Virginia Democrats are pushing ahead with more gun control. It is a reminder that the Democratic Party’s gun control agenda targets law-abiding gun owners and lets criminals completely off the hook.
The gun control proposals flowing through the Virginia legislature to Gov. Abigail Spanberger‘s (D-VA) desk are the typical incoherent Democratic talking points: banning the arbitrary category of “assault weapons,” banning “large capacity” magazines, and waiting periods for purchasing guns. Two of the most onerous requirements, as Jay Caruso wrote for the Washington Examiner, include requiring “a state-issued permit to purchase firearms, which would oddly extend to renting a firearm at a shooting range,” and “mandatory storage requirements” that restrict a gun owner’s ability to access his or her firearm in a timely manner in his or her own home.
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None of this will do anything to solve gun crime. It is lost on Democrats, but criminals do not follow the law. They will acquire illegal “assault weapons” or magazines regardless of what you legislate. A Justice Department report from 2019 detailed how around 91% of gun criminals acquire their firearms through illegal means or from another person. Storage requirements won’t stop people who are already reckless enough to leave their guns around the house where small children can reach them, either.
The point of these laws is always to restrict law-abiding gun owners. That is why, for example, Norfolk District Attorney Ramin Fatehi blamed the Islamic terrorist attack at Old Dominion University on people who oppose gun control. Meanwhile, left-wing district attorneys such as Fatehi and Fairfax County District Attorney Steve Descano turn Virginia jails into a revolving door for criminals.
Case in point: The Justice Department has charged Kenya Chapman with providing the terrorist in the Old Dominion shooting with the gun he used. Chapman was investigated by the Biden administration for serving as a straw purchaser, someone who buys guns claiming they are for themselves with the intent of selling them to others. He admitted to doing so on three occasions.
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This is the kind of dangerous, illegal behavior that must be cracked down on by prosecutors. Instead, the Biden administration let him off with a warning. Then, he allegedly stole a gun and gave it to the terrorist who committed the Old Dominion shooting, and Ramin Fatehi turned around and blamed law-abiding gun owners for it.
Nothing better captures the Democratic gun control agenda than that. They choose to be soft-on-crime toward real criminals, even if their crimes involve guns, and then turn every tragedy into an opportunity to impose more restrictions on people who actually follow the law. If Democrats wanted to prevent future shootings like the one at Old Dominion, they would support prosecuting gun criminals to the full extent of the law. Instead, they pass gun control restrictions that will only be followed by law-abiding citizens who actually respect the law.
