Virginia Beach Democrat Senate Candidate Invokes May's Mass Shooting in Campaign Ad

The Virginia Mercury has the story here.

“I walked out of the bathroom and saw the gunman on the other end of the hallway,” she says in a political ad released at the end of September. “I saw a coworker in the middle, and he looked at me and he yelled, ‘Go.’ So I was lucky, but not everyone was.”

Missy Cotter Smasal, Democratic candidate for the 8th State Senate District, sponsored and released the ad. She’s one of the first candidates in Virginia Beach to explicitly mention in campaign materials the mass shooting that left 13 people dead, including the gunman, and injured four more.

Cotter Smasal is challenging Sen. Bill DeSteph, R-Virginia Beach, who has served in the General Assembly since 2014. Both are former naval officers.

The article goes on to give opposing views of the impact of this past May's shooting on the election.

Joshua Zingher, a political scientist at Old Dominion University, said other states that have experienced mass shootings haven’t had huge political upheaval afterward.

“The effects of mass shootings can be very short-lived. I don’t anticipate some anomaly in Virginia Beach either as a function of guns or gun reform or lack of gun reform or the mass shooting specifically,” he said.

Quentin Kidd, a political scientist at Christopher Newport University, said he thinks the shooting and gun policy will motivate a key voting bloc — white suburban women, who are “driving politics in Virginia Beach” and areas outside of Richmond. Those are also the areas where the Democratic Party is hanging its hopes to win a majority in the statehouse.

One thing is for sure, the gun ban lobby and their financial supporters from outside Virginia are pouring millions into the Commonwealth to try and influence the election and flip the assembly. And remember what we shared earlier this week regarding what former Governor Terry McAuliffe said at a fundraiser in Richmond last week.  If we don't want to become California or New Jersey, get out and work for the pro-gun candidate in your district and get as many gun owners to the polls in November as you can.

Like Abington, Norfolk Gun Control Roundtable Well Attended by Gun Owners

Governor Northam's gun control roundtable discussions set up shop in Hampton last night.  The original location had to be moved due to the large number of people that showed up.  The first hour was only for the media and invited activists and supporters of the Governor's proposals to enact gun ban measures.  The second hour was open to the public and included a large number of gun owners who did not want any part of what Secretary of Public Safety Brian Moran was selling.  Wavy 10 has the story.


Gun Owners are pushing back hard as even the Governor has admitted during last week's Boys State that none of his proposals would likely have changed anything in Virginia Beach the day of the shooting:

The next student at the microphone asked how those measures would help, arguing it doesn’t appear they would have prevented the shooting in Virginia Beach.

“The assailant used a silencer, a suppressor. Why do you think he did that?” Northam countered from the stage.

The student, standing away from the microphone, said quietly, “So nobody could hear him.”

“So do you think that we need silencers on the street?” Northam continued. “Do you think that if he hadn’t had a silencer, perhaps not as many people would have been killed because people in the building would have been able to hear the firearm discharge?”

Northam conceded that his proposals wouldn’t have necessarily prevented the Virginia Beach shooting. But he said the legislation his administration has backed would have helped.

Continue to contact your State Senator and member of the House of Delegates and politely tell them that you do not support anything that the Governor is proposing and remind them that even though there was a restriction on employees taking firearms into Virginia Beach buildings, that did not stop the killer, a Virginia Beach employee, from taking his gun into the building and killing his colleagues.

In related news, a Virginia Beach employee wants the ban lifted on employees carrying in city buildings.

Also, I'll be on NRATV's Cam and Company this afternoon at 5:30 pm discussing the latest developments as the Special Session approaches.

Richmond Mayor Stoney Plans to Ban Firearms in City Buildings and Parks

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney held a press conference this morning and proposed banning firearms in city buildings and parks.  The Richmond Times Dispatch has the story.

Mayor Levar Stoney wants to bar people from carrying guns in Richmond-owned buildings and parks, he said Monday.

Stoney announced plans to introduce an ordinance at Monday night’s City Council meeting banning guns in City Hall, city-owned buildings, public parks and other community facilities.

If approved by the council, Stoney said the Richmond ordinance would take effect immediately – if state lawmakers grant localities the authority to ban guns in municipal buildings at the special session scheduled later this month.

“I don’t want to wait to start this process until after we’ve been granted the authority,” Stoney said at a press conference Monday morning.

Stoney all but admits he doesn't have the authority to enact such a ban unless the General Assembly approves the Governor's announced plans to introduce legislation during the July 9th Special Session to roll back statewide preemption. But, he wants to put the process in place so if that were to happen, he has the ordinance already set to go.  If you live in the City of Richmond, make your voice heard to your City Council member that you oppose Mayor Stoney's proposed ordinance.

Vocal Second Amendment Supporters Pack Abington Gun Control Roundtable

In what probably illustrates why Governor Northam scheduled only one Gun Control Roundtable in western Virginia, the administration heard from a number of opponents to his gun control proposals yesterday in Abington.  WVVA has the story.  When you watch the video of the news story on WBBA's web site, you gotta love the male anchor's air quotes when he talks about what Northam calls "sensible" gun laws.

In Abingdon, Secretary of Public Safety & Homeland Security Brian Moran spoke to a crowd of people questioning the need for new laws.

Moran noted several of Northam’s proposed solutions including universal background checks and reinstating the one hand gun a month law. But many in attendance say the laws are unnecessary and infringe on their second amendment rights.

“This is confiscation without representation,” said one attendee. Many in the crowd voice how they believe all of Northam’s proposed plans will eventually lead to more control in how law abiding citizens use their guns.

Make sure if you have not contacted your State Senator or Delegate, that you make your views known to them before July 9th. 

Why Gun Control is Not the Answer to What Happened in Virginia Beach.

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam has reached into the playbook of the gun ban lobby and is using the tragedy in Virginia Beach on May 31st to try and resurrect his political career and call for more gun control.  Never mind the fact that nothing he is proposing would have stopped the shooter from committing his crime.  Last Friday, Amy Swearer of the Heritage Foundation wrote this article and laid out the case for why gun control is the wrong answer to this shooting.

Northam’s proposals show a deep misunderstanding of the causes and mechanisms underlying gun-related violence in general, and mass public shootings in particular.

Worse, they inherently place the blame for these criminal actions on the shoulders of hundreds of thousands of law-abiding Virginia gun owners who will never use their firearms in an unlawful manner.

She goes on to point out that according to data from the Center for Disease Control (CDC), data which by the way CDC declined to publicize, indicates that the number of annual defensive gun uses is likely around 1 million.  She concludes her article by pointing out law-abiding citizens are not made safer by enacting restrictions that make it more difficult to defend themselves, especially when those restrictions don’t really address the "real mechanisms of criminal gun use."   All we do is "tie one hand behind their backs" while "congratulating ourselves for having 'just done something' about gun violence."

Amy was on NRATV's Relentless with Dana Loesch to talk more about her article.

Delegate Todd Gilbert on Governor Northam's Call for Gun Control Special Session

Delegate Todd Gilbert was on the Virginia Talk Radio Network this morning talking about Governor Northam's new calls for gun control and a special session.

VSSA Talks Governor Northam's Gun Control on Cam and Company

Legislative Director David Adams was on NRATV's Cam and Company last night talking about the Governor's call of a gun control special legislative session.

Governor Northam Calls for Special Session to Take Up Gun Control in Response to Virginia Beach Shooting

The Roanoke Times reports that Gov. Ralph Northam will recall lawmakers to the state Capitol in coming weeks to take up a package of gun-control legislation he said is urgently needed to prevent killings like Friday's mass shooting in Virginia Beach.  In this morning's announcement he said he will call legislators back later this summer.  He will hold a 10:AM news conference that will be available on this blog.

He said in an interview that he wants the Republican-controlled General Assembly to hear from the public about the need for "common-sense" law related to guns and accessories.

Republicans have previously rejected Northam's gun control bills out of hand, but a top GOP lawmaker signaled Monday that he's open to a legislative debate.

Northam's expected announcement comes less than a week after Virginia Beach city employee DeWayne Craddock used two semi-automatic handguns, a silencer and extended ammunition magazines to kill 12 people, all but one them colleagues he had worked with for years, and injure several others. Craddock was then killed in an intense gunbattle with police during which a bullet hit one officer in a bulletproof vest.

Northam's package of bills includes legislation that directly relates to Friday's shooting — including a ban on silencers and high capacity ammunition magazines as well as broadening the ability of local governments to limit guns in city buildings. But Northam said other recent shootings, including the death last month of a 9-year-old girl who was shot at a community cookout in Richmond, are also driving his call for a special session.

Suppressors are currently legal in Virginia, but an individual has to undergo what amounts to a federal anal exam from ATF after paying a $200 tax before a purchase can be completed.  It normally takes at least six months for the process to run it's course.

Some law enforcement told news outlets on Saturday that the suppressor did not necessarily make it easier for the killer to complete his plan and that it was likely his familiarity with the building that allowed him to kill so many.

Contact you legislators now and let them know that you oppose any new restrictions on your rights.