Election 2025: Californication of Virginia is on the Ballot

The last time the Democrats gained complete control of Virginia government, the Commonwealth took a sharp turn toward policies already in place in California.  Even when they did not have complete control last year and this year, they introduced legislation, especially gun legislation, that gave a glimpse of what they will do if they get full control again by way of the 2025 statewide and General Assembly election.  Look at what is happening now in Los Angeles and you see what years of lax enforcement of criminal laws and sanctuary city legislation will do to a state.  As radio host Erick Erickson said yesterday"

What’s going on in Los Angeles is what happens when progressive governance collides with reality. The city is overrun with violent protests, organized theft, homelessness, and gang activity. Years of lax enforcement, defunding the police, and permissive prosecution have created a powder keg—and now the federal government has to step in.

If gun owners don't take action this year, and make sure that we elect either a pro-rights majority in the House of Delegates, or at defeat Abigail Spanberger's run for governor Virginia will continue the lurch toward Californication that began in 2020.  And if you need a reminder of what gun restrictions will become law, take a look at this list:

• Age restrictions for certain firearm transfers.
• Restrictions on young adults between 18 and 21 from being able to purchase certain semi-automatic rifles, pistols, and shotguns.
• Bans on the centuries-old practice of individuals building lawful firearms for personal use without government interference by prohibiting the manufacture of firearms without serial numbers. Transfer and possession of an unserialized or plastic firearm would be prohibited. This legislation would also penalize individuals who lawfully purchased unfinished frames and receivers before the bill’s effective date.
• Mandatory, five-day waiting period before a law-abiding citizen may take possession of a legally purchased firearm.
• Expansion of "gun-free" zones  where law-abiding persons would be prohibited from lawfully carrying. 
• Mandatory firearm storage laws. 
• Allowing frivolous lawsuits against the firearms industry by eroding the protections afforded to them via federal law. 
• Expansion of prohibiting categories for certain misdemeanor crimes.
• Bans on certain semi-automatic firearms including many semi-automatic rifles, pistols and shotguns and arbitrarily limits on magazine capacities. 
• Ending concealed handgun recognition and reciprocity agreements. 
• Prohiting people from storing, placing, or leaving a handgun in their parked vehicle. 

That's a long list but it is a list of bills that passed over the last two years, and vetoed by Governor Youngkin. Gun owners need to get involved not. Contact Andrew Brown with NRA-ILA to see what you can do to get involved in this year's election.

Abigail Spanberger: I Support the Second Amendment, But...

Seventh District Democrat Representative Abigail Spanberger likes to say she supports the Second Amendment and even tries to shore up that claim by saying she carried a gun during her time with the CIA and that she grew up with guns in the house.  She repeated that line last night during the candidates forum with her opponent, Delegate Nick Freitas.

But like most Democrats who claim to support the Second Amendment, she always has that "but".  She has already voted in favor of criminalizing private sales (so-called "universal" background checks), and she supports the usual measures aimed at gun owners, things like laws that take away an individuals firearms without due process ("red flag" laws) and banning modern sporting rifles.  

Spanberger has tried real hard to portray herself as a "moderate" who works "across the aisle" with "Democrats and Republicans".  You can't turn on the Rush Limbaugh radio program on AM1140 WRVA without hearing her commercials multiple times during the program.  The fact that she would even advertise on Limbaugh's program shows that she is trying to convince right leaning voters that she is one of them.

Don't be fooled. Spanberger is no moderate.  She votes with Nancy Pelosi 91% of the time.  If you live in the 7th Congressional District, vote for Delegate Nick Freitas.

Delegate Nick Freitas Gives A Pep Talk Before Orange County Board of Supervisors Meeting

Delegate Nick Freitas is well known for his support of the Second Amendment thanks to his viral video from the floor of the House of Delegates a couple years ago.  He was at the Orange County Board of Supervisor's meeting earlier this week and gave the below pep talk to attendees ahead of the meeteing.

Delegate Freitas announced earlier this week that he is running for the GOP nomination to challenge anti-rights Congresswomen Abigail Spanberger in the 7th Congressional District.  He joins a handful of other candidates running for the nomination which will be decided by a nominating convention in 2020.

Election Post Mortem - Predicted "Blue Wave" More of a Blue Ripple

Yesterday, the voters appear to have voted for more gridlock as they awarded continued majority control of the U.S. Senate to the GOP while the House of Representatives flipped to Democratic Control.  The latter was helped with the loss of three pro-rights representatives from Virginia - Scott Taylor in the 2nd, Dave Brat in the 7th, and Barbara Comstock in the 10th.  Both Brat and Taylor were defeated by newcomers to the electorial process while Comstock was defeated by Jennifer Wexton, an anti-rights member of the the Virginia General Assembly.

Since the beginning of this election cycle the mainstream media and the left have told us that there would be a "Blue Wave" that would give Democrats large majorities and the House of Representatives and would flip the Senate.  This was thought because the left seemed much more motivated to vote with Donald Trump in the White House.  Then, Chucky Schumer decided to destroy the reputation of a good man, Brett Kavanaugh.  Even before that occurred it has begun to look like taking control of the U.S. Senate was going to be a long shot but Schumer's strategy likely led to the defeats of Senator Joe Donnelly in Indiana, and Claire McCaskill in Missouri.

So what does all of this mean for our Second Amendment freedom in the coming two years?  Roll Call wrote this morning House Democrats plan to move forward with criminalizing private firearm sales.  Roll Call also notes that such an effort is likely to stall in the Senate as both the President and the Senate GOP have shown zero interest in any bill that could be construed as infringing upon Second Amendment rights.  All three of the Democrats that flipped seats in Virginia are on board with more restrictions on our rights, including so-called "universal" background checks, banning modern sporting rifles, and banning standard capacity magazines. While Bloomberg's fake news outlet, The Trace, tried to paint the best face on last night's returns by saying pushing gun control did not hurt them, the fact is, at least in the 7th District where I live, not one of Spanberger's television ads mentioned gun control.  In fact, almost all of them failed to even mention she was a Democrat.  I did not see any of the ads for Wexton (10th) and Luria (2nd) but Bloomberg and Gabby Giffords spent heavily in the 10th District.

What the election results do show us is we have a lot of work to do in the suburbs.  That is where House races were lost yesterday according to Roll Call and other news outlets.

In Virginia, we now turn our attention to the state legislative races that will be held in 2019 where the House of Delegates and the State Senate will all be up for re-election.  If we lose the pro-gun majorities in both houses, Virginia will look like New Jersey and California virtually overnight when it comes to gun laws.