It's Not Over Till the Fat Lady Sings

The Northern Virginia Daily reported this morning that Senator Jill Vogel (R-Upperville) said Wednesday she intends to use a rarely invoked procedure on the floor today to bring the override of vetoed SB 436 back for one more try.

SB 436 initially passed the Senate 31-9, more than enough votes to overcome a veto. But as I posted yesterday, six Democrats changed their mind and voted against the measure on Wednesday. Vogel believes the Governor put pressure on Democrats in the Senate to change their earlier position in support of this bill.

Kaine said the measure was a danger to law enforcement officers. What he did not explain is how exactly are law abiding gun owners who choose to take advantage of the change in the law a threat to law enforcement. Criminals don't obey the law and will continue to hide their guns - the difference be they won't be in locked containers.

The leopard has begun showing its spots when it comes to Kaine and gun owner rights. While he has signed pro-gun legislation, he continues to veto legislation that expands the rights of citizens to protect themselves and their families. He clearly has an elitist view of the Second Amendment. For proof, we need only go back as far as January when he disagreed with Attorney Bob McDonnell's joining the amicus brief of 30 other AGs in support of Richard Heller in the D.C. gun ban case.

Kaine is no friend of gun owners or the right to self defense.

Update: The Washington Times this morning, reporting on the D.C. Gun Ban case and the number of groups that have weighed in had this tidbit:

A spokesman for Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said Mr. Kaine supports Second Amendment rights but that they are "subject to reasonable regulation."

"He has not gone that far" to say that he does not want to see the ban overturned, Kaine spokesman Gordon Hickey said. "He is not the governor of D.C."

This begs the question, does a complete ban on guns (handguns are completely banned in D.C. and log guns must be registered and lock or disassembled with ammo stored separately - effectively making them all but banned) equal "reasonable regulation"?

Kaine Veto of SB 436 and SB 476 Sustained

The Senate voted on whether to sustain or override anti-gun Governor Kaine's veto of SB 436 and SB 476. Both votes failed as SB 436 died on a 25-15 vote. This is a switch of six votes from original passage. But when you look at those switchers, most of them are usually anti-gun legislators, or at least not folks we could count on to be on our side more than occasionally (Barker - NRA "D" rating, Colgan - NRA "D" rating, Yvonne Miller - NRA "F" rating, Northam NRA "C-" rating, Petersen - NRA "C" rating, Whipple - NRA "F" rating) that would not have been expected to vote for this type of legislation in the first place.

SB 476 died on a 22-18 vote with two votes switching, the usually anti-gun Colgan switched and southwest Virginia Senator Philip Puckett voting to sustain the veto. Senator Puckett used to be a reliably pro-gun vote but only received a "C" rating from the NRA in 2007.

Both bills are dead for the session. VSSA would like to thank State Senators Vogel and Hanger for their leadership on both of these commonsense proposals, and for their willingness to stand up for Virginia's law-abiding firearm owners! We'd also like to express our appreciation for those State Senators and Delegates who supported both of these measures and worked to protect your right to self-defense, as well as for the thousands of VSSA Members and gun owners across the Commonwealth who contacted their elected officials in support of these measures. Please take time and thank your Senator or Delegate if they voted to support your right to self defense. Also, continue to let Governor Kaine know how you feel about his having vetoed these commonsense bills.