McAuliffe, Warner, Join Kaine at Capitol Hill Gun Ban Rally

Yesterday, Bloomberg's Everytown for Gun Safety and Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense of America held its “Day of Action” on Capitol Hill.   According to Robert Fargo over at The Truth About Guns, the event drew about 100 people.  Cam Edwards of NRA News noted during the program yesterday that McAuliffe said it was easier to by a gun than it is to buy a beer.

Washington's WUSA 9 footage of the rally caught U.S. Senator Mark Warner saying "enough is enough" (echoing his statement after the 2012 Newtown school shootings) and "more gun owners support background checks than the rest of the population" while Governor Terry McAuliffe said "I'm sick and tired of gutless politicians who are afraid of the NRA."

Warner voted for the Manchin/Schumer/Toomey amendment in 2013 that would have criminalized selling a firearm from your private collection unless a background check is performed.  So, it's no surprise he is supporting this renewed push for "expanded background checks" but he has pretty much stayed in the background when supporting this in the past.  Warner has carefully cultivated a "centrist" persona since running for office for the first time in 1996.  In 2001 he worked very hard to keep the NRA from endorsing his opponent in the gubernatorial election and even signed 17 pro-rights bills, including full pre-emption as governor.  He received an "A" rating from the NRA (but not the endorsement) when he ran for U.S. Senate in 2008.  However, when he ran for re-election, his rating dropped due to his vote for the Manchin/Schumer/Toomey amendment and voting for two anti-gun nominees to the Supreme Court.  Warner apparently feels somewhat liberated since he squeeked by Ed Gillespie in 2014, in a year that every endangered Democrat went down to defeat.  Warner was expected to handily win.  I guess he figures surviving that scare makes him invincible and he can go back to his pre-2001 anti-rights positions.