Don't Despair Virginia Gun Owners

In Friday's eBullet, we shared an article about Governor Northam considering gun confiscation (even Bernie Sanders says that is unconstitutional, while admitting he wants to ban your ability to buy AR-15s in the future).  We know the other list of things he want's to do.  You may ask, with Democrats in control of everything, what can we do?  There are things we can do and we need to start now. 

If you have a Democrat Delegate or Senator, let them hear from you: I can't tell you how many times people have told me it's a waste of time to talk to gun control legislators.  That's bull.  If they know they have thousands of gun owners in their districts, they will take note.  There was one election this year decided by 18 votes, and in 2017, one was decided by a coin toss.  Letting a Democrat legislator know they have a significant number of gun owners in their district might be enough to make the difference between going full bore New Jersey in one session, or settling for just their top priorities (handgun rationing, "assault weapons" ban, "universal" background checks).    Don't just email them.  Find out when they have office hours and meet with them in person.  Also get everyone you know that is like minded to do the same thing.  We especially need women and youth shooters to be a part of this effort.  VSSA has a number of young shooters in the High Power Rifle Program.  AR-15s are used in some of this competition. You may know others.  They need to be the ones telling legislators this story, not the adults.  They should be at the Capitol on Martin Luther King Day when a lot of the lobbying groups are there to talk to legislators.  In the past gun control bills have been heard on this day.  Since that is a school holiday, we need youth shooters at the General Assembly on that day.

Litigation: In the past, VSSA has been proud to join forces with our sister state organizations to challenge unconstitutional gun control laws.  We were part of Heller, McDonald, the case against Maryland's "assault weapons" law, California's Peruta case, and are now part of the NYSRPA vs. New York case.  Now we need to be ready to be on the front end and challenge unconstitutional laws that may be signed by Governor Northam.  This can be costly, but we are laying the groundwork now.

The good news is there are several cases either already at the U.S. Supreme Court or on their way.  If the Court finds in NYSRPA vs New York case that gun laws must be looked at using "Strict Scrutiny"  that means the legislature will have to have passed a law to further a "compelling governmental interest," and must narrowly tailor the law to achieve that interest.  That is a difficult test to pass and could severely limit what the gun ban crowd can do.  VSSA will post more on these efforts as we move forward.

The bottom line is, don't be defeatist.  Yes, our work is cut out for us, we have to do the work to protect our rights.