By Taylor Day | December 26, 2019
Virginia gun owners and lawmakers face off over new gun laws.
Earlier this year, disgraced Virginia Governor Ralph Northam tried pushing through his state’s assembly some of the strictest gun control policies ever introduced in the Commonwealth. The measures inevitably failed but Democrats gained a small majority in both chambers in November. The first task? Resurrect these dead bills [1]. Now Virginia is facing two fresh laws; the banning of semi-automatic rifles as well as a registry of those already owned.
The new legislation is being introduced as gun confiscatory laws since they do not grandfather in existing firearms that would be banned and make current gun owners felons [2] facing up to five years in prison.
Gun owners across the state and country are concerned that the registry will be used for future gun confiscations and that restricting access to certain rifles is no more than a power grab as these firearms are rarely used in crimes [3]. Gov. Northam and Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring are confirming these suspicions by reallocating a substantial hunk of the budget [4] to prepare for residents not willing to comply.
The proposed $250,000 is for a special correctional department fund to “increase in the operating cost of adult correctional facilities resulting from the [gun law] enactment.” Not only are Virginians going to see their gun rights restricted, but they’ll be paying for it, too.
Governor Northam is still only floating the idea [5] of a gun buyback program, a racket where the government buys your guns with your money much lower than market value.
Over the last six weeks, more than 100 Virginia townships and localities have passed resolutions declaring themselves as Second Amendment Sanctuaries [6] as pro-gun activists hold rallies across the state. Most of these resolutions include wording that they will refuse the state the right to assign their revenue to pay for the unconstitutional infringements on Virginians’ right to bear arms.
Herring has warned that the state is king and localities opposing the new gun restrictions will be faced with statist force to comply [7]. Democratic House Delegate Lee Carter has introduced a bill which makes any law enforcement officer that specifically refuses to enforce Virginia’s strict gun laws open to immediate termination.
Following Carter’s example, a Richmond Delegate, Donald McEachin is calling for Governor Northam to use the National Guard to enforce these laws if the local governments still refuse as well as cut their funding. Speaking to Newsweek [5], he says:
“[T]he governor may have to nationalize the National Guard to enforce the law. That’s his call, because I don’t know how serious these counties are and how severe the violations of law will be. But that’s obviously an option he has…
They certainly risk funding, because if the sheriff’s department is not going to enforce the law, they’re going to lose money.”
And those aren’t even the craziest of suggestions. Police Chief RaShall Brackney from Charlottesville called for a ban on all weapons [1] in a judicial committee meeting.
Michael Hammond, a legal councilor for Gun Owners of America [8] is helping to craft legislation “that would prohibit the governor from declaring martial law for the purpose of confiscating guns through the National Guard.”
A Culpeper County Sheriff is also taking on the gun restrictions by declaring he will personally deputize thousands of residents [9] in order to bypass these limitations. While Sheriff Jenkins did note that he is trying everything within his power to legally oppose the potential gun grab, he did tell Fox & Friends:
“[Residents] will be properly vetted through a normal process. Everything from normal background checks that we do for other deputy sheriffs as well as psych evaluations… It’s not just a blanket policy of swearing-in anyone who is interested.”
It also means that the residents that take advantage will be required to complete at least 8 hours of volunteer work a month.
On Capitol Hill, Democrats are excited about Virginia’s authoritarian wet dream. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) told the Washington Examiner [10]he hopes the local county police who are refusing to enforce these gun control measures resign or, “they [will be] prosecuted for failure to fulfill their oath.” Then he went on to say:
“The law is the law. If that becomes the law, you don’t have a choice, not if you’re a sworn officer of the law.”
The “law is the law” argument falls flat considering Democratic lawmakers in Virginia have simultaneously been pushing immigrations bills [11] that would see tuition lowered for the “undocumented” aliens as well as give them driver licenses.
Virginia’s state motto “sic semper tyrannis” (thus ever unto tyrants) once represented victory over tyranny. The irony is tragic.
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This piece originally appeared on CreativeDestructionMedia.com [14] and is used by permission.