Richmond/Henrico, the Tidewater, Charlottesville, Blacksburg and other pockets have become strongholds of the opposition. And extreme anti-gun proposals are NOT going to stop. Gerrymandering may be an antidemocratic evil, but we're up against some extraordinarily anti-democratic Democrats here.

The July 9th special session is a set-up. Northam is floating the entire anti-gun agenda. The Dems know that the GOP will block it. And the Dems will use it as a key campaign battlecry, claiming that the GOP is stopping any form of "common sense" initiatives. And, loathe that I am to cast this in terms of GOP vs. Democrat parties, the fact of the matter is that the Democrats ahve also been hijacked by extreme factions in their own party.

Don't fool yourself that people are willing to listen to counterarguments to the irrational and unworkable stances. We are in the middle of a concerted poltical and media attack - with tremendous financial and logistical support from outside the state - to unseat the GOP hold on VA legislature, and give the Democratic party an unfettered opportunity to make Virginia look like Maryland ... or worse ... in terms of gun legislation.

Trust me, my friend ... my wife is a "mole" in the Moms Demand Action group ... she's monitoring very carefully the highly coordinated discussions between MDA/Everytown, the county Democrats and the VA Democrats. These activists want the whole enchilada, they really do. And they seem to be controlling the message in social media and the press.

AlexanderA said:

Absolutely not. What you are talking about is partisan gerrymandering, which is an antidemocratic evil in and of itself. We need to convince people not to take irrational and unworkable stances on guns, regardless of their views on other issues. Northern Virginia has outsized power because that's where the people live.

The Republicans in Virginia are partly to blame for this, by insisting on nominating extremists like Cuccinelli and Stewart.

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wojownik said:

The July 9th special session is a set-up. Northam is floating the entire anti-gun agenda. The Dems know that the GOP will block it. And the Dems will use it as a key campaign battlecry, claiming that the GOP is stopping any form of "common sense" initiatives. And, loathe that I am to cast this in terms of GOP vs. Democrat parties, the fact of the matter is that the Democrats have also been hijacked by extreme factions in their own party.

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Exactly my point. The special session is a set-up for the November (2019) election, when the Democrats hope to parlay gun control into control of the legislature. I don't think we should be worried about any of these antigun bills passing in the special session. On the contrary, we should use this opportunity to educate the public as to how unworkable and extreme these gun proposals are.

There's a growing mythology on the Democratic side that gun control is a winning issue for them. I don't think there's tangible proof that that's true. Eric Swalwell tried to run for president using that as a premise, and failed miserably. (He was the only candidate to openly call for confiscation ("buybacks") of "assault weapons.") He withdrew from the race today.

Regarding gerrymandering, yes, it's true that it creates districts that are safe for one party. But by the same token, it creates other districts that are safe for the other party. More noncompetitive districts promote more polarization and extreme partisanship, and less reason and compromise. District boundaries should be taken out of the realm of politics altogether. Have nonpartisan commissions do the job of defining the districts.

[QUOTE="AlexanderA, post: 11174635, member: 146007"

. Have nonpartisan commissions do the job of defining the districts.[/QUOTE]

Does nonpartisan actually exist in an informed and concerned individual? I could describe myself, as an example, as a completely nonpartisan and reasonable person, given over to truth and justice. Those who see me from the opposite side of the political fence might use different descriptors and suggest I'd make Attila look like a bleeding identity politics liberal.

40-82 said:

Does nonpartisan actually exist in an informed and concerned individual? I could describe myself, as an example, as a completely nonpartisan and reasonable person, given over to truth and justice. Those who see me from the opposite side of the political fence might use different descriptors and suggest I'd make Attila look like a bleeding identity politics liberal.

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It's true that an individual may not be truly nonpartisan, but a body (a redistricting committee, commission, etc.) could be. The way this is done is to appoint, say, two Democrats and two Republicans, and then have them select a neutral fifth member. And then the district boundaries that they come up with could be reviewed by the courts. (Many states already have arrangements like this.) This is at least better than completely partisan redistricting.

AlexanderA said:

It's true that an individual may not be truly nonpartisan, but a body (a redistricting committee, commission, etc.) could be. The way this is done is to appoint, say, two Democrats and two Republicans, and then have them select a neutral fifth member. And then the district boundaries that they come up with could be reviewed by the courts. (Many states already have arrangements like this.) This is at least better than completely partisan redistricting.

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I like a prayer one of the old farmers in Wythe County used to give. He was a Democrat. Remember this was after the war with Lincoln and we all were then. This was during Reconstruction and before they started taxing our liquor and we all turned Republican.

"Dear Lord, if we were in power would we lie, cheat, steal, stuff the ballot box, and gerrymander like the Republicans?" Long pause where he looks hard around the table at everybody eating his food. "Yep, we would. Amen. Let's eat."

I got a good chuckle from that one.

And, while we're debating the noble idea of a world without gerrymandering, among other unicorns, let's bear in mind the present realities:

- Republicans hold both chambers of the legislature by the smallest of margins. There is a disturbing possibility (perhaps even probability) that both the executive and the legislatives branches could be in the hands of anti-gun Democrats after November. That's 4 months from now.

- Some short time after that, this new one-party state could ram through every single radical proposal that Northam put on the table. That is, again, a disturbing and very real possibility.

- after that will have to come a flurry of legal challenges, and the fate of our gun rights in Virginia would then rest in the hands of the Virginia Supreme Court. And, while the high court is generally seen as "conservative", there really is no track record on gun-related rulings. It will come down to how the Virginia Supreme Court interprets Art I, Sec. 13 of the Virginia Consitution - something I don't beleive this Commonwealth's high court has ever actually interpreted:


AlexanderA is right in one key thing: there needs to be a massive - and preemptive - effort to explain to the voting public WHY these extremist measures proposed by Northam need to be voted down.

And, it would be very useful for the Virginia Republicans to have their own legislative proposals to toss back at Northam.

40-82 said:

I like a prayer one of the old farmers in Wythe County used to give. He was a Democrat. Remember this was after the war with Lincoln and we all were then. This was during Reconstruction and before they started taxing our liquor and we all turned Republican.

"Dear Lord, if we were in power would we lie, cheat, steal, stuff the ballot box, and gerrymander like the Republicans?" Long pause where he looks hard around the table at everybody eating his food. "Yep, we would. Amen. Let's eat."

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wojownik said:

- Republicans hold both chambers of the legislature by the smallest of margins. There is a disturbing possibility (perhaps even probability) that both the executive and the legislatives branches could be in the hands of anti-gun Democrats after November. That's 4 months from now.

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There's a good chance that both houses of the legislature could be in the hands of Democrats after November. That's not to say that they would be in the hands of anti-gun Democrats. The way this works is that are Democrats elected from rural parts of the state, that are not anti-gun. They would hold the balance of power on the gun issue. The Democrats are using gun control as a wedge issue in the urban parts of the state (NoVa, etc.). If they did the same thing in other parts of the state, it would be poison for their candidates. That's why there can be pro-gun (or at least not anti-gun) Democrats in the Virginia legislature. Working with them, as well as the Republicans, the Virginia Citizens Defense League should be able to stymie most of Northam's crazy initiatives. What I'm saying is that the election won't be the end of the world.

wojownik said:

- Some short time after that, this new one-party state could ram through every single radical proposal that Northam put on the table. That is, again, a disturbing and very real possibility.

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Even if a party has nominal control of a state, it's rarely monolithic. I grew up in Texas at a time when it was a one-party Democratic state. But the Democrats were split into conservatives and liberals who rarely agreed on anything.

The antigunners are going nuts! I just got this in my email from the local candidate for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.

The Democrats running in the western part of the state aren't so openly anti-gun. A few years ago a lawyer running on the Democratic ticket out of Carroll County dressed his children up in camouflage for the campaign brochure, and he promised to represent our conservative values.

I tended to believe him because a few years before I'd met him at a public boat landing. He'd passed me in his canoe going flat out practicing for some kind of race. I'd been going slow goose hunting, but he was still at the landing because he couldn't get his old truck started. I offered him a jump, but when I did I tried to politely suggest that he might not want to stand in ankle deep water while he was connecting the jumper cables. He ignored me. Which told me right there that he couldn't be against criminals getting the chair because he had no personal objection to frying himself.

Still didn't vote for him. Because anybody who supported Obama--and he did--has only got so much claim to being pro-gun. He lost two to one.

In the deeply rural areas, we have a lock, and we've going to elect Republicans. In the more mixed areas, more may be up for grabs. Too many of the people we're putting up for office are weak. And sometimes it just doesn't work out for us. A few years ago we had an old boy running for Governor on the Republican ticket. I so hoped he would win. He needed it. So he could pardon his mother who was up for election fraud. He didn't win though.

I've voted for more than a few who are a little hard to stomach because they're Republicans, and they supported gun rights. We'd do better if we vetted our candidates a little closer for character.

The "assault weapons ban" that has been introduced is really bad. Here's the text:

http://lis.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/legp604.exe?192+ful+HB4021

No grandfathering. You would have a few months to take all offending items, including over-10-round magazines, out of state.

Strangely enough, the ban would cover semiautomatic firearms, but not registered machine guns. But what good is a registered machine gun if the magazines, belts, etc., are felonies?

Some Fudds are going to breathe a sigh of relief because their Garands are not covered.

Well, I think it is safe to say that they aren't hiding their true intentions anymore. There are a LOT of CCW holders, pistol enthusiasts, and the like that would be majorly affected by this, never mind the recreational rifle shooters. Hopefully, everyone is reminding their elected officials, regardless of how much good you may think it will do, exactly where we stand.

badkarmamib said:

There are a LOT of CCW holders, pistol enthusiasts, and the like that would be majorly affected by this, never mind the recreational rifle shooters.

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Well, supposedly pistols (except AR-type pistols) aren't subject to the ban, but this would force owners of modern pistols to procure 10-round magazines, and get rid of their standard magazines.

Possession of a single over-10-round magazine would be a felony. Would you take the risk of getting caught, and losing your gun rights for life?

The Democrats in Virginia have gone completely insane.