Democrats Shouldn’t Dawdle on Gun Bills [UPDATE]: Virginia Braces For Gung-Ho Gun Nuts
As you might recall through the haze of Trumpian scandal, the Virginia legislature flipped to Democratic control in November. After the election, Democrats pledged to pass a package of gun-control laws — mostly the same agenda Delaware Democrats have punted on — gun-rights advocates are flipping out.
The pledge sparked a grassroots pro-gun movement whose size and intensity has surprised even longtime activists. In dozens of towns and counties, pro-gun Virginians have flooded local government meetings to oppose the new bills and to demand that their lawmakers pass “second amendment sanctuary” resolutions, which promise that local governments will not enforce state gun laws they see as unconstitutional. Some of these activists have warned of violence if Democrats push forward with gun control.
The pro-gun organizing in Virginia has attracted the attention of national anti-government militias and white supremacist groups, who have “glommed on to” the grassroots movement, hoping to use it as a potential flashpoint that could lead to civil war and social breakdown, according to an analyst at the Anti-Defamation League, which monitors extremist groups.
Some observers worry these tensions may come to a head on 20 January, when a lobby day against gun control at Virginia’s state capitol is expected to attract thousands of people, including members of anti-government groups from other states.
This is standard behavior for gun lovers. In Delaware, about 200 of them routinely flood Dover to demonstrate that we have no requirement that gun owners demonstrate any kind of mental fitness before they’re allowed to stockpile deadly weapons. It’s the outside agitators who make the situation dangerous.
I mention this mainly to point out that Democrats in Dover ought to act now, while the national-level nutjobs are busy to our south, to enact bills like a ban on military-style rifles. If they wait until Virginia acts, hundreds of white supremacists with nothing better to do could descend on Legislative Hall, and good luck finding a parking space once that happens.
UPDATE
From today’s Huffington Post:
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) declared a temporary emergency Wednesday banning guns from Capitol Square in Richmond ahead of a rally expected to draw tens of thousands, including far-right extremists, in protest of gun control measures.
“We have received credible intelligence from our law enforcement agencies of threats of violence surrounding the demonstration planned for Monday, January 20,” Northam said in a tweet. “This includes extremist rhetoric similar to what has been seen before major incidents, such as Charlottesville in 2017.”
The rally, set to take place Monday, was organized by anti-gun control group Virginia Citizens Defense League, which claimed it expects upward of 130,000 people to attend and is planning to bus people in from across the state.
Man oh man, those 200 nut jobs really make legislators quiver.
Would love to see Northam call out the National Guard on the mad gunners, as noted assorted nut jobs plan to flood the capitol and I suspect their goal includes violence like at Charlottesville.
NO. this is why liberals need to arm up. Like global climate collapse, it’s WAY to late to stop the train. We need to catch up. With white nationalists flooding our military, we cant trust the national guard…. or the cops.
OK, you head on down there for the big Jan. 20 showdown. Let us know how it goes.
They want armed confrontation. The best way to annoy them is to refuse to do so. Let them foam at the mouth in public; it’s a bad look for them.
Every time I see one of these pants-pissers at their rallies, I think, “Yeah, a bunch of angry white dudes using guns to intimidate people — that’s a GREAT reason to let everyone have guns! Those are just the people who should have them!” Oh, wait — nobody thinks that.
thats some good reasoning for 20 years ago. ignoring them is exactly why they keep growing. magats are cancer. you dont beat cancer by wishing it away.
You don’t beat it by shooting it, either. And they’re not cancer anyway.
They’re guys who were raised thinking they should be fearless but know they aren’t. They feel threatened (a form of fear) by anything unfamiliar. The guns give them the sense of power and security that they think should come naturally. Since it doesn’t, the gun provides it, making them masculine again. See how it works? This is why the gun=penis metaphors work so well — they literally provide these guys with their “manhood,” without which they’d be you-know-what’s.
I would argue MAGAts aren’t cancer so much as they are mad cow disease.
ok. so mad cows, you isolate and…. deal with.
Anyway, i still think you’re about 2 decades late with this take. all “gun control” would accomplish now is ensure the right wing militias are the only ones with guns. It’s too late.
I”m not saying ignore them. I’m saying act rational and let them foam at the mouth. I’m saying bait them into bad behavior by — yep, by passing gun control laws.
And I’m afraid I’m going to have to disagree here. The starfish principle applies — can’t stop them all, but we can make it harder for them to get started. And that will keep some people alive longer. It might not matter to you, but it does to them.
If you really believed what you’re saying, you would already have a military-style weapon.
as I’ve said before, the last 2 years have changed my views.
getting them “to act badly” translates into “let them kill some people and hope they dont get pardoned like that magat family in Oregon. the institutions you’re relying on to fight this battle for you arent as reliable as you want to think.
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but they’re killing people now. I’m less worried about MAGAts, who will fold like cheap umbrellas when the actual firing starts, than nuts who shoot up schools.
If the institutions you doubt were as unreliable as you think, you should probably buy more than one military-style rifle, because you’re as paranoid as they are.