As the dust settled and the smoke cleared from this week’s shooting at a high school graduation ceremony in Richmond, Virginia, we found out that the violence was not random, and that the perpetrator had an ongoing conflict and targeted the victim. Cam wrote about this in his recent article and went into further detail comparing the crime rates of Richmond, VA and Boise, ID, two cities of the same size in states with different gun laws.

Addressing societal violence is not easy. There are too many variables that go into it: some social, some economic, some cultural, and many unknown. Blaming it on guns is the epitome of intellectual laziness, if not outright deceit and agenda-pushing. Author Larry Correia, in his book “In Defense of the Second Amendment,” talks about “vultures” that swoop in and immediately take advantage of a tragedy even before the facts are known. Here is an example of gun grab group Giffords wasting no time in exploiting a tragedy:

TRAGIC: Two people have died from their injuries.

An 18-year-old student and a 36-year-old man who was attending the graduation in Richmond.

We're thinking of the victims, survivors, and their families. Gun violence IS preventable. https://t.co/voZpUa4LPE

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) June 7, 2023

“We’re thinking of the victims, survivors, and their families. Gun violence IS preventable.”

We all know they don’t give a hoot about the survivors. That’s just a formality, a mere segue. The meat is in the next sentence, a claim that “gun violence” is preventable. Well, how preventable is it using the gun-grabbing Giffords approach? Let’s rewind the clock to July 9, 2020, when Governor Blackface / Klanhood Northam signed gun control legislation. Giffords celebrated “meaningful action” that didn’t do anything this week, a full three years later.

We can’t be in Virginia today, but we’re sending our thanks to Governor Northam for taking historic action to save lives from gun violence.

Year after year, Republicans blocked any meaningful action. This year, @GovernorVA signed seven gun safety measures into law. #valeg https://t.co/cNM76LnRaF

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) July 9, 2020

The package of “meaningful action“ Second Amendment infringements signed by Northam included:

• “Universal” background checks
• Red Flag Law
• Handgun Limits
• Mandatory reporting of lost and stolen guns
• Storage mandates
• Enabling local government infringements

None of these laws did anything. We don’t know how the shooter got his gun. If he got it legally from a firearms retailer, he passed a background check. If he got it illegally, the joke’s on the writers of the “universal” part of Virginia’s background check legislation. The handgun limit didn’t do anything, nor did the Due Process busting red flag law. Crooks don’t give a hoot about any of that. The gun grabbers know it, and they don’t care. Because they want *another* bite at the apple.

BREAKING: At least 4 people have been shot on the VCU campus in Richmond, VA outside a high school graduation.

Again and again, shootings leave families broken & communities shattered. It's past time our leaders treat gun violence like the crisis it is.https://t.co/uMO57oqs6Z

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) June 6, 2023

“It’s past time our leaders treat gun violence like the crisis it is.”

You already did, and it didn’t work, and you’re back for more. This is how the gun grabbers work: an inch at a time. Progressivism is the incremental choking of Liberty.

Thankfully, there are people who understand that the root causes of violence run deeper. One of those people with increasingly rare common sense is Virginia Lieutenant Governor Winsome Sears. 

Sears went on live TV and courageously stated the truth. She talked about gangs, revolving doors for criminals, leadership, and accountability. Most politicians shy away from talking about root causes in the aftermath of a shooting, let alone boldly and unapologetically defending the rights of the law-abiding. Sears did it. 

“This is not about law abiding gun owners, this is about gangs… we have to find the right problem so that we can come to the right solution.” — my Lt. Governor, Winsome Searspic.twitter.com/Y7IhTD9RPg

— Marina Medvin 🇺🇸 (@MarinaMedvin) June 7, 2023

 Gun grab group Giffords wasted no time in pouncing on her.

She blames the chief. She blames the mayor.

But if Lt. Gov. Sears or Gov. Youngkin actually cared about saving lives, they would stop blaming everyone else and support commonsense gun safety laws.

These laws work but Youngkin & Sears don't care to enforce or pass them. #valeg https://t.co/gvopDMwYqm

— GIFFORDS (@GIFFORDS_org) June 7, 2023

Sears blamed the ineffective leaders for good reason. She talked about real solutions. And what did the gun grabbers at Giffords bring up yet again? “Common sense gun safety laws” – passing more of them, to be precise.

It’s obvious to anyone but those asleep like Rip Van Winkle that these groups keep coming back for more instead of admitting that the previous iterations of gun control laws they passed were useless, ineffective, and completely antithetical to the American notion of Liberty. It’s a tough climb from here, but I hope Virginians rollback Governor Blackface’s 2020 package of gun control legislation in the future.