Freshly Empowered Democrats Likely To Take Aim At Guns

by Tom Knighton: It’s inevitable. Any time Democrats gain power in a state, it seems like the first thing they do is go after the guns. They can’t stand the idea of anyone not having to trust in the state to take care of their every need, especially personal protection.

This is exactly what gun rights advocates and officials in Virginia are gearing up for after last month’s big wins in that state.
Jeff Ryer, a spokesman for Virginia’s Senate Republican caucus, said he expects lots of gun-control legislation to be filed. But he doubts much would pass.

David Hancock, manager of gun seller Bob Moates Sport Shop in Midlothian, echoed that sentiment.

“We’re not expecting any major changes right away,” he said.

But Democrats say the sea change means they’ll have more committee representation, more sway in general and in some cases might need just one Republican vote to secure a gun measure’s passage.

For Del. Kathleen Murphy, who represents parts of two northern Virginia counties, gun control is personal.

Her brother was shot to death during a robbery and she doesn’t want another family to go through what hers did. She plans to reintroduce a bill that would make a second conviction for domestic abuse a felony, making those convicted unable to own guns. It’s the type of commonsense measure that has failed before but might have a chance this year, she said.“I don’t understand the refusal of people on the other side to recognize that we can do something in a bipartisan way to make guns safer and to make our children and families safer from gun violence without harming peoples’ right to carry arms,” she said.

Make no mistake, when Murphy says “bipartisan,” what she means is for Republicans to shut up about stupid things like Second Amendment rights and just do what she says.

Which is the same for Democrats everywhere.

While some may claim they don’t want to disarm the population, they just want to make things safer, we’ve seen far too many times how this works. They’ll pressure us and demand we compromise, and if we do it’ll be good enough…for a short time, then it will keep repeating over and over and over until we’re permitted nothing more than a single shot .22 rifle, and they’ll be kvetching about how we won’t compromise on people owning more than two rounds of ammunition.

But they’ll certainly try, though, and they’ll definitely try in Virginia. I expect gun control measures to be filed right from the get-go and I expect them to push for more and more as the year goes on.

What will be conspicuous by its absence will be any legislation that attempts to deal with the root causes of violence rather than the tools. Democrats hate guns, but they also seem to hate acknowledging that guns don’t just get up and shoot people on their own, the problem is that people use them for bad things. Democrats want to focus on the guns and nothing else, and that’s not going to endear them to gun owners any times soon.

If they push Virginians too hard, don’t be surprised if that blue wave turns red quick, fast, and in a hurry.
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Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger at Bearing Arms. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia and contributes to PJ Media.  

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