AP Photo/Steve Helber

Virginia Governor Ralph Northam saw the Virginia Beach shooting as a golden opportunity to push for gun control and put allegations of racism behind him.

Northam has been a vocal opponent of gun rights for some time, so no one was surprised at him latching onto this opportunity. Anti-gunners never seem to turn down an opportunity to turn the bodies of the slain into a soapbox.

However, at a recent town hall, it seems that I’m not the only one less than pleased to see Northam’s anti-gun push.

Tuesday evening, gun control was the topic of discussion at a roundtable event in Abingdon held by the Virginia Secretary of Public Safety and Homeland Security Brian Moran.

Many opposed Governor Northam’s call for gun control measures, which include universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons, and the restoration of a state law to restrict handgun purchases to one a month.

“Clearly the majority of this room felt that we were trying to take their right to defend and their second amendment right away, said Moran. “None of these pieces of legislation takes their right to defend themselves away.”

Nice strawman.

None of the people quoted accused Northam of doing any such thing. Instead, they classified it as what it is, an infringement on their rights that may result in people getting hurt.

Moran attacked what he wanted to rather than address their arguments.

One could make the same statement regarding opposition to a total gun ban and not be wrong. A gun ban wouldn’t necessarily remove one’s right to defend themselves, but it would eliminate the most efficient tool for the purpose. That is also a problem.

By failing to acknowledge the arguments presented, anti-gunners can likely delude themselves into believing that those opposing them aren’t upset by what is being proposed, but instead, are upset at what they think is being proposed. In this case, by pretending the issue is merely the right to defend yourself, they can do anything they want and feel like the public is on their side so long as they don’t cross this imaginary line.

The only thing Moran heard was whatever he wanted to hear. Plain and simple.

Northam is trying very hard to cram gun control down people’s throats in the Old Dominion State and doesn’t want anything or anyone getting in the way of that. It seems like this town hall was nothing more than a case of going through the motions so that they can claim they spoke to the people before enacting whatever measures they were going to push for in the first place.

The truth is, there are a lot of people in Virginia who don’t want these kinds of laws on the books, and it would be nice if Northam and his cronies would at least address these people’s concerns, rather than the strawman version they’ve built up in their heads.

Gun control does not save lives. It inhibits good people trying to buy guns, creating unnecessary burdens, all while the criminals continue to do business as they always have.