Virginia has been in the news in a bad, bad way lately. Cam has been covering it, so I won’t repeat the details of what’s going on. The gist is that it’s awful, and Virginia Democrats are on track to turn Virginia into the next Colorado with draconian, ineffective gun control measures, while at the same time unleashing their criminal chums on the People with crook-friendly laws.
What caught my eye in the midst of this fracas is the name of one legislator who is celebrating the unconstitutional infringements: JJ Singh (D), who represents the 26th district in the Virginia House of Delegates. He’s a fellow Indian American, but that’s where the difference ends between him and me. JJ was born in Virginia, attended American schools, and is very much a supporter of gun control. I was born and raised in India, moved here as an adult, and hate gun control from the bottom of my heart.
This is one of the main reasons I ran for office. We have to ban assault weapons. This bill will eventually make its way to the Governor. Thank you to @HelmerVA and @SalimVASenate for leading on this. Proud to be their co-patron. pic.twitter.com/VZZYNl9wXv
— Delegate JJ Singh (@SinghforVA) February 5, 2026
JJ’s ancestry is Sikh, one of the groups of people classified by the British as a “martial race.” Initiated Sikhs have a religious mandate to be armed at all times and carry a Kirpan dagger on their person. They are expected to show no fear on the battlefield, face death with honor, and treat defeated enemies with decency. JJ Singh betrays that proud Sikh tradition. More importantly, whatever understanding he has of the US Constitution is wrong and anathema to the founding principles of this country.
It’s very easy to point to JJ Singh and blame immigration per se as bad for the Constitution and the country. Some Second Amendment supporters have taken that easy mental shortcut position. I disagree. I live in a very white, very left-wing neighborhood in a very left-wing city. I’m literally the only brown guy on my block. My neighborhood voted 96% for Hillary Clinton in 2016. The remaining 4% was split evenly between Donald Trump and Gary Johnson.
My neighbors are very much “Heritage” Americans, and I’m the brown immigrant interloper without Mayflower ancestry. In my neighborhood, it’s common to find BLM signs, transgender flags, and Ukraine flags. My house is one of the few houses that flies the US flag.
My neighbors are overwhelmingly anti-Second Amendment. It’s fairly common to see cars with “Ban Assault Weapons” bumper stickers here. When my kids were little, one of my neighbors, inspired by a nosy Moms Demand Action campaign, asked if I owned a gun before a kids’ playdate at my house. (She was horrified when I told her I own guns, in the plural.)
So what lies at the heart of gun control? Why is it that my white “Heritage” neighbors and Virginia-born JJ Singh alike think that gun control is good, while immigrants like Former VA Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears (Jamaican-American), Editor-in-Chief of National Review Charles C.W. Cooke (English-American) or myself disagree?
I put the blame squarely on K-12 and Higher Ed institutions that educate the majority of citizens in this country. Setting aside reading and math outcomes, the results in civics are abysmal; most American adults cannot name the three branches of government, let alone list the freedoms protected by the First Amendment.
On the other hand, my perspective of the US Constitution was developed through self-study. I had to pass a Civics exam to become a naturalized citizen. I found the material lacking, so I did a deep dive. I’ve read essays, letters, and pamphlets from the Founding Fathers, the Federalist Papers, and several discussions on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. My personal study led me to the opposite conclusions of what my American-born kids are taught by our local public school.
I believe that the American schooling system is a far greater threat to the Constitutional Republic than immigration ever will be. I have to constantly monitor what my kids are being taught at school and intervene when I see fallacies in the curriculum. How many parents, native-born or immigrant, do that?
My local public high school used to have a rifle team decades ago. Kids used to transport rifles on the school bus. That’s all dismantled and gone. Immigrants didn’t do it, the native-born folks who’ve been here for generations did it.
The future depends on whether or not the educational system inculcates a respect for the US Constitution and treats it as an inviolable compact. When “educators” openly express contempt for the Constitution, the next generation of children, whether they’re born to Mayflower descendants or immigrant parents, whether they’re white, black, or brown, will grow up into America-hating adults.
VA Gov. Abigail Spanberger, former Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears, all of Virginia’s elected legislators, and immigrants like me swore an oath to the same Constitution. Yet, we are fundamentally different in where we stand on not just the Second Amendment, but the entire Bill of Rights. To understand why, look at the educational system and what it has done over the past 50-60 years. To protect the future, fix the schools.
Editor’s Note: The radical left will stop at nothing to enact their radical gun control agenda and strip us of our Second Amendment rights.
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