Virginia & Gun Control
We think we have been pretty evenhanded in discussing gun control and what steps can be taken to curb gun violence. We have acknowledged that taking guns away from law-abiding, NRA types would not do much to stem the problem when so many firearms are floating around, and criminals generally get their guns through illegal means anyway.
But sometimes the gun lobby just gets ridiculous, as represented by the legislators they own.
Case in point: The Virginia House of Delegates.
As reported in The Washington Post this morning, House Republicans killed a bill that would have forbidden those guilty of misdemeanor domestic assault, stalking and sexual battery from owning or possessing firearms for a period of five years after their last conviction.
As the Post editorial commented, “When the GOP calls itself the party of law and order, roll your eyes.”
Opponents of the measure note that felons in Virginia are already deprived by law of Second Amendment rights, but misdemeanor offenders should not be so penalized. This thinking violates everything we know about the progression of violent crime.
Remember, the kinds of crimes we are talking about here are domestic violence and sexual predation. We have always said – and all of the research bears this out – that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, and the best predictor of future violence is past violence.
Where do these legislators think violent and predatory felons come from? They come from perpetrators of violent and predatory misdemeanors who are not stopped or otherwise turned around.
When I asked my nephew Ben, who is an Army veteran and experienced gun owner and shooter as well as a professional artist, what he thought of restricting guns from the hands of these misdemeanor offenders, he declared, “No one with a history of violence should be able to own a gun.”
Maybe this proposed ban wouldn’t have stopped some of these guys from committing violent crimes. But if they had to use their fists rather than their guns, a lot less damage would be done. This one is a no-brainer. So you can draw your own conclusions about the people who voted it down.
And if one single woman or child in Virginia is killed or maimed by a previously convicted misdemeanor domestic violence offender or sexual predator with a gun, we know whose hands the blood will be on.
^ above second paragraph from bottom, meant to complete the thought with “were slim.”
There is so much rhetoric thrown around as news these days that neither side really cares whether anyone calls them out on it or not because one side refuses to believe anything the other side OR what anyone besides their own biased media of choice says. Now more than ever people are so mired in believing what they want to believe that there is no taking anyone to task for something like that. I’ve lived in Texas oh these many years, and I can tell you that any progress that was made from our one female Democrat governor, Ann Richards, on domestic violence and particularly stalking laws was promptly undone first session by the incoming Republicans.
As a point obliquely related to your topic, I would add that Ann Richards embraced the NRA to many Democrats’ horror because she knew that if she didn’t, the chances of her being governor, even under the unusual circumstances she won (Republican opponent was a loudmouthed racist too much for even Republican Texans to handle).
Probably not coincidentally, Wendy Davis, who will be the Democratic choice for governor of Texas next election, just came out with a statement that she plans to buy a firearm soon. I doubt the lesson of Ann Richards was lost on her, Governor Richards being the lone local political role model for Davis.