Virginia—once a true red state when it comes to protecting our Second Amendment right—is getting a dose of blue thrown into the mix as lawmakers try to turn the state purple as they bandy about the idea of passing so-called red-flag laws and other measures that would infringe on the right of law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms.
The liberals have done all they can to make the concept of red-flag laws seem valid. They say such laws will, among other things, protect women from falling prey to a shooting after a domestic dispute, for example. But make no mistake, red-flag laws are just confiscation in disguise since they often have no stipulations for due process.
So, if a wife and husband have an argument, what’s to keep one from calling the police on the other, saying “he/she has a gun and I’m afraid.” Oftentimes, police aren’t required to actually check out the veracity of the claim. More troubling would be what happens if a neighbor just decides he doesn’t feel safe because someone else has a gun, so he calls to say he has concerns.
Another bill the Democrats are pushing in the statehouse is one that would make it a crime to have a loaded firearm accessible to a child under 18. Again, the gun-grabbers try to make this sound admirable, screaming that it’s designed to protect children. But here’s the thing: We’ve seen numerous instances across the country where children have had to protect themselves or others—and they’ve done it with a gun. It happened in Oklahoma and it happened in Alabama, among other places. If liberals want to protect the children, how can they justify making it more difficult, if not impossible, for a child to take on a bigger, threatening assailant?
Republicans have tried to inject some sanity into the legislative session, countering the Democrats’ proposals with an expansion of gun rights in limited circumstances. They want, for example, people to be able to carry in churches and the want first responders to be able to carry concealed on the job.
As for the Democrats, they are using the maneuver in an election year to try to continue Virginia’s trend toward the blue side of the political aisle. That’s what it’s really all about, right? It’s not about safety, because we know that existing gun laws are sufficient to stop crimes, but they don’t—because criminals, by definition, don’t obey the law.
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