The Next Step After Defeat of Northam Gun, Magazine, and Suppressor Ban

The Washington Post confirms what VSSA's lobbyist found while working with senators on the Senate Judiciary Committee to defeat HB961 - they thought the bill went too far and captured more firearms than what many think of as so called "assault weapons".  Take Senator Creigh Deeds for instance.  Deeds was one of the four Senators that VSSA focused efforts on to defeat the bills.  He used to be a reliable vote against gun control but started to turn after the Virginia Tech shooting in 2007.  He also felt that his support for Second Amendment Rights had been betrayed when the NRA supported Bob McDonnell in the 2009 Gubernatorial election when McDonnell had voted for handgun rationing in 1993 and Deeds had voted against it.  McDonnell had promised he would sign a repeal of the law while Deeds had already started shifting his position on background checks more in line with the gun ban lobby.  I saw gun ban activist Lori Haas giving Deeds an ear full outside the committee room after the vote. He later told the Post:

Deeds said in an interview that the bill’s magazine limits could have applied to some long rifles and handguns that “I don’t think anybody really intended to criminalize.”

“AK-47s or AR-15s — I think they’re impractical, and I can’t imagine that people really need to own those things. In fact, they are weapons of war,” Deeds said. “But when you’re trying to define that as a matter of code, you’ve got to be really careful.”

No Senator Deeds, that is exactly what they wanted to do.  That's why the Secretary of Public Safety, Bryan Moran, focused on the Virginia Tech shooting in his remarks in both the House Public Safety Committee and Senate Judiciary.  The firearms used in the Tech shooting were handguns.  And, despite the fact that the commission appointed by Governor Tim Kaine  after the shooting said that the size of the magazines used would have had no impact on the carnage, that is what Moran focused on.  Deed's comments also show we still need to educate those who voted to waylay about why firearms like the AR-15 are indeed practical and used for sport, hunting, and competition.

Gun owners in the districts of the four senators (Surovell, Petersen, Deeds, Edwards) should use this time to educate them on the many rifles like the AR-15, why they are so popular, why their features make them easy for anyone - youth, women, handicapped shooters - to use. Gun ranges in or near their districts should invite them to competitions that use the rifles so they can see why these firearms are indeed "practical".