Clinton pal and anti-Second Amendment Governor of Virginia Terry McAuliffe wants to bring back a law that prohibits residents from buying more than one gun a month. In 2012, a similar law was repealed when the governor of Virginia was a Republican.
The amendment would make it a Class 1 misdemeanor — punishable by up to a year in jail and $2,500 fine — for anyone other than a licensed firearms dealer to buy more than one handgun within a 30-day period.
This is another feel-good-do-nothing gesture that will only affect people who buy their guns at a gun shop. Those who purchase weapons for criminal purposes will buy as many guns as they want whenever they want because they, by definition, do not follow the laws.
McAuliffe pimped his latest anti-gun move by citing a 627-count indictment that charged 22 Virginia residents with running a couple hundred guns to New York. Apparently, one of the suspects was caught on a wiretap “mocking” Virginia’s gun laws because he could buy as many as he wanted.
Said McAuliffe, “One-handgun-a-month was enacted almost a quarter century ago to counter Virginia’s shameful reputation as the gun-running capital of the East Coast. Five years ago, the General Assembly took the ill-advised step of repealing this commonsense limitation. As a result, Virginia is once again becoming the go-to state for criminals to purchase weapons in bulk.”
McAuliffe’s plan is to attach the amendment onto another bill, sponsored by Senator Richard Stuart (R), that would prevent Virginia from sharing information about CCW holders with states that do not recognize Virginia’s permits.
“I also find it unfortunate that the governor chooses to place his priorities with New York City instead of the citizens of Virginia,” Stuart said in an email. “This bill was to protect Virginians that are in lawful possession of a firearm from being arrested by out-of-state jurisdictions that don’t give reciprocity to our concealed-carry permit. The bill very simply is designed to protect the people that are playing by the rules.”
Virginia Delegate C. Todd Gilbert called McAuliffe’s amendment a “stunt.”
“I’m not sure he understands precisely how bills become law,” Gilbert said. “He just sort of made up his own law and slapped it on a bill that has nothing to do with that.”
On the other hand, Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring, a Democrat stooge, reminisced that the one-gun law was“a commonsense measure that never should have been repealed in the first place.”
“Virginia’s weak gun laws make it too easy for guns to get into the hands of criminals, making our families, communities, and especially our law enforcement officers less safe, not to mention the heartbreak and damage these guns cause in neighboring states,” Herring said in a statement. “When you’ve got gun runners on tape bragging about how weak our gun laws are it should be a pretty clear signal that something needs to change.”
I wish the left would just come out and say they don’t want American citizens to own guns rather than pretend they don’t realize criminals aren’t deterred by laws prohibiting their behavior.
Anyway, this silly little bill isn’t going to go anywhere.
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