Democrats are also choosing between three candidates to take on the GOP nominee in November, but despite the rightward tilt of the district (which Good won by fifteen points two years ago), none of them are running on a pro-2A platform. About the best that can be said of the three is that they're not demanding bans on semi-automatic firearms as frequently as Joe Biden is, but a recent candidate forum in Farmville, Virginia demonstrated the continued hostility towards the right to keep and bear arms that's an omnipresent feature of Democratic politics these days. 

The debate, which was organized by the Fluvanna Democratic Committee, also took a look at the idea of gun safety. All three candidates had their own take on what needed to change when it comes to weapons. 

For [Paul] Riley, who works as a defense contractor, the problem isn’t that there aren’t good laws on the books. It’s that they’re not always being enforced, due to a lack of manpower or a lack of training or a lack of equipment. 

“We have to enforce the laws that are on the books,” Riley said. “We’re not always doing that. Let’s also close the loopholes.”
Riley said he’d like to see the typical five-day cooling off period for a gun purchase extended to 14 day, to give law enforcement more time to do the background checks rather than rush through them. 

[Gary] Terry, meanwhile, believes that every gun owner should have to pass a test. The West Point graduate equated it to the work a teenager goes through before being able to drive a car. 

“Much like getting a driver’s license, I think we need a test, a written test,” Terry said, adding he would also like to see prospective gun owners be required to take a mental competency test before buying a weapon. 

“If we can do it for cars, we can do it for guns,” Terry said. 

I don't know where Riley came up with the idea that a five-day waiting period is "typical", but according to the gun control group Giffords there are 13 states (and the District of Columbia) with waiting periods on the books, and none of them are five days. Hawaii has a 14-day waiting period, California and Washington have 10-day waits, New Mexico and Rhode Island impose week-long delays, and there's a 3-day wait in Colorado, Illinois, Vermont, and starting next month, Maine. 

Virginia, on the other hand, doesn't have a waiting period of any kind, yet Riley wants the feds to impose a two week delay on exercising your Second Amendment rights, even if it only took a matter of minutes to pass a background check. 

Terry's demand for would-be gun owners to undergo a battery of testing would likely impose a similar waiting period, but even if the tests were taken and scored immediately after it would still be a clear violation of our Second Amendment rights. Further, what good would this do in terms of keeping criminals from accessing or using guns? It's not like they're going to sit for a test before they burgle a gun store or steal a pistol from someone's home or car. 

Gloria Witt is the third Democrat running in VA-05, and while the Herald didn't report on her "gun safety" comments her campaign website boasts of her support for increased background checks, waiting periods, and a ban on so-called assault weapons. 

Riley claims to be a gun owner, but while his own campaign website shies away from directly calling for a gun ban, it's clear he wants to "do something" about so-called assault weapons. 

While I strongly support the right to own firearms for legitimate purposes such as self-defense and hunting, I recognize that certain weapons, like assault rifles, pose a significant risk to public safety. It's essential that we find a balanced approach that respects the rights of responsible gun owners while prioritizing the protection of our communities.

Terry's website is even more vague than Riley's. 

When the specter of gun violence haunts our schools, our streets, what do we hear? Thoughts, prayers, and yet—hesitation. No more.  To those who delay, who defer: Step aside! We are here to STEP UP, to enshrine safety alongside liberty, to uphold the promise of a nation secure and at peace. Details for the gun issue here.

There's no link available for those details, so all we have to go on is the vacuous language on his website and his call for testing would-be gun owners before they can exercise a fundamental civil right. 

After Glenn Youngkin's victory in 2021, there were some Virginia Democrats who recognized the challenge of connecting with rural voters while pushing for more restrictions on the right to keep and bear arms. Sadly, instead of actually changing course, the Democrats in VA-05 and other parts of the state have, at best, merely engaged in a rebranding effort; playing down support for a gun ban while talking up other anti-gun policies like waiting periods and background checks. 

If Democrats are ever going to be competitive in places like VA-05, they're going to have to drop their support for gun control altogether. There just aren't enough anti-gun advocates in the district to carry them to victory. If they turn their back on gun control, however, they put themselves squarely outside of the Democratic establishment and at risk of losing campaign donations from left-leaning PACs. Cash is critical to running a congressional campaign to be sure, but if you're alienating a majority of voters it doesn't matter how much you have in your bank account. 

I'd love to see a truly competitive congressional race in my district, at least when it comes to 2A issues, but it won't be this year. I don't know who will emerge victorious from tomorrow's primaries, but based on the anti-gun spiel from the Democratic candidates, I feel confident in predicting yet another double-digit loss for the left in November. Both Good and McGuire are solid on the Second Amendment, and though I have my own issues with each of their candidacies, either one would be far better for our right to keep and bear arms than anyone running for the Democratic nomination in VA-05.