Grandstanding McAuliffe Pushes Hodgepodge Of Gun Control Restrictions In Virginia

When a state unwisely elects an anti-liberty candidate for Governor, you can expect him to go after your basic human rights every chance he gets.

Gov. Terry McAuliffe on Monday will call for a package of gun restrictions in Virginia, including a renewal of the state’s one-a-month limit on handgun purchases and a requirement that buyers at gun shows undergo background checks.

McAuliffe will also propose keeping guns away from people convicted of crimes related to domestic violence and revoking concealed-handgun permits for parents who are behind on child-support payments.

McAuliffe (D) will unveil his plan during a speech in Arlington County the day after the two-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, according to a news release provided to The Washington Post.

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The Republican-controlled General Assembly is unlikely to support McAuliffe’s raft of gun control legislation, which appear to be little more than an attempt at political gamesmanship.

Time-based purchase limits have never had any demonstrated impact on crime, as criminals do not buy their firearms from the gun dealers affected by such laws. Guns brought from FFLs at gun shows already require background checks, and liberty-minded private sellers ignore intrusive laws forcing background checks in other states in which they’ve been mandated.

McAuliffe’s plan to revoke the concealed carry permits of parents behind on child support is simply spiteful in nature, and is not based upon any physical threat posed deadbeat parents pose to their offspring.

The incoherent nature of the proposals suggests that McAuliffe simply wants to throw out feel-good proposals in order to tweak the Republican legislature, and give anti-gun radicals that helped elect him something to crow about.

Of all the restrictions offered, only the vague call for “keeping guns away from people convicted of crimes related to domestic violence” sounds remotely like something plausible. That is, it sounds plausible until you realize that it isn’t actually addressing domestic violence, but instead, “crimes related to domestic violence,” which could mean anything, and which is incredibly and perhaps intentionally undefined.

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Don’t expect the governor to get much in the way of traction on any of these proposals, none of which were seriously offered.

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