The Morning After

Yesterday's primaries included one surprise (Amanda Chase's win in the 11th Senate District - more about this one in a moment) but for the most part it was a good night for incumbents beating back challenges.  Speaker of the House Bill Howell, who was challenged by former Stafford County Supervisor Susan Stimpson, cruised to victory and did so by being the classy individual that we have come to know and by staying positive.  State Senator Emmett Hanger, who was in a three way race won big too.  In the Virginia Beach area, State Senator John Cosgrove also won.

In the 11th Senate District that includes Amelia, part of Chesterfield and Colonial Heights, Amanda Chase ran a positive campaign (as did Martin) and was able to use her life story as a married mom of four and small business owner to her advantage in generating grassroots support. The third candidate in this race, Barry Moore, ran a very negative campaign and was never a factor.  In the end, the voters decided it was time for a change and Chase ended up winning by a little over five points  While Martin was endorsed by NRA and VSSA, Chase scored an "AQ" rating from the NRA-PVF so Chase's win is a wash with gun owners.  There is no reason to believe that she will not protect our rights as strongly as Martin.  Should she go on to win the general election, VSSA looks forward to working with her.

The one race that should give gun owners some reason for concern was in the 12th Senate District.  This was the race that featured four candidates,  Ed Whitlock, Dr. Siobhan S. Dunnavant, Tea Party favorite Vince Haley, and former Delegate Bill Janis (endorsed by NRA-PVF and VSSA).  While Haley had the support of such national names as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (for whom Haley once worked) and Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, he finished 3rd with a little over 22% of the vote.  The battle came down to Dunnavant and Janis, and in the end, Dunnavant won with 38.19% of the vote - a margin of 7 points over Janis' 30.25%.  While Janis had the NRA-PVF and VSSA endorsements Dunnavant had a ? from NRA-PVF.  There is also the fact she first considered running as a Democrat, having spoken with none other than the State Senate's most anti-rights member, Senator Don McEachin, among others about running. Finally, there were some charges that Dunnavant's campaign was less then honest with voters in the final days.  This from the Richmond Times Dispatch:

Dunnavant’s camp later went after Janis, inaccurately charging on television ads and in mailers that he supported in-state tuition benefits for illegal immigrants.

After it was revealed that a House vote on which the ads were based had been mistakenly cast, and later corrected, by Janis, Dunnavant’s campaign promised to take down the ads, but they continued to run and the charge was repeated in a subsequent mailer.

So,  if after being shown the facts that her ad was false and she promised to take them down but didn't, just how can we trust her to protect our rights when she would not even let primary voters know where she stands?  In their primary post mortem, Bearing Drift summed up her tactics like this:

...The candidates who ran the cleaner campaigns, for the most part, won yesterday. PACs that are trying to make a name for themselves, particularly the National Association of Gun Rights, who ran vile tripe against good conservatives, were overwhelmingly rejected. One caveat is the Stosch-like tactics that seemed to work for Dunnavant – they were disturbing and wrong. While we are glad to see, potentially, more female representation in the senate, how she went about it remains deplorable.

Gun owners are encouraged to contact Mrs. Dunnavant and ask her to complete the NRA Candidate Survey so we know where she stands on our issue.

Bill Janis Makes His Case to Gun Owners

12 District GOP Senate Candidate Bill Janis made his case to gun owners today during an interview with NRANews' Cam Edwards.

Be sure to vote tomorrow if you live in the 11th Senate District (NRA and VSSA endorsed Steve Martin) or the 12th District (Bill Janis).  The polls open at 6:00 AM and will be open until 7:30 PM.

BIll Janis on NRANews Today

VSSA and NRA-PVF Endorsed candidate Bill Janis will be on NRANews' Cam and Company today at approximately 2:40.  With the GOP Primary for the 12th Senate District being held tomorrow, this is a good opportunity for Janis to speak directly to gun owners and sportsmen on the importance of voting in tomorrow's primary.  Bill Janis is the only candidate in the 12th District race with a proven voting record supporting the rights of Virginia gun owners.  Two of the other three candidates responded to the NRA-PVF survey with answers that indicated they support our rights and one candidate (Siobhan S. Dunnavant) failed to respond indicating that she is indifferent or out right hostile to our rights.  But Janis has a voting record which is why VSSA endorsed him over the other candidates.

If you can't listen live to Bill at 2:40 on NRANews.com,  you can download the podcast via ITunes or directly from the NRANews site or listen On Demand on IHeart Radio later this evening.  We will also post the interview on this blog early this evening.

NAGR Unleashes Dishonest Attack on Bill Janis

Voters in the 12th Senate District have received a dishonest campaign mailer from the National Association for Gun Rights (NAGR) that can only be described as trash.  The mailer claims that VSSA and NRA Endorsed candidate Bill Janis refuses to oppose several gun control measures.

That second gun ban proposal that Janis supposedly won't oppose is particularly laughable because Bill Janis voted for Virginia's full pre-emption law when it passed in the General Assembly in 2004 which makes such schemes in Virginia a non-starter.

When you click on the graphic of the mailer you will note that the three proposals Janis supposedly refuses to oppose are questions that were on a questionnaire the NAGR claims to have sent to Janis and that they claim he failed to answer.  In reality, a quick phone conversation with Janis revealed that he did not even receive the NAGR questionnaire until Tuesday, May 26 by certified mail.  The hit piece landed in mail boxes about the same time meaning NAGR never planned to wait for a response before dropping this trash in voters mail boxes.

This is not the first time that this so-called gun rights organizations has been dishonest with gun owners and voters.  In 2013, after the media decided not to show up at a press event where the group was rolling out attack ads against then House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, they staged a photo for use in an email that made it look like the media showed up and asked questions.

The group has also been dishonest in other areas.  Last month, the leader of NAGR used his Colorado organization to attack pro-gun researcher Dave Kopel.

And those are just two instances where the group has attacked friends of gun owners.  Sebastian over at Shall Not Be Questioned has written about the group's amateur activity.   At the end of that post, Sebastian summed it up pretty well:

I continue to encourage gun owners to not have anything to do with Dudley Brown or NAGR. Don't give them money and don't give them support. 

My sentiments exactly.

Update:  Here is a photo of the envelop in which the questionnaire arrived.

And here is a photo of the letter clearing stating the that it was due on May 1 - 19 days before it was mailed.

Hat tip to Bearing Drift.

NRAPVF, VSSA, Endorse Janis for 12th Senate District GOP Nomination

Earlier today, the NRA Poltical Victory Fund (NRA-PVF) and VSSA announced the endorsement of former Delegate Bill Janis in the GOP primary for the 12th Senate District seat being vacated by retiring State Senator Walter Stosch.  Both the NRA and VSSA cited Janis' long record of not only voting for pro-rights legislation, but spearheading efforts to regain rights lost in earlier years.  For instance, in 2004, Janis was the first member of the legislature to successfully begin the rollback of Virginia's gun rationing scheme known as "one gun-a-month."  In 2005, VSSA requested then Delegate Janis to carry legislation (HB2282) that would protect Virginia's shooting ranges from localities changing noise requirements that could result in putting the ranges out of business.

Janis is currently in a four person race for the nomination.  He is the only candidate with a voting record on the issue important to gun owners in the 12th District.  VSSA urges gun owners and sportsmen in the 12th State Senate District to get involved and help Bill between now and June 9th.  Most importantly, please go to the polls on June 9th and vote for Bill Janis.

Look to Oregon to Understand Why This Year's General Assembly Elections Are Important

You have probably seen the news that Oregon just criminalized the private transfer of firearms.  This happened because there is one party control in Oregon.  The only states where the gun ban lobby has made advances in passing more restrictions on the right's of gun owners is in states that have both a Democrat in the Governor's office and where the legislature is controlled by Democrats.  Yes, there are pro-rights Democrats but in more cases than not, the vast majority of elected Democrats are anti-rights.

Virginia has increasingly been friendly ground for Democrats in statewide elections.  And with the exception of Mark Warner, who signed 17 pro-rights bills as Governor, and Jim Webb, who supported our rights as a U.S. Senator, the Democrats elected statewide have been anti-rights.  This includes U.S. Senator and former governor Tim Kaine, current Governor Terry McAuliffe, Lt. Governor Ralph Northam, and Attorney General Mark Herring.

That makes it vitally important that we re-elect pro-rights majorities in the State Senate and the House of Delegates.  Virginia's House districts are so gerrymandered, the GOP should retain their veto proof majorities at least until the next redistricting.  The State Senate however is a different story.  The races for retiring State Senator John Watkins and State Senator Charles "Chuck" Colgan are considered two of the most competitive.  But we also need to elect a stong pro-rights candidate in the 12th Senate District to replace retiring State Senator Walter Stosch.  On the GOP side, that race features former Delegate and VSSA member Bill Janis and three other candidates who have no voting record on the issue.  Bill is a strong supporter of our rights and was the chief patron of legislation in 2005 that protects Virginia gun ranges.  Janis carried that legislation at the request of VSSA.

Virginia has been able to beat back every gun ban attempt since 1994.  Campaign 2015 is our battleground.  Get informed and get active.