Defend Firearms Freedom - Defeat McAuliffe

As November 2nd approaches, guns are garnering attention in the campaign to become Virginia's next Governor.  It isn't so much from the candidates themselves but what one "new media" outlet has discovered in the last two weeks.  Stephen Gutowski's The Reload has been the leading media source for news related to the Governor's race and guns. 

Just this weekend, Gutowski published an article that detailed how the political action committee for Dominion Energy is a major source of funds for a "shadowy group" buying ads against Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin that attempt to suppress gun owner turnout for the candidate.

According to The Reload, the group was created in July 2021 by the consulting firm Mele, Brengarth, & Associates, which boasts about providing services to “the most active, progressive Super PAC’s in the 2012 and 2014 cycles” on its website. Accountability Virginia is also using ActBlue, a fundraising portal for Democrat candidates and progressive causes, to collect donations. The power company gave $200,000 to the Accountability Virginia PAC. You can find that article here.  Another article posted over the weekend provides analysis into the 2019 video reported last week of McAuliffe disparaging gun shows and how Attorney General Mark Herring (D.) provided McAuliffe leverage to pass a 2016 gun bill by breaking gun-carry reciprocity agreements. That article can be found here however it is behind a pay-wall for Reload subscribers.  If you are not a subscriber,  it is well worth the cost and the monthly subscription costs about what a Chick-fil-a meal costs.

Because Glenn Youngkin has not filled out the NRA-ILA Candidate Questionnaire, he has not been endorsed (Youngkin has not completed surveys from any advocacy group, not just gun groups).  But, Youngkin’s campaign has told the Reload that the candidate is a “lifetime NRA member” and a gun owner (the NRA-ILA Virginia State Liaison said at a recent NRA-ILA Members Meeting in Richmond that NRA has confirmed Youngkin is a Life Member). Youngkin's campaign has told the Reload that he opposes the law passed by Democrats in 2020 that allows localities to chip away at Virginia's pre-emption law. The campaign also told the Reload that Youngkin does not support an “assault weapons” ban. 

So, gun owners have a choice to make on November 2nd. We know where McAuliffe stands and he has said he will push for a ban on "assault weapons" on day one if he is elected.  Youngkin's campaign is on record to The Reload that he opposes a so-called assault weapons ban and opposes the chipping away at Virginia's pre-emption law.  Do we sit back and allow McAuliffe to win simply because Youngkin believes that "surveys are a waste of time"?  Or, do we do all we can between now and election day to make sure that McAuliffe loses, and that we elect a pro-rights majority in the House of Delegates.

I attended the NRA-ILA Members Meeting in Richmond this past Wednesday night.  A number of the NRA members in the room stood up and said they will be voting for Glenn Youngkin because they know what four more years of Terry McAuliffe and an anti-gun majority in the General Assembly will do to gun owners.  That is the decision facing every Virginia gun owner between now and election day.